Few things give a man and his family greater dignity than to be the owners of their own home, among the most basic of human necessities. A decent home, which a family can call its own, is a dream of a lifetime. After years of striving and saving, the fulfillment of this dream gives the family greater unity and pride in themselves.
The Church must be concerned with the whole man, body and soul. Providing for the basic material needs of man is a form of pre-evangelization which makes him more receptive to the word of God. An all-consuming struggle to survive leaves little time for one’s own spiritual needs.
With this in mind, Padre Carlos S. Pozzo, S.J., organized “CIRCA” or Circulos Catolicos de Arequipa (Catholic Circles of Arequipa) in 1958, after an earthquake devastated this city of southern Peru, not to mention the thousands of flimsily-constructed huts. Today there are 40 circles in Arequipa, one for each neighborhood. Since that earthquake, CIRCA has facilitated the construction of over 3000 homes for families of 3 to 8 children with a monthly income of between $50 and $140.
Socioeconomic Conditions
Most of the fathers support these large families with such meager incomes as bricklayers, artisans, carpenters, skilled workers, janitors, farmhands, and common laborers. In their struggle to survive, mothers and other members of the family supplement the household income by working as street vendors, laundrywomen, cooks, shining shoes or raising domestic animals such as rabbits, chickens, and ducks. Thus the typical monthly family income is about $130.
Most of the families are Indians who have migrated from the sierra in search of a better life. They simply settle on abandoned, arid, and sandy land on the outskirts of the city. These migrants obtain soft volcanic rock which is easily shaped into blocks. Then they construct a small but without the use of mortar. The typical dwelling has a crude door, dirt floor, and a makeshift tin roof, but no windows. At this point, running water, sewage, light, telephone, paved streets, etc. are only dreams.
Fortunately, the climate is dry and mild with the temperature between 70°F and 80°F at midday throughout the year. The temperature, however, will occasionally reach the freezing point on winter nights. Thus, even the wealthy have neither central heating nor air conditioning.
As a result of these migrations, the population of Arequipa has doubled since the sixties to about 500,000 inhabitants. This tremendous growth has brought all kinds of social problems to this traditional city . . . high unemployment and subemployment with a corresponding crime rate, inadequate city services, poor health care, crowded and unsanitary living conditions, poorly equipped schools with large classes, few parishes in the poor sections, promiscuity, etc.
Single mothers are common. Many children have never seen their fathers who have abandoned them. Among the couples who do live together, the Church has been trying to put order into the many common law unions through mass marriages.
Struggling against such odds and social conditions, while still living a good Christian life, is nothing short of heroic.
CIRCA has attacked these problems through its various programs, promoting the moral and physical well being of the family, especially the right to a decent home. Its most significant contribution is a system of “ayuda mutua” or mutual help. The starting point is helping the poor to transform their shacks into modest but well built homes.
The Loan Mechanism
When a group of families in a slum desires to improve their living conditions, they apply to CIRCA for a loan. A committee then determines eligibility as to need, suitability of the land, evidence of land ownership, seriousness of purpose, reliability, etc.
Five to ten families form a group of mutual help, electing their president who coordinates the work. Actually, there are 60 active mutual help groups waiting for loans. Each group meets once a week for coordination purposes in its neighborhood. In addition, each group sends a delegate to a weekly meeting of the entire program. Each delegate informs the body as to the progress of his group and receives new information, instruction and supervision.
There are two types of loans: the minimum of $361 and the maximum loan of $964. Considering the inflation rate of about 70%, the 1 % per month interest rate is essentially a gift. The $361 loan is repaid in 40 monthly installments of $11, while the $964 loan is paid in 84 monthly installments of $19.
By the time the loans are repaid, the value of the property in current inflated Peruvian soles is several times the original loan which is repaid in currency worth less than one sixth of its initial value. What money is repaid is again lent to new members. Only about 2% of the loans can be classified as “bad loans.” Where feasible, legal means are used to recover them.
The loans are given in material which CIRCA makes or buys in quantity at the lowest possible cost. All materials are centrally-stored for distribution as needed: steel reenforcing rods for a column on each corner of the house and the roof, cement, concrete blocks which CIRCA mass produces, and galvanized sheet for the roofs of the minimum loan homes.
Both loans are sufficient to build a one room house 6×5 meters and 2.30 meters high. The $964 loan includes in addition a cement floor over a base of small stones, a reenforced concrete roof with hollow bricks, a wooden door, three glass windows, walls dividing the house into three rooms, and provisions for the future installation of electricity and water. The structure is designed for the addition of a second floor and other improvements as the family’s economic situation permits.
Mutual Cooperation
Once their loans are approved, the group of 5-10 families begins work on the foundation which is a ditch 50 centimeters wide and 1 meter deep, filled first with stones and then concrete to support the walls. The entire group and their families work every Sunday from 6 a.m. to about 10 until all the foundations are completed.
Admirable is the spirit of cooperation among the people . . . Christianity in action. Men, women and children dig the ditches with pick and shovel, carrying the dirt for short distances on burlap cloth. They are cheerful and their simplicity is beautiful. Most enjoyable is conversing and joking with them. Many have so little, but will give all in their efforts to please and be hospitable.
A CIRCA appointed supervisor gives overall direction to the work. A standardized plan and a finished house serve as a guide and model.
The next phase is the construction of the walls. Each owner or group contracts an experienced bricklayer for direction. Then the group pours the concrete for the four reenforced columns of each home.
At this point, those with the minimum loan use a provisional roof of galvanized steel sheet. The others construct a roof of concrete poured over hallow brick and steel rods. In this phase, children carry water; others mix the sand and cement; and the young men carry the mixture to the roof where it is poured. The women meanwhile serve refreshments and help where they can.
Then only the door, the windows, and the floor remain. Those with the minimum loan may fill the window with rocks and use a makeshift door until they can afford something better. The window frames are made in a CIRCA shop. Those with the maximum loan pour cement over a floor of small stones. At least five Sundays are required to complete a home . . . two days for the foundation and a day each for the wall, columns, and roof. The latrine and kitchen are separate from the house.
At the same time, there is a larger community cooperation and a rudimentary neighborhood government that almost spontaneously forms with many democratic principles. As soon as a few families occupy the land, these members of the “pueblo joven” or new community form a communal government that consists of a general secretary, an economic secretary, and various block coordinators.
At town meetings, this Council organizes the people to work on community projects on Sunday . . . improving the dirt streets and filling potholes, building schools and parks with material provided by the national government. CIRCA also promotes these projects and builds churches, providing the material and food as an incentive for work done. The food is donated by the United States Government through Catholic Relief Services and its Peruvian counterpart, “Caritas.”
Any adult who does not participate in a project that the community council sponsors is fined and as a last resort, ostracized or even expelled from the neighborhood. In addition, the community council solicits and applies pressure upon the city and national governments for more costly improvements. Over a number of years, the new community slowly develops as it obtains electricity, sewage, and running water at least from a common source or outlet, instead of from a tank truck.
Funding
CIRCA obtains its funding on an international scale. Its principle contributors have been “Misereor” and “Adveniat,” both entites of the German bishops which have provided for more than 1100 minimum loan homes since 1975. From 1960-1973, the Peruvian Government provided for 1840 homes as part of earthquake relief after the disasters of 1958 and 1960. Also helpful has been the “Campana Contra el Hambre” (Campaign Against Hunger), a private Spanish organization. The manpower comes from the people themselves in mutual help. The leaders are volunteers who give their time to help the people to help themselves.
Evangelization
One may ask: “What does all of this social action have to do with evangelization and the mission of the Church?” Having their own home instead of a miserable shack strengthens and solidifies the Christian family, the foundation of society. It improves their self image, pride, and confidence.
Mutual help and communal cooperation, which date from centuries of (man tradition, are indeed Christian concepts and values as well. Instead of only looking out for “number one” in a jungle type mentality of the survival of the fittest, the experience builds cooperation and forms a rudimentary basis of a Christian community.
Within each group, the members learn how to participate in meetings and even lead them. This fosters mutual respect for each other’s opinions and other democratic values.
Once the homes are built, CIRCA promotes other community work projects for which it has tools and a truck available. CIRCA operates the Government-supported schools which their people build, providing a Catholic education. It has 21 primary schools of 6 grades for 5,800 children, 3 high schools of 5 grades for 1,200 students and also 14 alphabetization centers. Occasionally, CIRCA sponsors cultural programs and folkloric dances to give the Indians an identity and pride in their heritage.
The people under CIRCA have also built 9 small churches of 10×24 meters, plus they have 11 more under construction. These are starting points for future parishes, although mass is only said on Sunday. Due to a lack of priests, each must say 3 or 4 masses. With a parish structure, the Church becomes a greater part of the people’s lives, and more couples marry before a priest instead of simply a magistrate.
CIRCA sponsors 36 mothers’ clubs, 52 clubs for children plus many others for young girls and adolescents. The women make handicrafts and clothes which they sell on a small scale. In all of the clubs, including the mutual help program, talks are constantly given to help the people in their secular and spiritual lives . . . on health, nutrition, sanitation, family education, responsible parenthood, moral living, religious themes, social problems, the social teachings of the Church, etc. In addition, CIRCA is beginning to form small health clinics, each staffed by a full time nurse, local volunteers, and a consulting doctor for a few hours a week.
CIRCA also has a beach camp on the Pacific Ocean which it uses mainly for poor youth and also for the handicapped. Over a 1000 use the facility’s 120 beds each summer. Mainly recreation, educational activities, and religious instruction comprise the daily schedule. At other times of the year, the youth clubs have retreats, days of recollection, sports, recreation, etc.
It publishes a weekly two-page bulletin to educate the people and to voice its opinions on different community problems. CIRCA’s press releases are usually published in Arequipa’s two daily newspapers, each having a circulation of about 25,000. Most of the city’s 11 radio and 2 television stations also air news about CIRCA.
Through all of these programs, CIRCA has had a significant influence in the city of Arequipa towards resolving community problems and stimulating its economic development. CIRCA aspires to an integral development, spiritual and material, educating the people to democratically participate in the life of the nation and making them aware of their rights as well as their responsibilities.
United and organized, the people can be the authors of their future with a greater power to improve themselves economically, to solve their own problems, to achieve social justice and human rights. At the same time, the people are organized, and leaders are developed to serve them. CIRCA’s philosophy and methods follow the social teachings of the Church. The organization always has been very loyal to the Pope.
CIRCA coordinates its varied activities through delegates from each group, a president, vice president, secretary, sergeant of arms, and treasurer, all elected by the members. This council appoints the supervisors of the different projects. At the same time, there is an executive director who is responsible for the accounting, administration, and coordination of the different programs. The founder, Padre Pozzo, serves as the chief adviser. Recently, he founded a new order of nuns, called the Missionaries of Social Action to work in CIRCA with a more spiritual, apostolic, and permanent commitment.
The Future Outlook
SELAVIP (the Latin American and Asiatic Service for Popular Homes), a private Belgium-based organization, will provide close to $1 million for 400 homes, additional classrooms for 6 schools, and 6 health centers with basic medical care. Misereor is expected to add 600 more homes at a cost of $1,000 each.
In the next five years, CIRCA has a goal of building 4,000 homes, each having a value of $1,000. It also hopes to construct 5 more primary schools, 5 additional secondary schools, 5 technical schools for carpentry and mechanics, 5 small churches, a campaign for preventive medicine, and a radio station.
All of these projects will require help in any form on an international scale. Any organization that is interested in Al helping may contact the Rev. Carlos S. Pozzo, S.J.; La Compania; Casilla 595; Arequipa, Peru.