Raising houses, restoring dignity

Valma Parsons (in pink), an Anglican and retired teacher who lives in Spaniard’s Bay, Nfld., poses with the Canadian mission team and the young family that will occupy this newly built house in Guatemala. “For $2,000 you can build a family home, put in bunk beds, an armoire, a table and chairs and a complete set of dishes and pots and pans,” says Parsons. “The people are as overjoyed as if they had a mansion.” Without the prefabs, people live in cornstalk cabins with dirt floors. “When it rains, they’re ankle-deep in mud in their own homes,” says Parsons. The house-raising project is sponsored by the Arms of Jesus Children’s Mission, based in Pickering, Ont., and run by Pastor Sam Martin, a Baptist.