This is the house where Maria lives....

I nearly met Maria today, but when we called to her home she was out. Maria isn't her proper name, but out of respect for her that's the name she'll have for this blog.
Although she wasn't there, I learnt a little of her story, and am sharing it to give background to the location that I am in this week.

Here is Maria's story - the gentler version:

When she was 9 years old, Maria was forced to work on the streets selling her body to men in order to earn some money to help put food in the mouths of her family. Yes, I really did type 9, it wasn't a typo. This was Maria's life for the next few years, until she got pregnant.

I don't know the full order of events, but she is now 26 yrs old and her oldest child is 8 yrs old, so you can do the maths to work out some of it. Maria now has 4 children, all by the same father, although he is no longer on the scene and instead she lives with her 15yr old boyfriend.

Maria now works as a cleaner in some homes, and earns 500 pesos per month = £22.66. Not a lot to live on when there are 6 mouths to feed, as well as a few 'addictions' to fulfil. But at least she is off the game - one small mercy I guess.

Maria used to live in this house:

but the rent on that house was 500 pesos / month - leaving nothing for anything other than paying the rent. Hence she 'built' the 'house' pictured at the start of this blog; blankets and plastic sheets for walls, a rusty aluminium sheet for a roof,  and a tatty bit of tarpaulin filling in some of the holes. There is enough room inside for a 3/4 size bed - I only know that as it was sticking out of the end of the blanket wall; I can't imagine that there is much else in there.

The project I met with today is working with Maria to help her try and regain some control of her life - to get off her addictions, to gain access to a feeding and nutrition programme, to maybe get some vocational training, and to provide Maria with a circle of people she can trust. All very valuable inputs for a young woman who has had such a tough rough start to life. 

This week I am visiting some projects in the Chapala area of Mexico that work in the poorest areas of this municipality. The focus is to consider if one of them might be suitable for CRED to enter into partnership with. Hearing Maria's story today certainly proved there is a need for these projects, and over the next few days I pray that it will become clear which of those projects, all worthy in their own right, is the one that we should partner with. 

And in the meantime, I raise a prayer for all the Maria's of this world - may there be circles of support for each one of them, just as this Maria has found in the project of today.