Prayer Power
By Anne Carson

Eldefonso and Nancy Feleo prayed for deliverance from the slums of Bula in General Santos City, the Philippines, for three long years. They needed a way out—both of their children were chronically ill, the result of a life amid squalor.

Theirs is an all-too-frequent petition among a half-million residents of the teeming metropolis. In fact, some 40 percent of GenSan's population lives in overcrowded squatter settlements lining Sarangani Bay. There, residents cram into rented "rooms," and share filthy public latrines. For the Feleos, life in the settlement was taking its toll—5-year-old Elaiza Feb was asthmatic and 10-month-old Clyde Drex contracted tuberculosis.

But an answer to prayer came when their Habitat house was one of 50 built at GenSan during the Jimmy Carter Work Project in March 1999. The community's access to clean water and electricity has helped transform the lives of some 450 families to date. In addition to the health benefits of clean, sturdy Habitat houses, a local clinic brings even more hope for healthier families.

"We are so very happy," says Nancy Feleo. "After three long years in Bula, God answered our prayers."


Anne Carson is a freelance writer and photographer who volunteered at General Santos City during the 1999 Jimmy Carter Work Project.

For more information about Habitat's work in the Philippines, visit http://www.habitat.org/jcwp/99/


Reprinted from Habitat World Magazine, October/November 1999.
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©1999 Habitat for Humanity International