Saramma is a widow with two daughters. She is a parishioner of Good Shepherd church Kottayam. Her daughters got married. The youngest daughter and her family are staying with Saramma. She is unhealthy due to several diseases She was able to start building a house but the unexpected Covid pandemic became a major hindrance and made it impossible to finance the rest of the house which is in a riverside area where a huge amount is to be spent on earthwork and foundation. She could finish the house up to the lintel level. Now the roofing, plastering, and electrification are to be done. Since they don’t have a proper shelter to live in, the elders spend their nights in their relative’s house and the children are staying in a children’s home. She needs our help to complete the house.

Aleyamma Sam belongs to Holy family church Edamon in Vijayapuram Diocese. Her family consists of her husband and 2 children.  She has been working as a social service animator of VSSS for the last twenty years. Her husband is a day laborer. She has two educated sons but both have no permanent jobs.   They have five cents of the land but no house.  They are living in a rented house.

Mary Babu belongs to St. Boniface Church Pattithanam in Vijayapuram Diocese. She has 2 children. Both are waiting for a job.  Her husband left her 20 years back,  Mary is a homemaker. Due to covid 19 pandemic, she gets only 3 days of work in a week. They are living in a rented house.  She does have  3 cents of the land but the plot is not flat, however, she was able to start the house construction with the basement in pillars. It will face more expense. She can’t go ahead with work due to the financial crisis. She is asking for our help to build the new house.

Margaret Mary is a 30 years old widow of Chinnakanal parish in the Munnar region of the Diocese of Vijayapuram. Her family consists of two daughters and a mother. The eldest daughter  Niranjana is studying in 6^th standard and the second daughter is studying in 2^nd standard. Both are studying at Fathima Matha School at Chinnakannal. Her mother is also staying with her and she is a 50 years old sick woman. Margaret is going through a difficult situation. Her husband died last year due to a heart attack.    She is the only breadwinner of the family. She is an estate laborer who is getting a very low income. She has four cents of land with a partially completed house on it. She strives hard to make both ends meet.

Sibi Mathew Palliparambil is a member of St. Joseph Parish, Enthayar, in Vijayapuram Diocese.  His family consists of a wife and two children. The eldest one is pursuing graduation and the youngest one is in 10^th standard. His house was severely damaged in the torrential rain that lashed the state last year.  Siby and his kin were shifted to a relief camp after water entered their residence. When they returned home they were heartbroken to find their house in a damaged state. Since the house became uninhabitable, they are living in a rented house.  A flood caused significant damages to their house and household properties. Being they are living in a rented house, they are unable to meet the expenses of house and education of children, so they are finding it difficult to renovate the house with their meager income.  So they are seeking help from VSSS to renovate their house.

Rachel Jacob is a member of St.Joseph Parish in Vijayapuram Diocese. Due to the non-payment of bank loan during the floods of 2018 Kottayam Cooperative Bank confiscated her house. Her sick husband and she lives in a rented house.  They have two daughters.  The eldest daughter, with her husband and two children, has been in their house since October 13^th.  Her daughter’s husband had an iron fall on his head while moving the rod while on duty and had bleeding inside his head. He has been with them for a month after undergoing surgery at the Medical College Hospital. Her daughter also cannot go to work as her son-in-law needs someone always as a bystander to take care of him. Again tragedy hit her family as her husband fell from the top of a three-story building during painting work in 2010.  He was lying with a broken neck, waist, legs, and arms.  At that time he was caught with a heart attack and  Angioplasty was done.  He was unable to do any work.

She has also been serving as an active political representative since 2010. Now she is a Panchayat Member ( Elected representative of the Local Self Government). At present, she is living in a rented house. She needs to spend all her income on rent, expenses, and medicines.  She has found a plot of four and a half cents which she is interested in buying. She has money to buy the plot but to build the house she needs our help. At present all six of the family members are living in a rented house together.  Even they have no fulfillment for foods and medicines. Being a representative of the people, she hid all her sorrows in front of the people, loved the people, and worked for their hopes, upliftment, and development of the community, meanwhile she also lost a total of 5 cents of land and house.  She could not achieve anything. She is also a member of the parish committee of her parish and works in all other areas.  She has been actively working in the field of women empowerment in Vijayapuram diocese since 1996.

Celin Rajan belongs to St. Antony’s Church, K Chappath in Vijayapuram Diocese. Her family consists of 2 children and herself. Her husband left home eight years ago. Now she is living with her children.  Her son Jobin completed T T C (Teachers Training Course). Her daughter Joswini completed her graduation. Celin is suffering from different kinds of health issues. She was in the hospital for two months due to low sodium levels and was discharged recently. She has five cents of the land but no house. She has just started building but cannot go further because of financial problems.  She is asking for our help.

Devasia Joy belongs to St. Boniface Church Pattithanam in Vijayapuram Diocese.  Financially, his family is very poor. His wife Bincy is a housewife. They have 3 children. Eldest son Jibith is a 2 nd year student in I T I. Jiya, their daughter is in 10^th standard. And the youngest son Jithu is studying in 9^th standard. They have been living in a rented house for many years. Recently they purchased 3 cents of land.  Joy is the only earning member of the family. It is their desire to build a house but financial constraints block them from going ahead.