This project is just one component of a larger Hope and Healing program assisting people living with a disability. Housing is one of their many needs that Hope and Healing addresses on a daily basis. All of the recipients and their family members are already engaged in Hope and Healing programs. These programs look at the beneficiary holistically to determine how best to meet their needs for access and opportunity to ongoing health care, education, livelihoods, social engagement (relationships/marriage/recreation/access to justice) and political empowerment (communication/ ability to vote/ advocacy with governments/ self-help groups).

When Hope and Healing engages with an individual and their family, they look to journey with them through their current situation and walk alongside them towards self-sufficiency and sustainability. We don’t simply meet one need – whether a medical treatment, or providing housing – and then move on. We walk alongside our beneficiaries until they have the same access and opportunities as their able bodied neighbors.

It is also important to understand the poverty-disability cycle. Poverty and disability are inextricably linked. If you’re poor you’re 2Xs more likely to have a disability because of a lack of access to basic medical care. If you have a disability you’re 2Xs more likely to be poor because of a lack of access to support systems such as education, employment, medical care, clean water, shelter, etc. It’s a vicious cycle that sucks whole families into deeper and deeper suffering and need. There are 800 million people in the world who are trapped in the cycle of poverty and disability.