Manila (AsiaNews) - For only 20 pesos a week (0.20 euro) 72 families in Payatas dump (Manila) find a home and a job. This thanks to the initiative of a group of Franciscan nuns and Catholic organizations, who have for over 30 years given new land to the poor of Payatas allowing them to begin a new life.

Payatas is a huge landfill site on the outskirts of Manila. It is also called Smoky Mountain because of the continuous fumes produced by heaps of garbage. Here thousands of people survive thanks to the sale of recycled waste and live in huts of a few square meters. Despite the fact that for years the government has promised to reclaim the area and the transfer of population to more liveable areas. So far the authorities have only taken measures to demolish part of illegal housing, but without looking for an alternative to the population.

The project started in 1977 when the Franciscan Missionary Sr. Coca Pacheco bought along with other sisters one hectare of land in the Brookside area (a suburb of Quezon City) to which they moved 57 families (300 persons) from the landfill. Thanks to the financial and material support of the parishes in the area, NGO and private families build new homes, and after several years of pressure from the government succeeded in obtaining essential services.

"For the first two months as well as the land and construction materials we give them the necessities of life - says sr. Pacheco - but after this period we help them find a job to make them self-sufficient". Accustomed to living in hardship and marginalization many poor people often lack confidence in the future. Indeed, the nun says that "the payment of 20 pesos a week is symbolic, but it is a way to help nourish their sense of dignity."

For the religious sister the project's success lies in offering material aid to the poor and a spiritual formation. "Through the transmission of values they gain confidence and become responsible - continued sr. Pacheco – in order to make the most of the opportunities offered them improve their situation and their experience transmit to others ".

Today Brookside is home to over 1500 people. In 2004 the first elementary school of the village, opened built with the cooperation of all the inhabitants. Now about 300 children follow the courses there, under the guidance of seven teachers.