ELIO

ELIO - A Project Report film by Jack Ballo for the Pulitzer Center in Washington DC that Highlights a day in the life of Elio Madonia, a man who has dedicated over 20 years to building homes for poor families living in shacks.
http://www.thesamaritanfoundationdr.com

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• Elio Madonia
• Sosua
• Dominican Republic
• The
• Samaritan
• Foundation
• Jack Ballo
• yt:stretch=16:9

[stagecrewjenni]

The Haitians are legal immigrants to the Dominican Republic. Though they are hired (many by the Dominican government) they are still given these horrible conditions and extremely low pay. Unfortunately, that is still better than the life they were experiencing in Haiti.

[stagecrewjenni]

@franksanc

Elio builds homes for the Dominican and Haitian people. The Haitians he has been helping for these past 20 + years are brought over legally to work in the sugarcane fields, and are paid next to nothing and given the appalling housing conditions not dissimilar to the ones seen in this video.

[Sunderbunny]

@franksanc

maybe there should be an organization that builds homes for illegal Mexicans in the US. They are people too and if they need homes they should be entitled to them.

[franksanc]

I have nothing against Haitians nor Elio and his foundation. I am almost sure that some US citizens will not agree on building homes at any given place for illegal Mexican citizens because someone feels sorry for them. That will never happen in the US or any developed country, why should it be legal in an "undeveloped" nation? this problem is part of a cycle and you would need billions to solve it because the truth is that right now, thousands of Haitians are crossing the border, endless cycle.

[franksanc]

CONT. from below................US$3,000-­$4,000 per home. He is wise to only hand titles after 7 years, but the reality is that the Haitians go on to sell these homes after they receive the titles for RD$15,000-$25,000 Dominican pesos which is about US$500-$800. They later move in to their "original" settlement, in other words, they go back to the place where they were rescued from. This proves that it is the mentality that we need to work on and not material things.

[franksanc]

I think that Elio is doing a wonderful job, but he fails to mention that most of the people that you see in this video are Haitian. I would say that this help goes to about 90% of Haitians and not Dominicans. He is actually doing a favor to Haiti in Dominican soil. This is a problem because most of them are illegals and he is basically creating "illegal" settlements in DR. I do understand his dedication and hard work, but he is almost working in vain. The houses that he is building cost about...

[pebdiver]

A wonderful mission, a wonderful caring man, may God continue to bless you

[SameSDifferentDay]

That's wonderful! It is nice to see there are still beautiful decent people in the world

[zerohundredlol]

Wow. Amazing man.

[rocboyz00]

wow ppl in d.r really need help! i wish i could help