Fr. John Jennings with clerical student Omar Torres from the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart outside their home in Caracas Venezuela. Photo: KMF Productions.
Fr. John Jennings is some driver. Of cars that is. Not in the style of Jackie Stewart. Or Niki Lauda. Or indeed the current heartthrob of Formula 1 Lewis Hamilton. But some driver nonetheless. Traffic lights are discretionary he nonchalantly told me as be breezed through red light after red light in Caracas, Venezuela’s capital city. And it’s not just the lights that John can negotiate but the incredibly steep narrow winding roads where cars weave in, and out and between each other in a kind of mechanised ritualised dance. And it works. People give way – eventually – and nobody raises their voice. Not that I can imagine John ever doing that. His is quiet, and even to my poorly attuned ears his Cork roots shine through his at-ease Spanish.
And it seemed to me that the way people drive in Venezuela is a kind of loose metaphor for the country. Since his first election in February 1999, former President Hugo Chavez sought to impose a roadmap for the country, a roadmap inspired by South America’s great revolutionary figure Simon Bolivar and a contemporary take on Marxist-Leninist ideology. But for all his dogmatism, all his populism and for all his authoritarianism, the poor felt visible. And one in which a raft of safety net initiatives were put in place to improve their material conditions.
And it was that roadmap that garnered much early morning and late evening contested conversations. John with his gentle caveats … one little thing that you should bear in mind … one little thing that you shouldn’t forget. The Venezuelan roadmap designed by the now late and, among the poor at least, much lamented, Chavez does that to people. People polarised by a once populist president.
But seeing is believing. And there are many doubting Thomases so John took us on a tour of his Pro Patria parish and introduced us to his parishioners many of whom live in precarious houses perched in the most unlikely mountain slopes overlooking the city. But as John points out appearances are deceptive. Inside they are a revelation. Lilac and mint greens. Azure blues, Brazen oranges. Deep purples and more.
His is a gentle easy interaction. On a balmy Sunday morning, the parishioners confide in him following mass. A family member in prison. An ill person who needs visiting. A community meeting later that week. The stuff of missionary pastoral work. Afterwards he walks me around the parish. Houses that were swept away in recent floods. Others that he feared would follow suit if further rains hit. As has happened previously. But notwithstanding the enormous challenge in housing the teeming population of the capital city of the most urbanised country in the most urbanised region in the world, housing is the big success story in Caracas.
Since 2010, 700,000 houses have been built. That is 140,000 a year. And more to come and more are needed as over two million people wait in line. The government-backed approach was based on the premise that property serves people not the other way round. Any idle or empty property is an affront to the tens of thousands of people holed up in cramped, overcrowded and unsuitable houses. So the land and property is simply appropriated by communities who, given certain conditions, are supported by the government to construct their apartment block homes. The government supplies the material, the community the labour – ten hours per week per family. And they build each other’s houses and do it with great care. Where the collective is valued. Where communal space is prioritised. Where aesthetics count.
And there were other developments. Health clinics in the midst of the poorest of barrios where Cuban doctors and nurses hone their skills. Schools where the local community influences the curriculum. Locally constructed roads and pathways where the Mayor’s office has to negotiate with the community.
In his even-handed way John was keen to point to the potholes and roadblocks that drove Venezuelan middle classes to distraction. The interminable speeches that so characterised Chavez’s tenure. The cult of personality. The centralisation of power. The nobbling of the opposition. The economic meltdown. And the ever-present threat of violence.
And just as we’re trying to get our heads around it all, trying to balance all the conflicting signs, one thing stands out. Venezuela may be in economic freefall but it is addressing its housing crisis, and John is reminding us of another little thing we should factor into our thinking before we rush to judgment.
Long may both John and the housing construction continue.
** Fr. John Jennings is a priest of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart.
Special Report by Peadar King, KMF Productions. The four-part series What in the World? begins on RTÉ One Television on Tuesday 1 December 2015 with reports from El Salvador, Libya, Venezuela and Western Sahara.