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La Casa de Norma
A firefighter in a helmet and breathing gear steps through the door of the house at night. The wall is sea-green; through the barred window the orange glow of the fire is visible inside.

Riacho He Hé, Formosa

La Casa de Norma

A fire took a great deal from us, but not the most important thing: the strength of a community that stays.

Help rebuildRead the story

What happened

The fire took our house

On Monday 7 September, at 4.30 in the morning, a fire destroyed the family home in Riacho He Hé. Norma died. Her husband survived and is in treatment.

Read the full story
Two firefighters with a hose in front of an opening from which high flames and black smoke are coming. The water has already wet the floor.
The firefighters of Riacho He Hé working on the front of the house.
The front of the house in daylight. The sea-green wall is stained black above the window and the paint has lifted from the heat. The sheet metal of the eaves is twisted.
A room with no roof. The walls are bare brick, black in one corner; a burned timber beam hangs in the empty space and the floor is covered in rubble.
The garage with a burned-out car in the centre. The walls and the sheet-metal roof are black and the floor is covered in burned remains.

This is what was left of our house.

The community

People showed up

Family, neighbours and friends. In the same days as the fire, the community organised to clear and haul debris.

A man with a shovel piles rubble into a mound of broken brick and ash. Behind him, the bucket of a yellow loader is already full of burned remains.
Burned engine parts laid on the floor and on a table, sorted by type: pipes, exhaust manifolds, a blue crate of tools. The legs of several people working around them are visible.

Together, everything is possible.

See the work on the house

How to help

Your help counts too

Three paths. Choose one.

Norma looks at the camera, smiling slightly. She is in her kitchen, wearing a black blouse with white dots. Behind her, a cupboard with glasses and a shelf of framed family photographs.

Norma Edith Bedoya

A woman who told the story of her town.

She spent much of her life recording the everyday history of Riacho He Hé.

Read her story

What comes next

More than a house

First we want to rebuild a house. Then we want to help build opportunities for Riacho He Hé through communication and digital tools.

Once the family has a place to live, the intention is that this continues: communication and digital tools for other people in the town. It is not an organisation yet. The site says so.

The same community that is helping today can create more opportunities.

What comes next

What people usually ask

  • What happened?

    On Monday 7 September, at 4.30 in the morning, a fire destroyed the family home in Riacho He Hé. Norma died that night.

    Her husband got out, but he inhaled a lot of smoke and is under treatment.

    Read what happened

  • How can I help?

    Three paths: go and give a hand, donate money, or bring something that is still needed. How to help is where you choose one.

    This page does not process payments or ask for card details.

    Choose how to help

  • What do you want to build afterwards?

    First, rebuild the house. After that, the intention is that this continues: communication and digital tools for other people from the town. There is not yet a constituted organisation, and no published programme.

    Read what the legacy sets out to do

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