Instead of presents for my 50th birthday I want to try and raise funds, through Mission Direct, to help to build a home for a family in the Dominican Republic (DR). This is a charity and a cause that has been close to my heart for a number of years. It costs just £4,000 to build a house for a family.Away from the pristine beaches and holiday locations, poverty is a significant challenge there. Many of the poor are Haitian refugees and migrants who travelled to the DR looking for a better life, only to become trapped in informal settlements and slum dwellings. Mission Direct (a UK based charity of which I am a trustee) want to build 21 houses in the Rio De Vida village being developed by the Samaritan Foundation (based in the DR), which will be a sustainable village with secure brick-built houses and local services like a school, and other community and medical facilities. Please help me to house a needy family in the DR.If there is any surplus from this project, it will be allocated to general project development to benefit people in the future, and Mission Direct will use the Gift Aid collected to cover general operational and administrative costs.