Selavip (Friends of Fund)

The Fund was created on the initiative of philanthrophic friends. They use their own network and that of the asbl Selavip to collect donations. The funds collected are used to financially support various projects of the organisation.

Selavip International asbl was founded in Brussels in 1977 to co-finance social housing projects with the Belgian government. The non-profit organization was mainly active in the financing of social housing projects in the Third World, which were carried out by the Foundation van der Rest Emsens. This was created in 1969 by the family of Father Josse van der Rest s.j. to support the housing of the poorest through its projects.

Father Josse van der Rest, born in 1924, left in 1959 on a mission to Chile where he integrated himself in a local work, the so-called Hogar de Christo. Within Hogar de Christo, Father van der Rest started building homes for the homeless in the cities, an activity that later spread to other countries as well. All projects supported by the van der Rest Emsens Foundation are coordinated by a team of 4 people, including Father van der Rest, who lives in Santiago de Chile. Over the years, the team developed the Selavip "label" and is currently creating, at the local level, a new legal entity Fundacion Selavip, to serve as a local legal platform. The team is also in charge of the website www.selavip.org, where the project news and calls are published.