I’m Sean, production manager of Best Home. Working on the design
side of the magazine, I have seen countless splendid houses and truly inspiring
pieces of architecture. Life in Canada provides many comforts, it’s
important to remember to give back.
Habitat for Humanity is recognized as one of the biggest
organizations dedicated to ending homelessness for underprivileged people
across the globe. Volunteers are required to make a donation and then go on a
one to two week trip to their chosen country to assist in building houses.
Habitat uses this money to buy building supplies as well as hire and train
local people to work along side the build projects.
Early in March, I left behind my first world comforts and
traveled to Mozambique to participate in a weeklong build project. Immediately
upon arrive in the capital, the poverty of the country was overwhelming. The
few roads that were paved were riddled with potholes. Half constructed
buildings stood abandoned and unfinished due to companies running out of money.
Even though this was my second build project with Habitat (the first took place
in Cambodia) I was not prepared for the shock of being thrown into this
setting.
Volunteers from all over the world are welcome to participate
in the build projects. In this case, fifteen Americans and myself (the
Canadian) met in Mozambique’s capital, Maputo. We all made good first
impressions on each other and became fast friends. The day after our arrival we
left the capital for the work site.
A group of forty women awaited the vans. As soon as the
builders stepped out of the vehicles, the women threw their hands in the air
and started singing and dancing toward us. There was an excited energy in the
crowd. We all watched in awe and surprise, each feeling humbled. After a couple
minutes the singing began to quiet, and the dancing became a little less
enthusiastic. At this point, Joyce (our Mozambican Habitat contact) told us
that we were expected to join the group in this big dance. Three other
volunteers and myself stepped forward. The group got its second wind, the
signing picked up, the dancing became fierce and one woman threw her arms
around my neck and started to spin me around! They truly could not have given
us a warmer welcome.
Afterward, Joyce introduced us to the benefactors of the
houses we were to work on. Adelina, a seventy-four year old woman was the sole caregiver
for her three grandsons. Lurdis, in her early thirties, had lost two husbands
to HIV/AIDS. She herself had contracted the virus and was raising four children
(all of whom are HIV free). Both families liven in small reed huts held
together by wire, with only the sandy ground as the floor.
The build itself went very smoothly. We gathered materials,
mixed cement, layered brick, made rebar structures and added corrugated metal
roofing to both of houses we worked on. Each house had two rooms, lockable
windows and door, solid roof, and was having a cement floor installed (this
happened after we left). At the closing ceremonies both Luris and Adelina
showed thanks and appreciation. Again, women of the community started to sing
and dance and offered a pray for the volunteers.
To Canadian standards, these homes would be equivalent to
garden sheds. For the people in the poor communities in Mozambique these were
something to take pride in, something to feel safe with. This was life changing
for them.
Reentry into Canada was odd. I felt a slightly
uncomfortable, oppressive sense of gratitude for everything around me. While
these sorts of projects change the realties and possibilities for the
benefactors of the homes, they also create a fundamental change in the
attitudes and objects of those choosing to be involved. This was by far one of
the most rewarding adventures of my life.
