Luxury Homes for Mozambique

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.