Habitat World Online


	Habitat for Humanity staff member Sue Johnson has come to know substandard housing first hand.

Learning Lessons in South Africa

By Sue Johnson

Editor's note: This essay is Part 3 in a series written by Sue Johnson, a Habitat staff member in South Africa. Following a call to develop land for researching sustainable farming, she and her husband committed to living on the land in conditions similar to those experienced by poor working families in the area. From this change in location have flowed new insights into the issues surrounding substandard housing.

The past year we have been living a life so far removed from our normal life of comfort and security that I sometimes found myself questioning God. We have gone through so much and had so many issues to deal with.

Living without electricity and running water is not fun. The constant fetching and carrying of water becomes a daily drudgery and your arms begin to ache. There was no longer a TV to watch at night or a microwave to speed up cooking. There was no longer a food processor or oven to make the kind of meals we were used to eating. No fridge meant no ice and no ability to store fresh food, and so daily shopping became the norm.

The weather became our constant source of worry as the rains fell and continued to fall throughout the summer rainy season and into the drier autumn. Day after day we would have to clear up the mess left by the rains. The soil washed down through the valley, leaving our kitchen under water and the pots and pans muddy. The plastic film we had fitted as windows would tear under the strain of the high winds. It was a constant battle with nature.

On one occasion my husband Brian was so close to giving up. He became so tired, trying to live a normal life in very difficult circumstances. But God is good, and from time to time there were moments when at night we would sit around a wood fire, under the millions of stars, and listen to the owls hooting, and for that brief period, life felt good and we were given the will to continue.


No child deserves to be raised in a shack. ... The things we take for granted must never cloud our understanding of the reality of substandard housing.

So what have we learned about poverty housing?

We cannot shut our ears to the cry of the poor. We who are able to afford to live in a decent home with electricity and running water must never ever forget the blessings we have been given. The things we take for granted must never ever cloud our understanding of the reality of substandard housing, for the millions of South Africans who will live out the rest of their lives in squalor.

No child deserves to be raised in a shack. No child should have to study by candlelight or sleep in beds soaked by a leaking roof. No father should have to lie awake at night wondering if his home will be washed away from beneath him. No mother should have to walk for mile after mile to collect water to feed and wash her children. It is not acceptable!

As a fund-raiser for Habitat in South Africa, I am determined to do even more for the children and families living in shacks in this country. We have recently launched the 1,000 House Campaign, which aims over the next two years to take 1,000 families out of shacks and provide them with the opportunity to own a Habitat house.

We cannot continue to ignore what these families have to endure each day as they try to work, raise a family and keep their homes dry and secure.

Would we do this again? No. However, we have valued the experience and we have grown in our understanding and commitment to eradicate poverty housing. We as a couple have grown in our faith and we today truly appreciate all that God has taken us through to open our hearts to the plight of the poor.

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