Local and international volunteers had reason to celebrate as the houses neared completion.

Maureen 'Mo' McCafferty
Boulder, Colo.

"This was my first Jimmy Carter Work Project after serving a year with AmeriCorps VISTA in Boulder, Colo. In South Africa, I worked alongside several Americans, including a New York firewoman, and with four Northern Ireland women who had never done anything like this before.

"Even after a long, hard week of leading an all-women construction crew, Friday came with much excitement. Everyone was ready to be finished and to see the homeowners earn a new home. Many of them had never owned anything in their lives. At one point on Friday afternoon, they broke out in this incredible song and dance. I had never experienced something like this and was not sure what was going on.

"Then the homeowners came out of the house, and I could see all the happiness and excitement in their faces and hear it in their voices. I forgot my question and was overcome with energy to finish our house. I found out that they were celebrating and thanking God, as they were about to sign their home contracts with Habitat for Humanity."


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