Greater lessons -- Habitat for Humanity Int'l 1
Greater lessons
Students learn about Habitat — and themselves — through Habitat’s Youth Program Learn and Build Experience.
For 16 high school students in Habitat for Humanity’s final Learn and Build Experience trip of 2010, the houses they worked on were just the foundation for what they took home.
Sitting cross-legged in a park in Tacoma, Washington, a few blocks from the downtown church where the team stayed for the last week of July, the students reflected on what they had learned.
“I learned a lot about affordable housing. And I learned how much I don’t know,” said Betsy Benedict, from Michigan. In the evenings, participants gathered for activities, speakers and simulations to help them better understand Habitat and substandard housing issues. Occasionally, the kids groaned, exhausted after a day of shoveling or antsy to play Frisbee. Mostly, though, they embraced the opportunity to learn.
After role-playing as a family selection committee and making decisions about which families an imaginary Habitat affiliate would select, the kids dug deeper into how and why Habitat partners with families. Another evening, students attended a student-made film about homelessness in Seattle and participated in a discussion with members of the community.
“I learned my cell phone isn’t as important as I thought,” said Emily Cohen, from South Florida. Perhaps one of the most powerful things about Learn and Build Experience—and many Habitat volunteers’ experiences—is the sense of community and the confidence and friendship individuals bring to and take from that community.
On Thursday, the kitchen filled with loud laughter, banging pots, the tiniest hint of smoke and the comforting smell of pancakes and bacon as one of the cooking teams put together their chosen meal: breakfast for dinner. The team—four high school kids who had hardly ever cooked for themselves and one frozen-pizza-inclined team leader—beamed with pride at the admittedly delicious breakfast buffet when it all came together.
The kids, from all over the country, constantly compared their accents and taught each other about “foreign” lands they had never heard firsthand accounts about, such as Milwaukee—identified on a makeshift map of silverware and hands at the dinner table for a geographically disinclined participant—or Botswana, where one participant had visited an orphanage a few months prior.
“I learned what a ratchet is,” Jasmine Rivera, a Californian who took her first flight to be part of the trip, said proudly. The team worked on a number of houses in Salishan, a neighborhood where temporary housing built for World War II ship workers had fallen into disrepair. Whether landscaping, painting, caulking, laying tile or hanging blue board in the neighborhood being revamped by the Tacoma Housing Authority, each participant took on new challenges. Guided by patient instruction from team leaders, construction staff, other volunteers and one another, they quickly increased their skills and found tasks they loved.
On site, the students joked with Guy Nielsen, one of the Habitat Tacoma/Pierce construction supervisors. After most of the team spent a day painting doors and caulking windowsills, they saw Abigail Mendez, the homeowner, cry with joy, grasping her sons during her house dedication.
Lives of service are built by learning and giving and by seeing the results and rewards of that service for oneself and others. Hopefully, the work in July was just the beginning of what these young people will build.
Shelly Whittet is a writer/editor for Habitat for Humanity International.
Related:
Helping Habitat “For the Fun of It”
A young volunteers learns that “You stumble upon amazing things when you’re least expecting them.”
Learn about Habitat for Humanity’s Youth Programs
Habitat for Humanity has projects and volunteer opportunities for youth ages 5 to 25, their teachers and youth group leaders.