August 2007
February 2008
The Blueprint Global Village - Trip of a Lifetime There are days when the Vancouver rain makes me think how nice it would be to take off and do something totally different – go volunteer in Guatemala building houses, for example. Well, I just did that. I’m back, and it’s still raining! It was, well, amazing. Wonderful programme, marvelous country, lovely families, incredible volunteers. It’s the truth: I can’t wait to go back. There’s nothing quite like hauling concrete blocks through a peaceful cornfield on a sunny day in the middle of nowhere. And knowing that in a couple of weeks, this family will have a clean, dry, safe place to raise their kids. The programme? Global Village, which is Habitat’s own mini-peace-corp programme, for people who want to travel the world and do something more meaningful than laying on a beach, but can’t quite manage a two year commitment. Trips are typically ten days to two weeks long, and include recreation time in the country you’re visiting. Volunteer leaders offer to plan a trip – they can be ‘closed’ teams from a church, business, family, school – or ‘open’ teams posted on the Habitat Canada website. With the latter, people apply from all over the country and arrange a phone interview with the leader before being selected. The leaders plan the trip with help from Canada’s Global Village office and the staff in the host country. Once the team arrive in the country, local guides meet and travel with them, facilitate communication, arrange cultural events, and generally make sure the team has a positive experience. It’s a wonderful way to experience a culture close up and make a genuine contribution somewhere in the world. Which country? I picked Guatemala, which has the biggest Global Village programme in the world – we celebrated House 25,000 while I was there. If you just read Canadian news, you’d only hear about the problems there, and they’re real ones, but there’s also reasons for hope, and a real strength in the people and the culture. That’s what touched me the most. I was there for six months as a guide for incoming teams from the US and Canada, helping them get oriented and adapt to a different culture. There’s no language requirement to join a team, so part of my job was helping out with translating. My Spanish isn’t brilliant, but I can talk about re-bar and mortar. In Guatemala, lots of the masons and families spoke indigenous languages like Mam or Kak’chiquel, so they’re very understanding. Volunteers who didn’t speak Spanish found other ways to communicate. Ah, yes, the families. My strongest memory is from the first team, where the grandmother Doña Emilia cried in my arms when we said goodbye, because her daughters would have a home to raise their families close to hers. Or maybe it was El Naranjo, where the women of the family showed me how to carry gravel uphill on your head in a dishpan. There were twelve of them living in a couple of adobe huts when we arrived. Or the family in Barrio Las Vegas, who’d built their own Habitat house a dozen years ago, and now that they were wellestablished, were helping a single mother build a Habitat home on their land. Or the colonia in Rabinal, built for the poorest families who are still recovering from the effects of the civil war. The programme is a huge help to the local affiliates. Volunteers pay for the cost of their trip : typically $1000-$2000 plus airfare (tax deductible), which includes a significant donation ($420 or more) to the host country programme. This enables poorer countries, where there are few corporate donors, to expand their building programmes and reach more families. Because it’s a charitable donation, some volunteers ask their employers to sponsor them, or fundraise for the trip – the best story I heard was a student who organized a kegger to raise funds. In return, the host country helps with the planning, logistical support and hospitality. I don’t think many package tours can offer local people who are quite so pleased to see us! There’s nothing quite like taking a fantastic holiday that also provides a new chance in life for the people you meet. Most teams include R&R, of course – I took teams hiking up an active volcano, swimming off a boat on a beautiful lake, shopping for handwoven textiles at indigenous mountain villages, exploring limestone caves and waterfalls, sipping refrescos in cafes in gorgeous colonial towns. (Cont’d page 2)
Citizens Bank partners with Habitat for Humanity Canada during 2008 RSP season! If you buy a Citizens Bank RSP this year, you can create a solid foundation for your future while helping build a house for someone in need. For every $1,000 you invest at Citizens Bank during this year’s RSP season, Citizens will donate $10 to Habitat for Humanity Canada, up to a maximum of $50,000. Contribution deadline is February 29, 2008
February 2008
The Blueprint
And then there’s the volunteers. I organized three ‘open’ teams myself while I was there – complete strangers from all across Canada (yes, Nunavit too) who couldn’t wait to spend their vacation mixing concrete for needy families. What’s not to like about them? There were grandmothers, construction workers, nurses, bankers, students, singles, families, retirees – what a way to meet a group of people you’d really enjoy spending vacation time with. So many people went home saying it’s changed their lives. One young woman is now off volunteering for six months in India as you read this; others have signed up to lead their own teams. It’s been such a privilege for me to work with them and to keep that faith that you really can make a difference to people, no matter how far away. A little help goes a long way - $3000 builds a house in Guatemala, for example, which relieves overcrowding, cuts down on the respiratory diseases that kill the children, and offers dignity and hope for families trapped in poverty. Families will pay for the houses at a pace they can afford, and the funds go on to help more families and expand the programme. Throughout the world, Habitat has already built homes for a million people in need—most of them children—and it’s the willingness of individual volunteers to participate, one house at a time, that has made this possible. The need is huge, but there’s a solution: volunteers ‘with big hearts,’ as they say in Spanish. I’d love to talk or show you photos - kids, smiles, families, houses, dreams come true. Better yet, come share the experience, and go home with memories of your own. Sylvia Berryman sylvia.berryman@gmail.com
Global Village volunteer team leaders will talk about their experiences on March 20 at 8pm at the New Life Community Church, 8765 Government St, Burnaby. For more information, call 604-681-5618. For more information, on Habitat Canada’s Global Village program: http://www.habitat.ca/homec206.php
Investors Group working on the Phase 4 houses Page 2
Volunteers! 2007 was an unprecedented success on the Government Street build; in August four more houses became homes for Habitat partner families and by December another four houses were almost halfway to completion. On one of the last build weekends of 2007 the volunteer committee hosted a hot breakfast to celebrate the success and once again acknowledge how much Habitat for Humanity depends on the work and dedication of volunteers; nothing could happen in construction or at the Burnaby and Vancouver ReStores without the help of so many people who give the gift of their time. A growing number of individuals were recognized for giving over 40 hours and over 100 hours of their skills and time in 2007. Tim Horton’s on North Road provided delicious hot breakfast sandwiches and a donation of gallons of brewed coffee. Special thanks to the volunteers on the committee; Jane Davidson and Ameliya Brathwaite for helping to host the breakfast and Lori Hord, Lisa Cope and Angela Brathwaite for planning volunteer recognition gifts For over 40 volunteer hours at the build site Habitat for Humanity Greater Vancouver thanks: Grame Bell, Elissa Schmidt, Callum Baughen, Barbara Yung, Chris Wu, Jeremy Currie, Daniel Lindenberger, Sylvia Berryman, Winston Lomeda, Carl Eriksson, Carson Carter, Shane Hansen, Eduardo de Guzman Sr, Helen Roelofsen, and Jag Baines. For over 40 volunteer hours at the Burnaby and Vancouver ReStores: Nicholas Lauzon, Calvin Miller, Alan Ralph, Yana Sabanskis, Bill Qually, Renee Gardener, June Spurr, David Bastien, Alexandra Henriques, Teddy Evans, Roger Boychuck, Angus Fraser, Nell Aird, Gary Dunlop, Laurie Pujo and Tod Moore. For over 100 volunteer hours with the ReStore, sincere gratitude is owed to: Leona Zhong, Miguel Flores, Lynne Johnston, Stephanie Perrin, Marlene Reilly, Diane Stiglish, Jan Wegman, Mike Hamaliuk, Michael Naples, Richard Cameron, and Ray Dodson. Astrid Opsetmoen was recognized for over 100 hours between both ReStores and in particular for helping in the opening of the new Vancouver location. For over 100 volunteer build hours in 2007, sincere gratitude is owed to: Wayne Carrick, Carl Eden, Wayne Stewart, Lawrence Davis, Michael MacNeil, John Forrester, Simon Gould, Brian Gouge, Signi MacNeil, Gary Owen and Hannah Edwards. Eileen Keenan, Al Deby and Ken Snell were also thanked for over 100 hours between the ReStore and construction site.
February 2008
The Blueprint Phase 4 Sponsors
$100,000+ James Richardson & Sons, Ltd Real Estate Foundation of BC $50,000+ Ventana Construction Corporation The Home Depot Canada $20,000+ eBay Foundation Teekay Corporation $10,000+ Architectural Woodwork Manufacturers Association of Canada - BC; Genworth Financial Mortgage Co of Canada; GWL Realty Advisors with Gateway Property Management Co and Omicron; Macdonald Realty Ltd; Investors Group; TD Canada Trust $,5000+ Alexander Holburn Beaudin & Lang; Ames Tile & Stone; Commonwealth Insurance; First Canadian Title, Hardie; Standard Lumber; Tonko Realty and Special recognition of The Roofing Contractors Association of BC for their multi-phase support
Thanks to the “Adopt Us For a Day” teams who donated and volunteered time between August 2007 & January 2008
Air Canada Jazz, BC Housing Management Commission, BC Hydro, Black & McDonald, Bootlegger, Business in Vancouver, CSA International, Edge Consulting, Ernst & Young, FaithLife Financial, First Canadian Title, Genworth Financial Mortgage Co of Canada, GWL Realty Advisors with Gateway Property Management Corporation and Omicron, Investors Group, Methanex, Nokia, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Sandwell, Richmond Fire & Rescue, TD Canada Trust, Telus—Sales Office, Weyerhaeuser and to these groups for their help on the site or at the ReStore:
BC Hydro, BCIT Architectural Building and Engineering Technicians (ABET program), Guava Club, KPMG, St. David’s United Church West Vancouver, The Jasper Family, UBC Boulevard Café, White Rock Community Church, Women with Purpose Page 3
February 2008
The Blueprint
Canadian Business for Social Responsibility “Seeing is Believing” Tour www.cbsr.ca
Seeing is Believing is a national business leadership program that provides a powerful personal experience, illustrating the role business leaders can play in shaping society through their actions both inside and outside their business. It aims to maximize the value of business investment in the community by benefiting from the knowledge and expertise of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and creating lasting partnerships between NGOs and business. Last November CBSR came to the Habitat Burnaby build site on a local tour, led by Bob Elton of BC Hydro. Hearing that we needed roofers, two of the CEO participants took immediate action and pulled out their cell phones to organize and pay for roofers to work on the site. A special “Thank you” to them for making things happen!
CREW LEADERS WANTED…. To build on the success of the past year the Construction Committee is searching for more Crew Leaders who could lead small groups of 2 to 4 volunteers in site projects, help familiarize them with site tools and techniques and continue to develop the on-site experience for less practiced volunteers. New Crew Leaders will attend an on-site Crew Leader Orientation workshop, receive additional training for fall protection and use of heavy equipment, and practice specific skills like window and door installation. Previous knowledge of construction is useful but not essential; some of the best crew leaders have transferable skills from a related field or have worked as teachers or instructors with the patience to help new build volunteers get comfortable on a construction site. Crew Leaders are volunteers with strong communication skills and the ability to guide and instruct a group of two to four lesser skilled volunteers in a particular construction task through to its completion. If you can attend a crew leading workshop this spring, let Adrian know at volunteer@vancouverhabitat.bc.ca or by phone to the Habitat office at 604 681 5618 ext. 23. Mark Your Calendar! Our Fundraising Concert by the Universal Gospel Choir is on Saturday May 10 2008 at 8pm Olivet Baptist Church, New Westminster To order tickets call 605-681-5618
YES! I want to help a family build a home: Enclosed is my contribution of: $250
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Name: _____________________________________________________ Address: ___________________________________________________ City: ________________________ Pr: _______ Postal Code _________ Email: _________________________________ Tel No: _____________ My cheque is enclosed Payable to: Habitat for Humanity Society of Greater Vancouver Please charge my credit card: (please circle one)
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Card Number: __________________________________ Expiration date:____________ Signature: _______________________________ Habitat for Humanity Society of Greater Vancouver, PO Box 60577 Granville Park PO, Vancouver, BC V6H 4B9 Phone: 604.681.5618 Fax: 604.326.0122 Email: info@vancouverhabitat.bc.ca Page 4