Habitat for Humanity is passionately dedicated to a vision of a world where everyone has a safe, decent and affordable place to live. We mobilise and encourage communities all around the world to respond to the housing crisis that exists in their own neighbourhoods. We stand not as ‘us’ and ‘them’, but together, and in doing so create long-lasting solutions that really work. As the Harlem poet, June Jordan, put it:
WE ARE THE ONES WE HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR! By building homes with our homepartners, we can join the struggle to break the poverty cycle that locks families and individuals into poverty housing and the many attendant problems: disease; lack of sanitation and education; inability to make a living; unscrupulous landlords; dependency; despair.
Come and build a home. Our homepartners invite you. So what are you waiting for?
Join one of our Global Village Challenges and you will help a family in need build their own home, transforming their lives and quite possibly your own – forever. A Habitat for Humanity home is a hand-up – not a hand-out – and our volunteers only go where they are invited to stand alongside local communities to support them in their hard work. You are invited; will you join them? By working, sharing, sweating, eating and laughing together, you will form a once in a lifetime bond with the new homepartner, their friends, their neighbours and your fellow volunteers. As you work on the new home, you will help another family face the future with the certainty that leaking roofs, insect infestations and cramped conditions will be things of the past. Your hard work will give them the extra support they need to help break the poverty cycle. You will come away from the experience having improved their lives forever.
Our Homepartner Families Our Homepartner families are selected from poor communities based on their housing need and income and they participate in the construction of their own home by investing hundreds of hours of their own labour through a process we call ‘sweat equity’. Homepartners work with Habitat for Humanity through a variety of responsible finance programmes and their repayments are recycled back into the local community to help build more affordable homes. This means that the funds you raise will be re-used time after time.
Fred’s Story: HFH in Uganda Sebamala Frederick Daniel and his family used to live in a decrepit, old classroom which doubled as a workshop, office and family bedroom. It was all they had. “Due to the nature of my job,” Fred, a teacher, explains, “I was unable to put up a house for myself. I also have a large family and dependants who look up to me for a living.” With no private facilities, Fred and his family had to share a toilet with the entire school and, because of modesty, could only bathe at night in the school’s crowded compound. Fred has now retired from teaching and his pension enables him to maintain a Habitat home loan and a happy family. They have now moved in to their own Habitat home with their own facilities. A Habitat home loan has enabled Fred to fulfill his long-standing ambition to provide a decent house for his family; they have not looked back.
Fred proudly shows off his Habitat home
International Global Village Challenges Our Global Village teams that build abroad typically spend between one and two weeks on the home building and renovation projects. They live and work alongside the community, not as tourists, but as learners. As an individual volunteer, you can join an ‘Open Team’ and work on one of our pre-arranged build projects across the world. Please contact us for specific details of dates and destinations or visit www.habitatforhumanity.org.uk and follow the ‘volunteering’ links. Alternatively, you can recruit your own team from your friends, workplace or church and choose from the countries that accept volunteers. You can make more decisions about where and when to go. If you would like a Habitat representive to visit your group to discuss in more detail, please contact our office on 01295 264240. Habitat for Humanity can provide unique opportunities for Corporate volunteering. Please contact the office on 01295 264240 or email corporateinfo@habitatforhumanity.org.uk
Individuals and groups from all backgrounds ar welcome to join e a Global Village Challenge. Preparation is ke y: here are som e vital points to note... ~ You will se
e another countr y and culture th rough the eyes those who live th of ere. ~ You will be w orking alongsid e our selected ho family, local volu mepartner nteers and trad es people to bu ild a home. ~ You come as a guest, not an ov erseer; as a lear an instructor. ner and not ~ No building skills are require d! All you need enthusiasm, will is plenty of ingness to learn an d th e desire to mak a difference. e ~ Skilled local supervisors will show you all yo know and you w u need to on’t have to do anything that m you uncomfortab akes le. ~ Working in de veloping countr ies means flexib and a positive at ility, patience titude are prereq uisites for our vo lunteers. ~ A commitmen t to raising fund s w ill provide the capi needed for hous tal e-building in the host country.
She says: “It was physically demanding but very rewarding. I really enjoyed the contact with the local people, especially the children. Everyone was so warm and friendly. “It was fascinating to see the community from within. We completed one of the homes and had a dedication ceremony. It was very emotional. I can hardly find the words. Let me just say that it was such a rewarding time I can’t wait to go back!”
Liverpool is undergoing a massive regeneration programme after a period of depression in the 1980s, which led to areas of poor, cramped and dilapidated housing. Volunteers can join Habitat for Humanity Liverpool on the building site between Monday and Saturday for one day’s work or many.
Habitat for Humanity Southwark also welcomes individuals and groups of volunteers to come and build alongside our homepartner families in Peckham, south London.
Contact us at Habitat for Humanity Great Britain on 01295 264240 to be put in touch with the appropriate office.
Climate change is a reality that heavily impacts on the World’s poor. Habitat for Humanity seeks alternative and low-impact construction technology. Intelligent, holistic environmental solutions can empower the poor with skills and business opportunities; benefit the local economy; bring down house construction costs; and enable us to reach more people in need of decent housing. We don’t have to choose between serving the poor and protecting the environment! In Nepal, Habitat is empowering homepartners to double their daily income by weaving bamboo mats that are turned into corrugated bamboo sheeting to replace more expensive wall and roof materials. This bamboo roofing is cost-effective, locally sourced and environmentally friendly!
In Kyrgyzstan, Habitat has revived traditional Cane Reed housing, combining it with cheap and efficient under-floor heating to cut energy costs by 75%. After the foundation, the houses are primarily made of reeds, wooden frames, clay and straw - all sourced locally. The result is high quality, well-insulated and earthquake-resistant houses that are cheaply produced without relying on carbon-intensive technologies. From bamboo houses in Bangladesh to stabilized soil block technology in India, there is a lot happening. Contact us on 01295 264240 to request more information.
Habitat for Humanity offers volunteering building projects in the UK and abroad that are hands-on, rewarding and truly life-changing. Habitat for Humanity offers real solutions to real people facing real housing poverty; a hand-up, not a hand-out. You can be a part of this; there are many ways to support our work. Please check out www.habitatforhumanity.org.uk or call 01295 264240 for more information.
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Habitat for Humanity Great Britain, 46 West Bar Street, Banbury, OX16 9RZ © 2008 Habitat for Humanity Great Britain. All rights reserved. Charity Number 1043641 “We are the ones we have been waiting for” by June Jordan: Copyright 2005 June Jordan Literary Estate trust; reprinted by permission. www.junejordan.com Photographs courtesy of: HFHI, HFHGB, Liz Burke; Mike Flamm; Kim MacDonald; Chris McGranahan; Denise Muschell; Gregg Pachkowski; Alysia Peyton; Steffan Hacker; Mark Wessells; Stephen Wilson. Barry Willis/Serco Group plc.