Habitat for Humanity
Antubochiu, Kenya
 Antubochiu, Kenya is a long way from home. Who would have thought this remote village halfway across the world, with no roads or electricity and not even on the map of Africa would be the place that would be the most unforgettable and impacting experience of my lifetime.
 My husband and I traveled to this distant village to help build homes with Habitat for Humanity in one of the many Global Village building projects that Habitat sponsors around the world. A group of 15 of us from the USA, and Canada along with local Kenyan Habitat volunteers worked together to build 3 homes in this village. The Habitat homes are simple construction, all standard measuring 14x24, made of wood with metal corrugated roofs and concrete floors with no water or electricity. These homes replace their existing mud houses with thatch roofs, which while appearing picturesque, are difficult to maintain and provide a breeding ground for termites and other rodents
 Our living quarters during our stay were quite primitive. We had a campsite with no running water or electricity. Our food was prepared daily by a local African cook. We had lots of vegetarian dishes with little or no meat and plenty of fresh fruit. Each day we got up early and walked to our worksites carrying our building tools of hammers and saws. Along the way the village people would smile and greet us. We worked each day along with other volunteers and sometimes neighbors who joined in to help in any way they could. Despite the language differences, we all managed to work together very well. The children of the village of Antibochiu were so curious about us. Each day at the worksite they would come by in little groups to watch the activity. They had big smiles and would say "Jambo? to all of us. They were beautiful children laughing and playing with such joy. Some of us had bubbles and crayons, which we shared with them. They acted like it was the first time they had ever seen these things.
 Late each afternoon we walked back to our camp very dirty and tired. We looked forward to the luxury of a solar shower. Each morning we filled our shower bags with well water and warmed them in the sun. The night would descend upon us quickly as at the equator there are always 12 equal hours of daylight and darkness. Each night we would have the luxury of looking up at the stars as the African nights have the most magnificent clear skies and the stars and constellations appearing so close and clear you felt you could reach out and touch them.
 We made many special friends with the people of the village and when it was time to leave, we all felt sad. In the two weeks we were there we did complete the 3 homes. The last day we had a little dedication ceremony with all the people we worked with and invited them to our campsite for some refreshments. When it was time to leave the next morning we said our good byes, traded address, took photos and promised to write our special new friends. I will think of them often. . I will see their beautiful smiles, their generosity and perseverance, their love of life, their respect for elders, and their sense of family and community. I will think of all the things they don?t have that we do, but how much they do have that cannot be measured in terms of possessions. I will never forget what we saw and what we did there. What we brought home with us was not so much in terms of tangible items, but the thoughts that remain with me and will stay with me always are and will always be how connected we are to all mankind and how important it is for each of us to try to learn from one another and make the world a better place.
About Habitat for Humanity
Habitat for Humanity is a nonprofit, ecumenical Christian housing organization building simple, decent, affordable housing in partnership with people in need. Volunteers and partner families provide most of the labor, and individual and corporate donors provide money and materials to build Habitat for Humanity houses. Habitat for Humanity houses are sold to partner families at no profit and with no interest charged; mortgage payments are used to build more houses. Habitat for Humanity has built more than 175,000 houses, working in all 50 U.S. states and 100 other countries around the world.
To learn more about Habitat for Humanity, please visit: www.habitatforhumanity.org.
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