Vacation With A Purpose

Life has certainly been interesting this past year. As many of you know, I’ve made some big changes recently and I’m currently forging a new life path on my own. I am slowly finding my footing and I am anxious for what this next chapter in life will mean for me. Part of this new journey is about challenging and exposing myself to new adventures where I can learn and grow from others. Traveling has always been my preferred choice for just such things and has already played an enormous part of my growth throughout the years. When faced with two weeks of vacation that I typically take off around Christmas to travel, I thought long and hard about what I wanted to do for my first big solo event. Somehow the thought of traveling just for the sake of travel sounded empty and while a break from life was needed, I didn’t exactly feel like celebrating with the usual holiday. I wanted to do something productive and completely out of my comfort zone.

While researching travel destinations that fit this criteria, I decided to look into global volunteer opportunities. A close friend of mine had done two tours of building homes with Habitat for Humanity during law school and inspired me to check out this organization. As luck would have it, the only Habitat for Humanity volunteer opportunity offered during the holiday season was with their Global Village program in China!

To be honest, China wasn’t high on my list of places to visit next. Not sure why, but I think the size of the country is intimidating in the same manner that India and Africa are and it certainly wasn’t a place I ever envisioned traveling to on my own.  Figuring I had nothing to lose, I applied and interviewed for a volunteer position building a house in the Guangdong Providence in Southern China. When I received the acceptance letter a few days later, I knew I had picked the correct path. Everything about this decision just felt right.

Here are some details of the China build:

Who: Habitat for Humanity is a non-profit, international, non-governmental organization that was created in 1967. Habitat’s objective is to build "simple, decent, and affordable" housing for low-income families. The homes are built by volunteers and sold at no profit. Often the families are required to provide sweat equity and help in the building of said homes.

Build Location: Conghua, approximately 40 miles north of Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong Province

Build Duration: Six days

Objective: To eliminate mud-brick houses for low-income families with baked brick homes.

Why Conghua: According to the information provided to me from Habitat, “most residents in this region are rice and fruit farmers, while many young and middle-age villagers work outside the village in local factories and shops. Annual per capita income in the area is roughly US $400. In Guangdong Province, there are still 2.4 million families with 12 million people living in temporary shelter or primitive and dangerous homes made of mud-brick or earthen wall and tile-roof. These houses have no sanitation and ventilation systems. Owing to lack of layout planning, the homes are often too close to livestock pens or simply have families and animals living together. The houses are uncomfortable, unhygienic and vulnerable to floods and typhoons. Each year, many such houses collapse during storms and cause casualty to the people and animals living in them. At least 10,000 rural families in Conghua are living in these types of houses. We will be assisting in the transformation from mud-brick homes to homes with baked brick walls and reinforced concrete roofs.

Working together with the local government and the villagers, Habitat for Humanity (HFH) China has built houses for 19 needy families in Conghua, and is planning to build another 55 houses and community facilities in this year. The construction for this year commenced in March and is anticipated to finish by early 2011. Besides building houses, HFH China also helps to improve community facilities such as roads, sewage and drainage systems, as well as the drinking water supply. Additionally, more effective planning will lead to a greater separation of people and animals and dramatically increase hygiene, while reducing disease and illness. In this way, we will help transform the existing unsafe and unhygienic aspects of the town into a secure and healthy community.”

My Role: While on the build, there will be on site professional builders, who will provide us with instruction and supervision. Thank goodness! Volunteers will most likely be involved in passing bricks, laying bricks to help build walls, shoveling, moving material in wheelbarrows or buckets, and possibly helping to dig foundations, etc.

So here I am less than a week away from my China adventure. The thought of me doing manual labor and helping build a house has amused many people; none more so than my brother. But I am excited for this experience and I am up for the hard work and challenges ahead of me. Also, the trip won’t entirely be about work. I will be flying to Hong Kong to explore on my own for several days prior to the build and then I am off to Beijing and Shanghai after the build. And at the very least, my time in China and the Habitat For Humanity experience should provide me with entertaining writing material!

Stay tuned friends.