Getting More by Giving

I was told if I typed up a blog entry I could go to the office to upload it and be able to check the internet afterwards. My motives may not be pure. (Hello to everyone back in the States!)

We just finished dinner after Day Two. I am trying hard not to watch Champions League football (known as soccer to some) on the TV here in the dining hall at the Honey Pit Lodge near Xai,Mozambique. After two days of work, we are physically exhausted but emotionally exhilarated. There are some high-maintenance folks in the group (okay, only me), but everyone is energetic, positive, eager to work, and easy-going. I don’t remember an application process, but TCHFH did a great job screening people for this trip. Or, maybe, great people are drawn to great things like this.

Of course, this group doesn’t hold a candle to the folks I met on the Costa Rica Global Village trip in February. (My Mozambique trip-mates don’t have internet for another nine days, so by the time they read this they’ll be long gone and unable to hurt me.)

We are working with the community to build three homes for three families in a village about 20 minutes outside of Xai Xai. Everyone in the village lives in huts with dirt floors. Habitat for Humanity requires that future homeowners provide sweat equity, but I have no idea how they track the fact that seemingly every neighbor is voluntarily involving themselves in the process. Even the children are helping haul cinder blocks. It is humbling and inspiring.

These houses are not elaborate – only two small rooms, cinder block walls, concrete floors, and a metal roof that is a huge improvement over the thatch they currently sleep under. We were greeted by an opening ceremony of music and dancing on Monday, and the hospitality has not stopped. We have had lunch cooked by the members of the community; they don’t have to do that, but they won’t stop even if told to. I received a hug this morning from an old lady. We did not share a language, but the embrace spoke volumes. During breaks, the children imitate and laugh at my (totally outstanding) dance moves. We played football yesterday using a ball of rolled up plastic bags.

It is easy to say the situation is hopeless here. The country is still recovering from a brutal civil war 20 years ago, HIV/AIDS is rampant, poverty is ever-present, the life expectancy is only in the low-40’s. But it’s far from hopeless. The people are resilient, positive, welcoming, hard-working, and perpetually grateful. There is indeed abundance here, a true positive spirit that is often lacking in my own life back in the States. Everyone says it’s so great that I can give by going on trips like this, but I am getting ten times more than I can ever give by pushing wheelbarrows of wet cement. I’m making new friends, creating amazing memories, getting a pretty decent workout, and making a real impact on the lives of people half a world away. I don’t think it gets much better than this.

Jon Slock, Habitat Young Professionals Network member