IRISH ‘HABITAT’ VOLUNTEERS BUILD HOMES AND GOODWILL IN PARAGUAY – EMIGRANT

While the eyes of the world last week were fixed firmly on Beijing, Irish eyes might reason to shine on some other worthy delegates of the green white and gold who just touched down in a very different part of the world and for a very different reason.

The 15 members of the “Habitat for Humanity Ireland,” Paraguay team are set to build two family homes in an impoverished community in the South of the country all before they depart again within two weeks.

The group hail from all over Ireland and are rounded off with two Irish-based Canadians and one Aussie.

Unlike their sporting counterparts, this team has their minds set on anything but medals, each of them seem to have their own goals from the trip but the one thing that does unite them all is a desire to give.

On arrival in Encarnacion, one of Paraguay’s main cities after an almost 35 hour journey, Liam Rose a 20-year-old stone Mason from Tipperary tells me, “I just want to help people that are a lot worse off than me.”

This seems to sum up the spirit among the mixed group of students and professionals who range in ages from 20-66. They will be working side by side with local Habitat for Humanity staff as well as the soon to be new homeowners.

Since 1976 the Habitat for Humanity charity which was founded in the United States has built or rehabilitated more than 200,000 houses in 100 countries around the world becoming a global leader in addressing the issues of poverty housing.

Habitat for Humanity Ireland was founded in 2002 and now sends on average 30 teams abroad every year to places as far flung as Zambia to Kyrgyzstan.

The organisation say they offer “a hand up” rather than “a hand out” as they work together with homeowners and volunteers to construct the houses using donations of money, materials and professional expertise. The families themselves play a huge part in the building process. As well as completing a home ownership training course, they must also invest hundreds of hours of their own labour, “sweat equity,” into building their Habitat house and the houses of others. This ensures that house costs are kept to a minimum.

Giselle Murphy, one of the project coordinators tells me “We are dedicated to eliminating poverty housing worldwide. We work around the world with volunteers from all backgrounds, races and religions to build homes together with families in need. Paraguay was an obvious choice for us.”

As one of the most underprivileged countries in South America you can find one out of three families renting or living in a borrowed house in Paraguay. In rural zones fewer than 25 percent of the population have running water.

We’ll be catching up with the build and the volunteers over the next weeks to see how they have been getting on.

By Paul Byrne for the Irish Emigrant

Leave a comment