Friendship evening hosted by Soroptimist Habitat for Humanity

Both soroptimists and guests enjoyed a well illustrated talk about Habitat for Humanity given by Mandy McAlister who works for the Department of Agriculture in Ballymena.

Habitat for Humanity, which was initiated by President Jimmy Carter, is a non-denominational Christian organisation which seeks to contribute to the eradication of poverty in housing world-wide and make the provision of adequate shelter a matter of conscience and action.

In 2003 Mandy joined a group of 1000 international female volunteers whose task was to participate in a blitz build, in other words to build 100 houses in 5 days in a poor district of Durban in South Africa.

To begin with each volunteer was required to take part in some basic training and to raise funds towards the project. In fact the fund- raising exceeded the need by an amazing 7,500 which meant that 3 other projects benefitted- God’s Golden Acre Orphanage, Orphans of AIDS trust and a gardening programme which enhanced the house-building project.

On arrival in Durban Mandy was shocked by the level of poverty in housing describing the shacks made of discarded pieces of metal and shelters made from cardboard. It made the task of building 100 houses all the more meaningful. The site allocated to Habitat was a strip of land which had been cleared of its black populace during apartheid to separate the black population from the white population.

The potential Habitat home owners had to reach three criteria to be included in the project. They had to have a genuine need for permanent shelter, demonstrate a willingness to partner the volunteers in the building programme and they needed to have the ability to pay the mortgage on a consistent monthly basis.

By our standards the mortgages were extremely low but commensurate with the earning power of the owners.

Each house was built by a group which included the house-owner, some skilled workers, the volunteers and a representative of each of the four different ethnic backgrounds in Durban – Indian, Africaans, White South African and Black South African. The houses built would appear basic to us but they represented the epitome of luxury to the potential occupants who couldn’t believe they would have electricity and running water.

Photographs of the ‘before’ and ‘after’ presented a dramatic picture of how a barren strip of land was transformed into a community of 100 houses in 5 days. On completion of the scheme there was a visit from Jimmy carter and his wife and they presented each home-owner with a bible.

Mandy emphasised how amazing the experience was. She spoke of the spirit of those she met - home-owners, the orphans, those suffering from AIDS and many other poverty stricken South Africans. She was humbled and inspired by their cheerfulness, their welcome and their hope in face of extreme adversity.