Habitat

For Humanity

‘Learning from Each Other’ – since 1994

Habitat for Humanity

On of the most challenging and life-enhancing projects Shimna was involved in was with Habitat for Humanity.

First of all, we had to commit to fundraising. We would not only have to fundraise to get ourselves to Ethiopia, but also to contribute to the building materials we would be using, and towards the completion of the building project we would be working on. We soon realised that the need is so much greater than our inexpert building skills could meet. We wondered if we should travel at all, or if we should just raise the funds and let the local people do the building themselves. But slowly we got our heads round how Habitat works, and why it is important to get relatively privileged people like us from Northern Ireland to the country we wanted to support.

The trust is that once you’ve been there, once you recognise the need, you will probably contribute every time you see a Habitat campaign because you understand what building a home means to people. Our local project with New-Bridge had also given us some insight into the help Northern Ireland had itself needed when so much housing was destroyed or abandoned during the Troubles. Northern Ireland has plenty of support from Habitat in building homes in shared areas now our peace process is underway.

So, armed with a bit more knowledge and understanding, we set about fundraising. Ethiopia first and then in subsequent years, our students and staff would head to India and to Romania, and the fundraising challenge was always the first hurdle. Everyone had to find their own way. Pub Quizzes proved to be a great way to get the local community involved. Some students took the creative route and organised a fundraising concert. Raffles were a great way of involving the whole school community. Jo Rodgers thought up the best one, and organised a twelve hour board games marathon!

Linking in with the school commitment to Fair Trade led to fundraising sweetie stalls. On the sweetie front, Irene Mathieu had always contributed her classes’ German traditional gingerbread housebuilding to good causes, and turned the focus on Habitat. Parent Kathy Black offered the opportunity to take over the Mourne Market as a Youth Market fundraiser. Students organised bookstalls, craft stalls and best of all, bun stalls. Shimna parent, and fabulous chef, Andy Fitzpatrick and Alicia Rooney produced food so good that people in the street were telling others to abandon their shopping and get some! Then sometimes you just have to raise awareness and put out the money box and plead!

Of course the trips themselves were the truly lifechanging element. Staff and students alike found themselves in transformational experiences. Over the years Suzi Mawhirt, Joan McAllister, Aidan McIlmurray and Alicia Rooney. The first trip was to Ethiopia, and began with a traumatic journey when civil unrest in Turkey meant a swift diversion. But our team arrived safely, met the local community they would be working alongside and had huge fun with the children!

India provided the next challenge, the overwhelming experience of Delhi. Part of that experience is realising the enormity of need, and the frustration of those who haven’t had the opportunity to build, alongside the enthusiasm of those who have. A key feature of Habitat is that volunteers build alongside the local community in all its complexity.

One of the lessons of our early investigations into Habitat taught us that many parts of Europe, including Northern Ireland, still have the scars on housing of war and Troubles. Romania has a long history of imperialism, fascism, communism leaving their mark on housing patterns, and Habitat Northern Ireland has had a long presence there supporting local people making homes for themselves. Romania was Shimna’s next destination.

The Romanian connection led to a further development when the next cohort of student builders had the opportunity to join Habitat Youth Build which brings together young people from all over Ireland to work together alongside the local community, in this case again in Romania. Joining Youth Build offered the added experience of team building beyond our school team, with residential weekends preparing us to work together with groups from other school and for the experience of building.

COVID put an end to our next trip, and funds already raised had to be returned to donors, or passed on to Habitat as the donors chose. A final side effect of our work with Habitat was discovering the wonderful local network of Habitat Restore. Restore is Habitat for Humanity’s social enterprise which directly tackles poverty in all parts of Ireland; helping families access low cost home improvement materials, providing training and employability support, and diverting tons of material from landfill, protecting the planet.

Habitat veteran Joan gave a personal report on her experience with Shimna and Habitat:

Report on Building Trip to Delhi, India

This has been my second trip accompanying students from Shimna Integrated College, the first having been to Addis Ababa in Ethiopia in 2016. The fundraising element of working with Habitat is always a challenge and a very worthwhile one. I joined in wholeschool fundraisers, working sometimes with our local market. Our Habitat group took over the market for the day on one occasion so that every member of the group could run a stall. Our student body is not well heeled, and while some students are members of, for example a church group and in one case a dog agility group, who are willing to support the student in running a lucrative event, several of our students are very much on their own with their fundraising. I grew up with very little and have always worked hard to support the students whose families can offer little help with money. For the Ethiopia trip, I was happy to do all my own fundraising, and was very worried when I myself hit a serious family problem which meant I was struggling to make ends meet, and knew I would not be able to reach my fundraising target. I am very grateful indeed to Habitat for the grant which allowed me to travel, and therefore to support our students on their trip.

The trip to Delhi was fulfilling in many ways. It was again fascinating to see into a different culture and begin to understand the pressures on families trying to make a home. We learnt a great deal about the work that goes on locally and how our work fits into the ongoing programme. It was sobering when neighbours of our building project came to ask how they could also access help, and we had no immediate answer. It is always interesting to work alongside our students and to see how each of them grows into a role within the team. The heat and humidity were a real shock, and the first day when work had to be abandoned because of heavy rain made us panic. We realised how disappointing it would be if we had travelled so far and were not able to make our contribution. Fortunately, the rain then held off and we were back to work in the heat and humidity. It is wonderful to watch some students come into their own, work selflessly and cheerfully. It is also a learning experience watching some learn to curb a grumpy reaction and recognise the need to pull together.

Both of my experiences with Habitat have been lifechanging for me. I continue to face struggles in my own life, and understanding how little some people have puts my difficulties into perspective. I also really appreciate the opportunity to encourage our students to take on the experience. This week a group of our students will head up to Lisburn to find out about YouthBuild, and we are actively considering a further Shimna trip for 2020.

Thank you again for the opportunity the bursary gave me to complete our trip to Delhi.