Raising the Roof Can be Fun
What a great day of entertainment I had yesterday. I spent the day working with other people involved in Habitat for Humanity. We didn’t get quite to the stage of “raising the roof,” but we sure had a lot of fun despite the cool, rain-threatening weather.
After we had finished signing all kinds of waivers dealing with the legal questions, we squished our way, very cautiously, up the muddy, clay-slimy path to the beginning of a house that is destined to be occupied by a single mother with one child. The foundation had been laid and the under flooring was complete. A plank slanted quite steeply from the ground to the newly laid floor was our only means of getting into the site. I had to be guided up by a helpful hand from above and by my partner’s a gentle hoist from below.
Because I am not skilled in anything remotely related to carpentry and because of my advanced age (almost 75), I was not sure that I really could do any good here but I wanted to try.
The first task they gave me was to sweep out the rain that had accumulated in puddles over the floor . That job I could do and I did it with zest. Next, a nice young man asked me if I could pull nails from boards so they could be reused. I thought that task looked fairly simple. As I tried pulling that first nail, my charming tutor watched my clumsy, feeble attempts to wrestle it out of its stubborn, rigid nest in a board. He saw that I needed to have something to give my hammer and me more leverage. He ever so gently demonstrated how to put a small wooden wedge under the hammerhead and …presto out came the nail. (I never took Physics in school). I again tried, following his direction. I was delighted to find that here was another job I could handle, thus freeing up the more talented to do their work.
Later in the morning, the workers who were framing the outside walls of the house, called for more two by fours. That lumber was located about 50’down the hill from the house. Two men took on that job. They hoisted the lumber, balancing it on their shoulders as they slipped and sloshed their way up the hill to the house. Once there they slid the boards through the openings in the side of the house onto the floor. Three of us ladies took them from there and piled them where the framers could easily reach them.
During all of this time of organization, delegations of jobs, training of rookies, hammering, sawing, blueprint consulting, I never once heard an unkind, rude, or vulgar word from anyone. Everyone was in such good humor. As we became more acquainted, there were many entertaining witticism and clever remarks being bantered around. The morning went by very quickly. I was beginning to feel my age as my partner and I headed toward the car to rest and eat the lunch we had brought along.
The two other ladies had gone in their car to eat at McDonald’s. My partner went back to work as soon as the other men did, but I decided to rest until the ladies returned from their meal. When they arrived, I followed them up the slippery hill again. They were much younger so they were up in the house as I was still cautiously stepping from one fiberboard to the next. The men had laid that path down for us fearing that someone (mostly me) might fall. Well, my foot slipped off one board and into the mud. That clay mess immediately sucked up my shoe to the top. I lost my balance and fell gently on my derriere. Immediately, three handsome young men leaped down the plank to help me to my feet. (I might try that trick again next week) All were concerned that I had been hurt. I was not, not even my pride. When they were completely assured that I was ok, they began to tease me, calling me Amazing Grace and joshing me about living up to my name. It was all in good fun and I spent a few moments scraping the slime from my jeans and went back to work.
At 4 o’clock we began to pick up all the tools to be put back in the storage truck and to say our goodbyes to our new friends. The outside walls and all the inside walls had been framed in. The leader of the group congratulated us on the good work that had been done despite the inclement weather and its results.
My partner and I were so taken with this work, we volunteered to help another church group that had few helpers for next Tuesday. I am looking forward to another day.
Since 1976 when Millard and Linda Fuller started this work, there have been over 150,000 simple, energy efficient houses built for people who don’t have the means to buy a house at the usual lending rates. A new house is being built by Habitat every 26 minutes some place in 92 countries throughout the world. It is not a handout. It is a generous hands up. What a great work of mercy.
If you want more information about Habitat go to the link www.habitat.org.