Habitat for Humanity's new International Volunteer Program sent 15 volunteers to seven countries last year. One such volunteer, David Vimont, a construction specialist with a master's degree in architecture, shared his skills in Uganda. His personal experience is recounted below.
Uganda is enduring a social and economic crisis-the arrival of a generation of orphaned children. AIDS has devastated the country over the last 20 years. Families have been left with little support, and often depend upon the oldest child for the younger children's care and economic survival.
Habitat for Humanity is working on several fronts in Uganda to fill the losses left by AIDS. With the Ugandan National Construction Manager, Andrew Sekitto, Habitat has created a program of paid construction training for orphaned young adults. Over six months, these young men and women will build six houses and engage in weekly exercises emphasizing the various stages of residential construction. The ultimate goal is sustained self-employment for the learners so they may offer support for their orphaned siblings.
This Youth Apprentice Program is set to begin in two districts hard hit by AIDS, due to the large number of refugees fleeing the war in the north. The program is made possible through a USAID grant as part of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. My goal is to be present for the successful launching of the first three months of this program.
My experiences in Uganda's rural villages, building houses in areas where few decent shelters exist, have exposed me to the spirit that Habitat for Humanity inspires in young and old alike. I have learned that when one builds a home, the process can involve, educate, and benefit the greater community. The building industry can promote construction practices that improve upon a community's basic services and protect a region's ecology. We are beginning here in a simple way, by using Habitat house-building to train disadvantaged youth in construction skills.
