Getting Set For Zambia 2013 With Habitat for Humanity

The 2011 SCC Habitat for Humanity Team

Want to hear something really exciting? Next year, a group 20 Transition Year and 5th Form students are travelling to Zambia, writes Bethany Shiell.

I bet you don’t even know where that is (truthfully neither did we until a little while ago!) We will be going with the charity Habitat For Humanity Ireland, which takes teams to foreign countries to help the locals build houses for themselves. (“Habitat for Humanity does not build houses for people, it builds with them”) And on this expedition we will be flying to Zambia; Zambia is a landlocked country in southern Africa which has 64% of its population under the poverty line, and almost 85% living on under €2 a day. We will spend two weeks there, living in conditions the same as the houses we will help build; with no running water or indoor toilets. The trip will be an incredible experience which all of us will carry with us forever. Each member of the team must fundraise €3,000 and every candidate is working hard, coming up with original and imaginative ideas to bring in the cash. Barbeques, Family Fun days, Concerts, Comedy Nights .... the effort is endless and ongoing until we reach our target. 

The team will be led by Mr. Swift (unfortunately Mr. Jones won’t be able to join us - as he will have a new arrival by then) and will also include four more teachers, whose identify seems to be a closely guarded secret. While in Zambia, we will be working from the early hours in the morning and continue the hard labour throughout the day. We will be building two houses alongside the people who will be living there. We will be carrying out all kinds of construction work from laying bricks to painting walls, and we will also be participating in cultural activities off-site. Habitat For Humanity offers “not only the chance to build much needed homes, but the opportunity to build real relationships with communities in need and develop an understanding of the problems they face”. We head off in late June 2013, so Zambia here we come! 

For more information on the St. Columba's College Habitat for Humanity project, visit http://scchabitat.blogspot.com. You'll find loads of information and photos about this and previous HFH trips.