Over the last few days we have witnessed and learned so much. Now we can experience what building is like in Malawi. Once again we were welcomed into the village by song and dance of the local women. What a lovely tradition! The homes we were building were modest by any standard, but they were a significant improvement over the family's original home. Although the bricks we were using were rudimentary bricks made from local mud, they were 'fired' (aka 'burnt') making them better able to keep out water during the rainy season. Bricks used in the substandard homes were un-fired and were likely to crumble during the rainy season. Vulnerable families do not have the money to purchase wood to fire homemade bricks. The original homes had thatched roofs, usually in need of major repair. ... read more

Monday began our official Global Village program. At his is not a traditional Habait build trip, but an exploration by habitat leaders to experience and learn more about how American dollars are being used to alleviate poverty in Malawi. We spent our first half day and the Habitat Malawi office in Lilongwe. We were briefed in turn by Ronald, the HFHI Africa, Middle East & Europe Coordinator, Amos, the president of Habitat Malawi and Kelvin the XXXXX. We learned about the need in this part of the world and how Habitat, alongside its partners, are tackling the challenge. Malawi is one of the poorest nations in Africa. Sustenance agriculture is the primary industry. 80% of the population lives in substandard housing, 69% of the population lives in slums. There are 1.4 million orphaned children in Malawi. ... read more

Why is it when I have an early morning flight I don't sleep well, or at all, the night before? The alarm chimed at 5 am after only 2 hours of sleep. (Bonus- while I was awake I did get to watch the final episode of Breaking Bad). We headed to the airport at 6 am. Kevin, Habitat Wake's CEO and my traveling companion for this trip, met at RDU. Despite the early hour, we were cheerful and excited. Our itinerary: Raleigh - New York- Johannesburg, South Africa - Lilongwe, Malawi. Estimated travel time - 25 hours. Long, but we were prepared. Minor delays on our flight to JFK continued to build. 'Luckily', we were able to get on a different flight so we could make our tight connection in NY. After a hold on the ... read more

I get to write my final blog entry for trip from the comfort of my home, using a keyboard rather than my tablet. This time I have no excuses for poor grammar or major spelling errors. Good News! I came home with the same 11 team members I started with! Well, maybe not the same. We are tired, a little battered and bruised, but we are inspired by, proud and satisfied with all we accomplished. We began the week as strangers in a foreign country with a small parcel of un-cleared land. When we left, we had new friends, a love and respect for Honduras and its people and the foundation (literally and figuratively) for a family to ensure their future in a safe, stable home environment. I learned so much! Construction Skills Who knew this ... read more

Yesterday's blog truncated when publishing and I can't seem to find the rest of the blog or the pictures. each evening/morning I curse technology as I struggle with internet connections, large, photo files and transferring between devices. Sorry. One of our formally horizontal members came to the site today wearing a 'Hump Day' tee shirt. This was a source of amusement for us all, and a puzzlement to our Honduran friends as we kept asking, "What day is? What day is it?" Each time we dig to depth in our trenches, the prescribed depth gets deeper. They are no longer trenches, they are RAVINES. Today however, we had additional help from some very strong Honduran workers. Several of us took turns under the tent bending rebar into stirrups to use in the home foundation. Today my ... read more