THE HABITAT - Habitat for Humanity Canada

HABITAT FOR HUMANITY ABROAD
HABITAT
FOR
HUMANITY
ABROAD
Significant Funds
Committed by
CIDA to Habitat
for Humanity
Canada’s
Rebuilding
Efforts in Haiti
On March 2nd,
the Government of
Canada announced its
commitment of almost
$1.3 million to support
Habitat for Humanity
Canada’s rebuilding
projects in Simon Pele,
a low-income, high density,
earthquake affected area
of Port-au-Prince.
With this financial support, Habitat
for Humanity Canada (HFHC) plans
to repair 175 homes and install 100
sanitation facilities. This will involve
the training of local residents at a
Habitat Resource Centre in repair and
reconstruction techniques, employing
and empowering Haitians in an area
with high unemployment.
As well, with this funding HFHC plans
to provide primary health care clinics
to the community, educating 10,000
community members on major health
issues, immunizing 100 pregnant women
and 900 children, and providing health
supplies to 3,000 households and two
schools. This component of the relief
effort will be delivered under the
direction of HFHC by Rayjon ShareCare,
a Canadian NGO that has been working
in Haiti for 25 years.
The Government of Canada provides
funding for this initiative through the
Canadian International Development
Agency (CIDA).
The State of Haiti,
a Year Later
The magnitude 7.0 earthquake that struck
the Caribbean nation on January 12th,
2010, just 10 miles west of the capital,
Port-au-Prince, damaged nearly 190,000
houses. Just over a year later, one million
survivors are still displaced. Afraid to
return to their homes, they are suffering
severe overcrowding, health and security
risks. Yet the Ministry of Public Works,
Transport and Communications’ initial
Building Habitability Assessments
indicates that nearly 80% of damaged
homes can be safely repaired and/or
retrofitted while being strengthened
in order to be able to withstand
future disasters.
Simon Pele was suggested to HFHC
as a community of focus by Habitat for
Humanity Haiti following a request from
the United Nations Shelter Cluster to
consider developing a neighbourhood
program there, as it was not previously
being served by any other shelter
organization.
Habitat for Humanity
Responds to Devastation
Triggered by Earthquake
in Japan
Habitat for Humanity Canada (HFHC)
sends its thoughts and prayers to all those
affected by the 8.9 magnitude earthquake
and tsunami that devastated areas of Japan
on March 11th, 2011. In response, HFHC
is currently working with Habitat for
Humanity International, Habitat for
Humanity Japan and other NGO partners
to assess the situation and determine how
and where Habitat for Humanity can be
of most help.
Currently, Habitat for Humanity
International is sending leadership
representatives to Japan to determine
potential operational plans. We expect the
response to include domestic volunteer
engagement with key NGO partners, and
potentially direct activities focused on
home clean-up and repair, although this
latter element will be a function of
resources, capacity, and specific needs
of those affected by this disaster.
Orest Myckan
Building a
Global Village
Some see retirement
as the end of an era,
others see it as just
the beginning.
For Orest Myckan, retirement has given
him the chance to travel the world while
helping those less fortunate. Since retiring
in 1997, he’s participated in 19 Habitat
for Humanity Global Village builds
around the world.
“When retirement came along I said
no more meetings, no more committees,”
remembers Orest, who spent his career
working as a human resources specialist.
He was a long-time volunteer with Habitat
for Humanity in his local community in
Edmonton, but the year he retired, he
joined his first Habitat build abroad –
traveling to Honduras to erect a house
for a family in need.
Orest began leading trips in 2000.
“Once I started, I just couldn’t stop,”
he says, “the experiences were just
so fulfilling.”
Over the course of the last decade,
Orest’s builds have taken him from
Guatemala, the Philippines, Jamaica
and Mexico to Cost Rica, Nicaragua,
El Salvador, the Dominican Republic
and even Iqualuit.
HABITAT FOR HUMANITY CANADA’S GLOBAL VILLAGE PROGRAM:
Volunteers Building Homes and
Building Hope for Families Abroad
IMAGINE TRAVELING into the interior of the Cambodian
jungle, to the Northern Island of Hawaii, or to the mountainous
region of Uganda to immerse yourself in the local culture,
working to build safe and secure homes side-by-side with local
residents who have welcomed you as their own. You’d be
changing lives, and your own life would likely be changed in
the process too.
Since its beginnings in 2005 when Habitat for Humanity
Canada’s Global Village program sent one trip of 20 volunteers
to Uganda, the program has exploded in popularity, now
having impacted the lives of over 400 partner families and
6,000 Global Village volunteers.
Now 67, Orest plans to continue
doing two international builds a year in
addition to his local volunteer work.
His most recent build took him to Nepal
for the Everest 2010 Build that brought
together teams from all over the world
to launch construction of the second
5,000 Habitat houses in the region.
Orest says the payoff from his
involvement with Habitat for Humanity
has been incredible. “You come together
as a team and form really meaningful
relationships with each other and the
local people – and you see first-hand the
results of your efforts,” he says.
Hammering nails and laying bricks
across the globe has been Orest’s
fountain of youth. “It really keeps me
young,” he says.
A testament of the life-changing
impact that these trips have on their
volunteers, and something that
can explain the rapid growth of the
program in general, is that just about every Global Village
participant becomes a Global Village advocate. The stories
and photos that come back from each and every trip have
inspired countless others to act, which is goodwill that
has led to a greater number of families abroad receiving
the hand up of homeownership every year.
Visit habitat.ca/globalvillage to learn more and to
view upcoming trip schedules.
12 THE HABITAT SPIRIT Spring/Summer 2011 To donate, participate or advocate visit www.habitat.ca 13