December 2011 issue - Habitat for Humanity

December 2011
IN THIS ISSUE:
» A new children’s book celebrates an iconic tree and a Habitat partnership
» Habitat marks 35 years and 500,000+ houses
» The winner of the 2011 Habitat World photo contest
Foundations
From Habitat CEO Jonathan Reckford
HabitatWorld
35 Years, 1 Goal
W
STEFFAN HACKER
ith the founding of
Apple Computer Inc. in
1976, Steve Jobs, Steve
Wozniak and Ronald
Wayne started a company that would revolutionize the way we
compute and the way we communicate.
That same year, anger in Soweto began to
unravel the fabric of apartheid in South
Africa, and a group of passionate Christians
in Americus, Georgia, launched a new organization called Habitat for Humanity. With
Apple, with South Africa and with Habitat,
isn’t it incredible how passion ignited by one
idea can impact millions of people?
No one knows that better than the more
than 500,000 families around the world who
now have new or improved places to live because of their partnerships with Habitat. For
some families, that has meant finally having
shelter from the wind and rain. For others,
it’s the ability to move their children away
from the toxins that were making them sick.
For many, it has been the first step toward
better education and better jobs.
Our measures of success will always
center on our ability to make lives better. As
Habitat has matured, we have learned that
success can take many forms. Sometimes,
it’s building a new home or rehabilitating an empty or dilapidated house. Other
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HA B I TAT WO R L D
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The Publication of Habitat for Humanity International
times, the best thing we can do is help a
family acquire a housing microfinance loan
that allows them to make the incremental
improvements they can afford. In other
cases, much-needed repairs or making a
house accessible for a differently-abled family member can make a world of difference.
As we have partnered with individual
families through the years, we have
discovered how Habitat can have an even
greater impact by partnering with other
organizations to address issues that can
improve the lives of an entire community.
We’ve seen over and over the inextricable
links between housing, health, education
and livelihoods.
We’ve seen the transformational impact
of small investments in concrete floors,
decent roofs, clean water and basic sanitation. We continue to see that we must
build more and build louder, lending our
voice for protection of property rights and
secure tenure. And we’ve seen hearts and
lives changed and relationships built across
geographic, religious, cultural and socioeconomic divides, with physical walls going
up and the invisible barriers that separate
us tumbling down.
Our 35th anniversary has allowed us
a great opportunity to look back and to
celebrate. Thank you for all that you have
done to help us further our mission, and
please continue on this journey with us as
we move forward, seeking to put God’s love
into action by bringing people together to
build homes, communities and hope.
JONATHAN T.M. RECKFORD
Chief Executive Officer
Habitat for Humanity International
SE N IOR V IC E P R E SI DE N T
MARKETING AND
C O M M U N I C AT I O N S
EDITOR
A S S I S TA N T E D I T O R
PHOTO EDITOR
P R I N T SU P E RV I S O R
DESIGN
Chris Clarke
Shala Carlson
Phillip Jordan
Bob Jacob
Mike Chapman
Journey Group, Inc.
MISSION VISION
A world where everyone has a decent place
to live.
M I S S I O N S TAT E M E N T
Seeking to put God’s love into action, Habitat
for Humanity brings people together to build
homes, communities and hope.
W HAT W E D O
Habitat for Humanity organizations build,
renovate and repair houses in partnership
with people in need of adequate housing.
Homeowners are selected locally by Habitat
organizations based on their need for housing,
ability to repay a no-profit loan and willingness
to partner with Habitat. Loan repayments
contribute to help build and repair additional
houses. Because Habitat’s loans are no-profit,
they are affordable for low-income partners.
WHO WE ARE
Habitat World is the educational, informational
and outreach publication of Habitat for Humanity
International. The magazine is free to anyone
who wishes to receive it.
L ET U S H E A R F ROM YOU
[email protected]
(800) HABITAT, (229) 924-6935
Read Habitat World online at magazine.habitat.
org; visit our blog at habitat.org/blog.
Printed on 100 percent
recycled paper
Habitat World (ISSN: 0890-958X) is published
by Habitat for Humanity International,
121 Habitat St., Americus, GA, 31709-3498.
Vol. 28, No. 4. December 2011.
Circulation: 1,038, 681 (estimated)
Copyright © 2011
Blueprints
p
DECEMBER 2011
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IN EVERY ISSUE
3 5 Y E A R S T O C E L E B R AT E
More than 500,000 homes later, Habitat reconnects
with families, volunteers and staff from the past —
and looks to the future.
F O U N DAT I O N S : Habitat for Humanity
International CEO Jonathan Reckford talks about
35 years of change. P A G E 2
A S P RU C E F O R A L L S E A S O N S
WO R L D V I E W: International students
support Habitat Ethiopia’s water and sanitation
program; seeking to replicate success in Cambodia
and Myanmar. P A G E 4
The Carpenter’s Gift highlights the transformation of
the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree from shade
to shelter.
HOUSE FRAMING
The winner and finalists from Habitat World’s
2011 photo contest share their pictures — and their
thoughts on moments captured.
ON THE COVER
An image of the lighted
Rockefeller Center
Christmas Tree, taken from
The Carpenter’s Gift.
Illustration from The
Carpenter’s Gift by David
Rubel, copyright ©2011 by
Jim LaMarche. Reprinted
by permission of Random
House Books for Young
Readers, an imprint of
Random House Children’s
Books, a division of
Random House Inc.
F I E L D N O T E S : Wounded and returning
U.S. soldiers reacclimate on a Washington worksite;
youth converge in Indiana to talk new ideas.
PA G E 3 0
C O M I N G H O M E : Our mission, our vision:
A world where everyone has a decent place to live.
PA G E 3 1
DECEMBER 2011
HA B I TAT. O R G
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[ LEOGANE, HAITI ]
SWEAT EQUITY
Seventy-year-old Rosette Louis
lost everything she owned when
her rented house collapsed in
the devastating January 2010
earthquake. Since then, she and
three of her four grown children
have shared a small tent in
Leogane’s Santo community. In
November, Jimmy & Rosalynn
Carter Work Project volunteers
built alongside Louis and 99 other
families, constructing houses and
renewing a community’s hope
together. To experience more
of this year’s project, visit
habitat.org/cwp/2011.
P H OTO BY A LL E N SULLIVAN
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5
World View
International news
Back-to-school
support for U.S.
homeowner
families
Stars
attend India
fundraiser in
London
4
2
Expanding
housing
microfinance
in Europe
8
5
Korean students aid
Ethiopian sanitation
projects
A ‘homecoming’
build in Paraguay
An adventure
21 years in the
making
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1
1
Studying
success in
Myanmar
and
Cambodia
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3
Worksite
birthday in the
Philippines
Mozambique’s
holistic
housing for
orphans
[ PARAGUAY ] Five young adults —
born in Paraguay and adopted two
decades ago by North American
families — returned to their roots
this year not as tourists, but as Habitat
volunteers. Donna Reulbach of Boston
adopted her son, Daniel, from Paraguay
when he was 3 months old. Twenty-one
years later, mother and son organized a
Global Village volunteer team to return to
the land of Daniel’s birth.
The Reulbachs sought other families
who had adopted Paraguayan children
to join them. The result was a team of 10
members, all with adoptive connections to
the South American country. Together, the
five young Paraguayan-Americans helped
dig up their native soil to lay the foundation
of Florencia Caceres’ and Nelson Riveros’
new house.
“I feel happy to be able to go there and
to know the place where I was born and
to also have the ability to help,” Daniel
says. His mother adds that the parents
got as much out of the experience as their
children. “The Habitat trip was a likely
adventure for a 21-year-old Paraguayan
adoptee and for me, a mother who is eternally grateful to Paraguay,” Donna says.
2
[ SLOVAKIA ] Habitat’s Europe and
Central Asia office in Bratislava,
Slovakia, signed an agreement to work with
the Polish-based Microfinance Centre to
establish a Regional Center for Innovation
in Shelter and Finance. The partnership
means that 20,000 more houses can be
improved throughout the region over the
next five years, thanks to affordable housing
loans and construction assistance.
The deal is part of Habitat’s global initiative to raise money for the MicroBuild
Fund, which will provide funding and
technical aid for housing improvements
worldwide. Where no stable financial systems exist, housing microfinance can fill
the gap when a family has the will to build a
new home, but not the financial resources.
Smaller-scale housing loans and construction support help families build or repair a
house at a pace they can afford.
The center will work with more than
COURTESY DONNA REULBACH
Daniel Reulbach spreads mortar on the
foundation of a Habitat house in Paraguay.
Reulbach, adopted by an American family
when he was 3 months old, recently
returned to his native Paraguay on a Global
Village trip.
40 microfinance institutions across 10
countries in Europe and Central Asia
that are interested in designing housing
finance products for low-income families.
Expanding the availability of housing loans
will enable 20,000 families to improve their
housing situation.
3
[ ETHIOPIA ] More than 60 South
Korean students spent 10 days in
Addis Ababa, working alongside lowincome partner families to build latrines
and septic tanks as part of Habitat Ethiopia’s
ongoing water and sanitation program.
The traveling volunteers did the same
work at a local school, enabling the Korean
contingent to interact with younger
Ethiopian schoolchildren. The Korean
students’ experience was sponsored by
Hyundai Motor Company, which also
donated $40,000 to Habitat Ethiopia to create more water and sanitation facilities.
The long-term project targets dire need
in the Ethiopian capital where some 80
percent of the city’s 2.74 million residents
live in substandard housing, often with
extremely poor sanitation. Habitat has
been responding since 2009, when it added
water and sanitation projects to its existing
home-building and renovation programs.
In fiscal year 2011, Habitat Ethiopia served
3,150 families — the largest total ever in a
single year for a country in Habitat’s Africa/
Middle East region.
4
[ UNITED STATES ] As children returned
to classes this fall in the United States,
several Habitat affiliates renewed annual
school-supply drives to take some of the
back-to-school financial burden off local
partner family parents. In Missouri, Habitat
St. Louis asked individuals, churches and
businesses to consider doubling up when
purchasing pens, pencils and backpacks
and to donate the extras to Habitat’s local
homeowners. Frequently, schoolchildren
picked out the pieces and made the donations themselves.
In Rochester, New York, Flower City
Habitat suggested a similar option to assist
partner families who said they could use
a hand. For a while, in addition to lumber
and other building materials, Flower City
Habitat became a drop-off point for composition notebooks, three-ring binders and
scientific calculators. Some donors even
dropped off gift cards for local retailers.
“Preparing for the school year places a
financial strain on any family,” says Flower
City Habitat’s Carole Castle. “Finding extra
cash to purchase a lengthy list of classroom
supplies can be an extra burden on some
of our partner families. It’s great to see so
many people willing to lend their neighbors
a hand in a different way.”
5
[ CAMBODIA / MYANMAR ] A well-
respected development group
selected Habitat programs in Cambodia
and Myanmar to study as one of 16 bestpractice examples of poverty alleviation in
Asia. The Asian Institute of Management’s
Center for Development chose the two
Habitat groups because their housing
efforts include providing financial education and livelihood training to families.
Windows on the Work
[ BUFFALO, WYOMING ]
Youth in advertising
Habitat Eastern Big Horns’ Buffalo
chapter received new ideas from
fresh sources this year. Elementary
school students created posters
for a Habitat advertising contest.
Habitat Eastern Big Horns used the
posters to draw big crowds to its
annual “garage sale” fundraiser.
Meanwhile, high school students
designed Habitat houses in an
architectural contest. “These kinds
of events give young people a
chance to contribute early and
learn about Habitat and their
community,” says Buffalo chapter
director John Orwig.
DECEMBER 2011
HA B I TAT. O R G
7
World View
Find Habitat World online at
MAGAZINE.HABITAT.ORG
Read weekly updates at
HABITAT.ORG/BLOG
International news
“When she is older, I
will tell my daughter
how I got this house
and what we all did
here to make it happen.”
JUNGHUN KANG
— Ek Srey Hak
This trio of South Korean students were
among 60 volunteers who traveled
together to Ethiopia to support water and
sanitation projects.
[ ALBERTA, CANADA / DAVIDSON, NORTH CAROLINA ]
Classroom campaigners
Two years of fundraising efforts
recently came to a moving end when
students at St. Francis Xavier High
School filled their gym to celebrate
$108,000 raised for Habitat Edmonton
— enough to sponsor a new home.
And across the North American
continent, students from a trio of
North Carolina middle schools have
joined forces to raise $65,000 for
Davidson’s Our Towns Habitat. Before
this school year even began, kickoff
events had already helped raise $7,500.
The case study from Habitat Cambodia
highlights the story of Ek Srey Hak, who
partnered with Habitat to leave her shelter
near a dumpsite in Phnom Penh and build
a new house outside the capital. Through
Habitat’s additional training, she has
opened up a small shop and now dreams of
saving money for her children’s education.
“Everything is for my daughter,” she says.
“When she is older, I will tell my daughter
how I got this house and what we all did
here to make it happen.”
Habitat’s Myanmar program succeeded thanks to a partnership with World
Concern to create cyclone-resistant housing. The construction enabled hundreds
of villagers to confidently rebuild in the
Irrawaddy delta region, which Cyclone
Nargis savaged a few years before.
6
[ MOZAMBIQUE ] Africa’s unrelenting
AIDS crisis has hit particularly hard
in Mozambique’s Gaza province, where
the government estimates there are 88,000
orphans under the age of 17 — many of
whom have lost one or both parents to
HIV. The HIV rate in Gaza is 25.1 percent,
an overwhelming figure that ranks among
the highest in Africa.
In fiscal year 2011, Habitat
Mozambique built 435 homes through its
orphans and vulnerable groups program,
providing basic, decent shelter for at least
600 orphans in Gaza. Habitat also partners with local faith group Tshembeca
(“Faithfulness”), which administers AIDS
education to Habitat partner families.
To better address mounting needs,
Habitat Mozambique is crafting an
even more holistic approach to serving
orphaned siblings. Steps include helping families to write wills that ensure the
youngest child is able to grow to adulthood
in the home; requiring partner organizations to keep up home visits and make
sure children attend school; providing
HIV training; and tracking the success of
WHERE WE WORK
Habitat for Humanity started in the United States in 1976, and today its work reaches around the world. Currently, Habitat is at work in all 50 states of the United States, the District of
Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Territory of Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands and other countries around the globe, including: Afghanistan | Argentina | Armenia | Australia
Bangladesh | Bermuda | Bolivia | Bosnia and Herzegovina | Botswana | Brazil | Bulgaria | Cambodia | Cameroon | Canada | Chile | China | Colombia | Costa Rica | Cote d’Ivoire
Dominican Republic | Egypt | El Salvador | Ethiopia | Fiji | France | Germany | Ghana | Great Britain | Guatemala | Guyana | Haiti | Honduras | Hungary | India | Indonesia | Jamaica | Japan
Jordan | Kenya | Kyrgyzstan | Laos | Lebanon | Lesotho | Macedonia | Madagascar | Malawi | Malaysia | Mexico | Mongolia | Mozambique | Myanmar | Nepal | Netherlands | New Zealand
Nicaragua | Northern Ireland | Paraguay | Peru | Philippines | Poland | Portugal | Republic of Ireland | Romania | Russia | Senegal | Serbia | Singapore | Slovakia | South Africa | South Korea
Sri Lanka | Tajikistan | Tanzania | Thailand | Timor-Leste | Trinidad and Tobago | Turkey | Uganda | Ukraine | Vietnam | Zambia
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partner families’ usage of mosquito nets,
which help prevent malaria.
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[ PHILIPPINES ] Despite the threat of
rain, teenager Ella Pangilinan spent her
birthday this year on a Habitat Philippines
build site, and she recruited others to celebrate with her. Pangilinan’s involvement
with Habitat’s local youth team convinced
friends, classmates, cousins, relatives and her
well-known parents — writer and speaker
Anthony Pangilinan and actress Marcel Laxa
— to join the worksite fun in Pasig.
“I believe joining builds [is] great, but I
also believe that it would be more fun to do
it with your family and friends,” Pangilinan
writes in an article for The Philippine Star.
“I’d definitely encourage others to join
Habitat for Humanity’s future builds and
see how fun it is to spend time with your
loved ones and make a difference in your
own little way.”
During the build, her cousins offered
a song to the birthday celebrant. And in
addition to paint, shovels and cement, there
were plenty of cupcakes, ice cream and
drinks to go around, too.
8
The “East Meets West” event began
when the Duke of Gloucester, royal patron
of Habitat Great Britain, welcomed guests
to a tea reception at Kensington Palace.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni, captain of India’s
World Cup-winning cricket team, served
as co-host of the dinner with Indian businesswoman and philanthropist Rajashree
Birla. “A home is a primary need for every
person,” Birla says. “It transcends being just
a shelter. It represents the opportunity to
unleash potential.”
A charity auction featured a painting commemorating India’s World Cup
cricket championship that alone brought in
USD$419,000. The day before, many guests
took part in a “Build a Home Brick by
Brick” demonstration at London Business
School. “The easiest way to support is
by writing a check,” says Bollywood star
Ranganathan “Maddy” Madhavan, “but I
also encourage others to volunteer and fulfill that desire to make a difference.”
[ GREAT BRITAIN ] English and Indian
cricket legends, Bollywood stars and
business leaders gathered at a fundraising
dinner in central London earlier this
year. The dinner introduced Habitat’s
“IndiaBUILDS” fundraising drive in Great
Britain. The campaign aims to help 100,000
Indian families by 2015 by constructing
or renovating homes and by helping
communities mitigate and respond to
natural disasters.
“A home transcends
being just a shelter.
It represents the
opportunity to
unleash potential.”
— Rajashree Birla
[ SEBASTOPOL, CALIFORNIA ]
French twist on travel
Antonin Prost-Coletta and Alexis
Benitsa returned to their university
in La Rochelle, France, this fall with
unique memories. The students
wanted to visit the United States, but
not as “typical tourists,” so they spent
their summer helping a Habitat affiliate
build houses. “They’ve been great
to have as volunteers and guests,”
says Habitat Sonoma County’s Kathy
Fong. Four of Prost-Coletta’s and
Benitsa’s classmates made similar
arrangements with Habitat affiliates in
Houston and Miami.
[ ROANOKE, VIRGINIA ]
Trading examples
Habitat in the Roanoke Valley faced
a daunting challenge this past
summer: build an all-block house to
rigorous energy-efficiency standards.
Sixteen building-savvy youth came
to the affiliate’s aid from Roanoke’s
YouthBuild program, which teaches
construction-trade skills to young
people who didn’t finish high school.
“They’ve had a chance to get to know
the homeowner they’re building with,
and see how hard she’s working for
her future,” says YouthBuild instructor
Tom Shelton. “That has been a great
example for them.”
HFHI WORLDWIDE AREA OFFICES
Africa/Middle East PO Box 11179, Hatfield, Pretoria 0028, South Africa.
Tel. 27-12-430-9200, [email protected]
Asia/Pacific Q. House, 38 Convent Road, 8th Floor, Silom, Bangrak, Bangkok 10500,
Thailand. Tel. 66-0-2632-0415, [email protected]
Europe/Central Asia Zochova 6-8, 811 03 Bratislava, Slovakia, [email protected]
Latin America/Caribbean PO Box 1513-1200 Pavas, San José, Costa Rica.
Tel. (506) 296-8120, [email protected]
United States 121 Habitat St., Americus, GA 31709. Tel. (800) 422-4828,
(229) 924-6935, [email protected]
Office of Government Relations and Advocacy 1424 K St. NW, Suite 600,
Washington, DC 20005. Tel. (202) 628-9171
Canada 40 Albert St., Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3S2. Tel. (519) 885-4565,
[email protected]
DECEMBER 2011
HA B I TAT. O R G
9
LOVE
FOUNDATION
FAMILY
HOME
THE STORIES OF
HABITAT FOR HUMANITY
Celebrating 35 years of building homes, communities and hope
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HOPE
PARTNER
SWEAT
ADVOCATE
FUTURE
FAITH
T H I RT Y- F I V E Y E A R S AG O,
Habitat for Humanity planted its flag upon a land of pecan trees,
cotton fields and rural poverty in south Georgia. The group’s
“modest” goal? Eliminate substandard housing and make real the
dream of safe, decent shelter for everyone on earth. This fall, Habitat
celebrated its 500,000th house, helping bring more than 2.5 million
people home.
The organization’s beginnings are yoked to Koinonia Farm,
located just a few miles from Habitat’s international headquarters
in Americus and founded in 1942 as a self-sustaining Christian
community. In the late ’60s, Koinonia’s co-founder, Clarence Jordan,
COMMUNITY
and Millard Fuller began teaching a concept of partnership housing
— enabling low-income families to build their own homes with the
help of neighbors, volunteers and a no-profit mortgage.
Fuller took the model to the African countryside in Zaire.
The small-scale tests worked, but Millard and Linda Fuller’s
official launch of Habitat in 1976 would bring the real test. Would
partnership housing be sustainable in thousands of different
communities around the world?
Thankfully, we have 500,000 affirmative answers — and counting.
Below are just a few families, volunteers and staff who have become
part of Habitat’s story over the past 35 years.
DECEMBER 2011
HA B I TAT. O R G
11
‘LET’S GIVE IT A TRY’
UNITED STATES, 1976
R
By 1979, shared frustration, determination,
sweat and joy ultimately led to another first:
a Habitat house dedication.
In three-plus decades since, Habitat has
built or renovated more than 700 houses in
San Antonio. In that same about of time,
Ernesto says affordable house payments —
along with skills honed building his house
and working as a professional painter —
have enabled him to add a new porch, living
area, bedroom and bathroom.
Sitting at his parents’ kitchen table, son
Rene says: “My father knew how to do a lot
of things. And if he didn’t, he learned how.
My father always said, ‘If you don’t want it,
you’ll never have it.’ They both feel proud
they were able to do this. We have a home
because of them.”
FROM TRAILBLAZING
TO TRANSFORMATION
n 1983, Gunde Vendulu was squeezing a living out of the money he made pulling a rickshaw by foot in Khamman, India. His wife, Kamalamma, gave birth to their second child
that year — both children born into a home far too intimate with the earth, a thatched
hut made of mud walls and mud floors, a kilometer away from the nearest water supply.
The year 1983, however, also marked Habitat’s first activity in the Asia-Pacific region, with Khamman its first testing ground. One of Habitat’s first staffers there was
Thirupathi Franklin, a skinny, 19-year-old kid with a thin mustache, a thick head of dark
hair and dreams of transforming his hometown. “I remember all 16 of the first families [in
the first neighborhood] we built with,” says Franklin, who still works with Habitat India
today. “Even the head mason who led the building.”
Homeowner Vendulu — now 60, with a striking, white beard and white hair framing a
deep-brown face — was among those first 16 families to partner with Habitat in Khamman.
A decade after moving into his new home, Vendulu could give up his rickshaw operation.
He saved his money and began raising sheep and goats, which he keeps in a stable he built
near his oft-expanded Habitat home. Vendulu paid off his mortgage in 2006. “Now that
I have become stable economically and socially, I hope to provide good education to my
grandchildren and guide them, that they will grow up to be good citizens,” he says.
Franklin says success like Vendulu’s keeps him motivated: “As the safety and security of
the family is ensured, family members can concentrate on their livelihood. As homeowners,
they have the confidence to face challenges and steadily transform their lives.”
Sylvia Torres flips through old letters and
photos at her kitchen table, recalling the
year she and her husband joined forces
with Habitat’s first U.S. affiliate.
I
THIRUPAHTI FRANKLIN
INDIA, 1983
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SHELLY LAFLEUR
eaching into a kitchen cabinet,
Sylvia Torres retrieves a large
shoebox held together with duct
tape. A dusty time capsule, the
box contains photos, letters and
a hand-written payment schedule — all evidence of the Torres’ faith in an
earnest but fledgling nonprofit in the late
1970s. That was when Sylvia and her husband, Ernesto, partnered with Habitat’s firstever U.S. affiliate in their hometown of San
Antonio, Texas.
“We didn’t have anything so I said, ‘Let’s
give it a try,’” Sylvia says, recalling the threeroom shack her family rented after moving
to San Antonio from Coahuila, Mexico, in
1969. “We were willing to take a chance, and
we believed it would happen.”
The Torres family began working with
Habitat’s San Antonio pioneers in 1976.
Over the next three years, family and volunteers would figure out together how to
raise funds, secure land and build a house.
Habitat India homeowner Gunde Vendulu — who once pulled rickshaws for a living —
shows off some of the goats he raises, with his wife, Kamalamma, at center, and his
daughter-in-law.
A CHANGED
ENVIRONMENT
THE HABITAT
CHRONICLES
GHANA, 1987
A
small fish pond. Cocoa and coconut trees. A little farther
away, rows of orange trees and oil palms. It’s a serene
scene in the Ghanaian countryside, but Albert Arthur
sees more than peaceful beauty when he looks outside
his front door. He sees peace of mind, resources that allow him to pay the utility bills and to send his children to
better schools. “When I look outside, I feel happy,” he says.
Back in 1987, his home was one of 140 houses built in Assin
Nyankumase village with Habitat’s new program in Ghana. “There
was a communal spirit with which we all made bricks and cleared
the land of bushes,” says the father of four. “Amidst it all, we shared
jokes.” Arthur became lifelong friends with many of his neighbors.
The environment felt nothing like what he had known prior.
Before Habitat’s entrance, Arthur’s schoolteacher salary wasn’t
enough to build a house. Instead, his family rented a single room in
a group home. The house had no toilet, and the Arthurs shared two
small kitchens with the building’s 26 other residents. Worse than that,
Arthur remembers, was the lack of privacy and security. Older, unsupervised children bullied younger kids, stealing was common and
child-molestation cases committed by intruders went unsolved.
“My aim was to have a good house for my children,” Arthur
says. “Acquiring a house then allowed me to farm in addition to my
teaching job.”
Today, Arthur, 54, is the headmaster at a local junior high school.
He is proud of what he has provided for his family — and for his
neighbors. When he served a term as a town assemblyman in the
1990s, Arthur helped bring electricity options to the entire Habitat
neighborhood.
DOROTHY PRAH
In 1987,
schoolteacher
Albert Arthur
was among the
first 140 families
to partner with
Habitat Ghana. A
headmaster today,
Arthur remains
friends with many
people he
built with 24
years ago.
A few moments in time
from Habitat’s first 35 years
1968
Fund for Humanity partnership housing
model created at Koinonia, the seed for
Habitat’s birth eight years later
1976
The Torres family first to partner with
a U.S. Habitat affiliate in San Antonio,
Texas
1984
The first Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work
Project renovates a 19-unit apartment
building in New York City
1988
Habitat’s Global Village and Youth
Programs created, engaging new
volunteers
1992
Habitat’s first U.S. resale outlet opens
in Austin, Texas. Now, hundreds of
ReStores recycle building materials and
fund more houses
2000
Habitat’s 100,000th home dedicated in
New York City
2005
Habitat celebrates its 200,000th house,
providing shelter for 1 million people
since 1976
2008
National Women Build Week premieres
the same year as Habitat’s long-term
“Build Louder” advocacy campaign
2009
Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative
introduced in U.S. to encourage holistic
community development
2011
House No. 500,000 built in Kenya; No.
500,001 built by Kenya’s tithe partner,
Paterson Habitat, in New Jersey
2012
The mission continues
DECEMBER 2011
HA B I TAT. O R G
13
BUILD BEFORE
YOU CRAWL
Christian Jay
Seso poses for
a snapshot on
graduation day
at The University
of the Philippines.
He was 7 when his
family moved
into their Habitat
home.
HONDURAS, 1989
JESSICA MAGALY DERAS
Two years ago, Julia Maria Martinez’s husband died. Today,
all her children and grandchildren once again live with her
in the house the family built with Habitat Honduras in 1989.
14
HA B I TAT WO R L D
HA B I TAT. O R G
COURTESY THE SESO FAMILY
J
ulia Maria Martinez says it didn’t hit her until she
saw her then-2-year-old son, Jose, crawling around
her new Habitat house. “My kids have grown up in
this house,” she says, “and when they started to crawl,
I became so happy — because they were crawling on
cement floor and not in the dirt.”
Habitat’s work in Honduras began in 1989, in the Yure River valley. The Martinez family’s home sits near the entrance
to Habitat’s first development. Martinez values the quiet here;
she has no trouble recalling the unwanted foot traffic near the
unsecure hovel they once called home. A roof made of leaves
and walls pieced together with wood planks and mud guaranteed a muddy mess inside when it rained.
“Before, we lived in fear,” she says. “Having this house gave
us more will to work and made everyone happier.”
Happiness, of course, isn’t a safeguard against difficulties. Two
years ago, Martinez’s longtime husband, Eduviges Diaz Bonilla,
died unexpectedly. “His death was the hardest thing in my life,”
she says quietly.
She’s coping by figuring out ways she can better support
her children. Most days, visitors to Martinez’s home smell
the toasting of corn kernels, a process required to create pinol flour. She also grinds horchata extract, which is used in a
popular Honduran drink made with rice and spices, served
with cold milk and sugar.
Several of Martinez’s children are out of school and bringing in money from jobs, too. All of them — ages 16 to 26 — live
with their mother again. Her oldest daughter, Sandra Isabel,
has two children of her own, who have the run of Martinez’s
house these days. And 6-month-old Genesis is the one on his
hands and knees now, tracing well-known routes around his
grandmother’s feet.
FRUIT
FROM
LABOR
C
THE PHILIPPINES,1993
hristian Jay Seso’s parents, Jojo and Yoly Seso, couldn’t
afford to send their three sons to college. That did not
preclude success for their children. Oldest son Jordan
is now a farmer in the family’s ancestral hometown.
Angelo, who works at a restaurant, is married and has
a child of his own. Youngest son Christian applied
for — and won — a pair of scholarships to the University of the
Philippines. He also worked a part-time tutorial job to pay for his
transportation, meals and clothing while in school.
The youngest Seso is quick to point out there are two big
reasons why he’s as motivated as he is: his mother and father.
“I’m on the path I am today because of the solid home and community where my values and beliefs were molded,” he says.
In 1993, Christian’s parents first applied to partner with
Habitat Philippines on one of 188 houses to be built in a new
development along Laguna de Bay, the country’s largest lake.
At the time, their home was a narrow structure among the
slums of Mandaluyong. Located in Metro Manila, one part
of the area is visited often for its shopping malls; Mandaluyong’s hidden side contains more than 150 acres of substandard
housing that locals call “Welfareville.”
Jojo and Yoly invested hundreds of hours of labor on the
Habitat worksite and many more in homeowner-education
classes. By 1996, their home was ready.
Christian says there is a saying his parents taught him: Pag
may tiyaga, may nilaga. Roughly translated: “What you reap
is what you sow.” This past April, Christian’s parents watched
their son graduate with a civil engineering degree — and top
thesis honors in his class.
FROM TWO, A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE
students continue to do on and off campus year after year.”
In 2011, the university’s campus chapter raised funds for earthquake-recovery projects in Afghanistan, Haiti and their own country. For the first time, students have organized two build trips for the
same school year: an international one as planned, as well as a build
in northern Japan’s Tohoku region, ravaged by this year’s quake.
Why both places? Because, says this year’s campus chapter president, Natsuki Ichikawa, neighbors in need exist everywhere: “Global Village means that we are all in one village,” she says. “Wherever
we live, this world is our village.”
GREGG PACHKOWSKI
F
ourteen years ago, only two students signed up to join Craig
Smith’s Global Village volunteer team to build houses in
the Philippines: Mariko Asano and Mari Sano. It was difficult for Smith, a Canadian-born teacher at Japan’s Kyoto
University of Foreign Studies, not to be disappointed in the
small turnout.
Still, he and his two students spent two weeks in the Philippines
building alongside Filipino volunteers, a youth group from Korea and
students from two other Japanese universities. As it turns out, “Mariko
and Mari were more than enough,” Smith says. “They founded our
Habitat campus chapter after the trip and, years later, started Habitat’s
first office in Japan.”
Since then, the campus chapter has raised thousands of dollars for Habitat projects around the world, advocated for affordable housing causes at home and organized 15 other Global Village
teams. Meanwhile, Habitat Japan, founded in 2003, sends nearly
1,000 volunteers overseas each year and raises funds and awareness
for Habitat projects worldwide.
“Our campus chapter became the single-most creative force on our
campus,” Smith says. “I believe the ongoing, empowering inspiration of
the GV experience is the source of energy for all the good our Habitat
JAPAN, 1997
One volunteer build inspired Mariko Asano to start a Habitat
campus chapter at her school. That experience would later lead
Asano to help open Habitat’s first office in Japan.
W
hen Habitat’s work began in Belfast in 1994, there was still no ceasefire and
no peace process in place within Northern Ireland. Centuries-old tension
between Catholics and Protestants often revealed itself in bloody violence.
Habitat supporters often talk about building community and hope just as
much as houses. In Northern Ireland, that broader objective never seemed
more important — or more challenging. Habitat’s local staff set about developing a mixed volunteer base and bringing Catholic and Protestant partner families together.
Six years later, Habitat Northern Ireland organized a Global Village trip to Botswana. Two
congregations supplied volunteers: Gilnahirk Presbyterian Church and St. Colmcille Catholic
Parish. Today, these two churches’ partnership has stretched nearly a dozen years. Their members jointly hold Habitat fundraisers, build in Belfast neighborhoods and have gone on six more
Global Village trips. Together.
“We have team members who 10 years ago would not have been open to the idea of a crossfaith, cross-community partnership,” says St. Colmcille’s Desi Gibson.
Gilnahirk’s Tim Morrow says both churches saw the opportunity “to reach out a hand to our
neighbor, to put an end to living separate lives and foster an opportunity for two communities
to come together. For us, the vehicle to do that came through Habitat.”
NORTHERN
IRELAND,
2000
COURTESY HABITAT KYRGYZSTAN
RECONCILIATION
ON THE
WORKSITE
When Habitat Northern Ireland
brought Catholic and Protestant
volunteers together for a build in
Botswana in 2000, the trip began an
unlikely, barrier-breaking partnership.
DECEMBER 2011
HA B I TAT. O R G
15
STILL GROWING
I
COURTESY OF HABITAT NORTHERN IRELAND
n Canada’s Saskatchewan province, there’s a town of
about 30,000 called Moose Jaw. One possible origin of the
distinctive name comes from the mid-1800s, when a traveler’s cart broke down where the city stands today. Legend
says a resident helped the traveler fix his wagon with an
old moose jawbone.
True or not, says Brian Martynook of the town’s Chamber
of Commerce, the tale is indicative of Moose Jaw’s neighborly reputation. This summer, modern-day community spirit
helped Habitat Moose Jaw — Canada’s newest affiliate — finish
its first house, with Lee and Taryn Guse.
Staffers from nearby Habitat Regina provided guidance,
a local Air Force base supplied volunteers, church members
brought lunches, and neighbors offered carpentry expertise.
“There was ownership of this project by the whole community,”
says Martynook, also the affiliate’s chairman. “We’re struggling
with affordable housing here right now. A few of us had heard
about the success of Habitat elsewhere, and we wanted to see if
it would work here.”
As Lee Guse well remembers, the experiment began last
December. “It was minus-20 Celsius (-4 degrees Fahrenheit),”
he says with a laugh. “The wind was blowing, my hands were
freezing. I was numb for hours afterwards. But people showed
up. And in two days’ time, we had framed the house.”
On July 31, the Guses’ celebrated their son Hunter’s second
birthday by inviting relatives over for a lunch in their brandnew home. “We couldn’t do that before,” Lee says. “This experience is the greatest thing we’ve done, for ourselves and
for our kids. At the end of the day, everybody wants to have a
place to call their own.”
And the Guses are taking action to make that happen for
others. This winter, they’ve volunteered to help Habitat Moose
Jaw with its second project. Lee, who works at a radio station,
has volunteered his time to promote the build to local media.
Taryn is on the affiliate’s family services committee, guiding a
new partner family through the process. “After all,” she says,
“nobody knows the answers better than I do.”
Bektur Usonov (with his wife, Ryskiul) says working with
volunteers to build their home in Kyrgyzstan, in 2001,
restored “our belief firm in global, simple human kindness.”
RENEWED FAITH
KYRGYZSTAN
AND ROMANIA,
2001
D
16
HA B I TAT WO R L D
HA B I TAT. O R G
Moose Jaw Habitat, a new Canadian Habitat affiliate, helped
Lee and Taryn Guse build a home this year. Now, the Guses
are helping serve other families.
COURTESY HABITAT MOOSE JAW
espite steady, professional jobs, a combination of
uncaring landlords and rough neighborhoods had
created a near-nomadic lifestyle for the Usonov
family in Kyrgyzstan. Between 1988 and 2000, the
family moved six times.
Westward, in Romania, 28-year-old Aranka
Corcoi shared a small, damp flat in Beius with a girl she had
grown up with in a Communist-era orphanage. Heavy rain
would bring water down the inside of her walls. In the winter,
she would stuff paper in the cracks of her walls and windows,
trying to keep out the cold and snow.
A decade ago, the compassion of strangers changed both
families’ living situations — and their outlooks on life.
Habitat Kyrgyzstan partnered with the Usonovs in Bishkek
as one of 70 families in its first neighborhood. Bektur and his
wife, Ryskiul, built with volunteers who came from Great Britain.
“Their presence, helping us — some far, far away from their own
homes — made our belief firm in global, simple human kindness
again,” Bektur says. “There are people with open hearts.”
The next year, in Beius, Habitat Romania devised a way to
renovate and expand the flats where Aranka Corcoi lived. Soon,
her living unit was transformed: a new kitchen, bathroom,
electric water-boiler and a stove to provide heat. A durable roof
installed, leaks fixed, plumbing and heating systems added.
Most meaningful to Corcoi are the relationships she made during the renovation: “That was the most important benefit this
home brought me. It’s made me hope for a better future and let
me regain my trust in people.”
CANADA, 2011
POINTING
FORWARD
BOSNIA AND
HERZEGOVINA
AND UNITED
STATES, 2011
T
hanks to those involved in growing Habitat’s ministry,
there are at least 499,090 more stories worth sharing. Each one of those stories invites an opportunity
for disparate lives to touch — for people to sweat
together, learn about each other and to realize common bonds. Thirty-five years after Habitat’s birth, it’s
affirming to reflect on these stories. It’s even more thrilling to
anticipate more to come. Because new stories are being written
every day.
Just this year, Habitat began working with families in Bosnia and Herzegovina for the first time. Here, Habitat is partnering with a local microfinance organization to provide housing loans for home construction, repairs and energy-efficient
upgrades. For Kenan and Selma Sejfoski, Habitat’s partnership
means they can complete the brick abode they started several
years ago, but couldn’t afford to finish on their own. Soon, they
will move their two sons out of a one-room house and into
their newly finished home next door.
Often, Habitat’s partner families are the ones writing new
chapters in this ministry. In Pennsylvania, Tom and Jodi Audette were required to put in 200 to 400 hours of sweat equity
on the house they built this year with Habitat Chester County.
By the time their house was complete, they had worked more
than 1,000 hours. Each.
When they moved in, Tom took a week’s vacation to get the
family’s belongings situated. He found enough time to spend
four of those days volunteering on a new Habitat worksite. “I
told them, ‘You have a partner for life now,’” he says.
SOME THINGS WORK MUCH BETTER
WHEN THEY FIND THEIR MATCH
LIKE YOUR GIFT TO HABITAT FOR HUMANITY!
Many employers match donations to Habitat made by
their employees, retirees or employees’ spouses. You
could double the impact of your gift—at no cost to you!
Here’s how:
1 Visit habitat.org/match and search for your employer.
Habitat World could never share as much of Habitat’s story without the help
of locally based staff and volunteers throughout the world. We thank the following colleagues for coordinating, researching and reporting much of this
feature.
Texas, United States: Shelly LaFleur and Stephanie Wiese
India: Thirupathi Franklin and Diana Rawat
Ghana: Dorothy Prah
Honduras: Jessica Magaly Deras and Ernesto Mejia
The Philippines: Claire Marie Algarme and Pina P. Perez
Japan: Hanzel Sarceda and Craig Smith
Northern Ireland: Jenny Williams
Kyrgyzstan and Romania: Daniar Ashymov and Emil Popa
Canada: Brian Martynook
Bosnia and Herzegovina: Melnisa Begovic
Pennsylvania, United States: Bobette Meeter
Special thanks to Stephanie Banas, Katerina Bezgachina, Jeanette Clark,
Susan Dunn-Lisuzzo, Bob Longino and Hiew Peng Wong.
Edited by Phillip Jordan
2 Click on the link and complete your company’s
matching gift form online.
OR
Print and fill out your company’s matching gift
form and mail it to:
HABITAT FOR HUMANITY INTERNATIONAL
ATTN: MATCHING GIFT COORDINATOR
121 HABITAT ST.
AMERICUS, GA 31709
Questions? Ask your Human Resources department or
Contact us: phone: 800-422-4828, ext. 7676
email: [email protected]
visit
habitat.org/match
F R O M S H A D E T O S H E LT E R
The Carpenter’s Gift highlights the transformation of the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree.
E
ach year, the magic of the most famous Christmas tree in the world lives long past the holiday season.
After the festivities are finished, the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree is milled into lumber that
Habitat for Humanity volunteers use to help build simple, decent homes with families that desperately need them — families like the one at the center of the new children’s book The Carpenter’s Gift.
Written by David Rubel in collaboration with Habitat and illustrated by Jim LaMarche, The Carpenter’s Gift tells the story of Henry, a young boy in Depression-era New York whose wish for a
decent home comes true in an unexpected way. The book shares a lesson about the importance of
helping our neighbors and celebrates a real-world partnership that enables Habitat supporters and volunteers to
do exactly that.
On the following pages, you’ll learn about the making of The Carpenter’s Gift. And you can find more information and activities at habitat.org/thecarpentersgift.
But first, it all begins with the journey of a very special tree.
I N 1 9 3 1 , M E N WO R K I N G on the excavation for Rockefeller
Center put up the site’s first Christmas tree. The workers decorated a 20-foot balsam fir using garlands made by their families
and the tinfoil ends of blasting caps. The site of their celebration
was situated on the same area of the plaza where the tree is now
raised each year.
In 1933, Rockefeller Center decided a tree would be the
perfect way to celebrate the Center, and an annual tradition
was born.
The 1986 Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree was planted at
the same time that work on the Center began in 1931.
Rockefeller Center works with the families that donate their
trees to replace them and replenish the landscape.
18
HA B I TAT WO R L D
HA B I TAT. O R G
SPECIAL THANKS TO
TISHMAN SPEYER
for the annual donation
of the Rockefeller
Center Christmas Tree
and for sharing facts
and figures from the
tree’s history. For more
information, to find
out how to purchase
The Carpenter’s Gift
or to order a special
commemorative
bookplate, visit habitat.
org/thecarpentersgift.
R O C K E F E L L E R C E N T E R Christmas trees are always Norwegian spruce trees. Among the sought-for characteristics that
make the perfect tree:
» A height of 75 to 100 feet
» A width proportional to the tree’s height
» Branches of small diameter with an upward growth angle
» Dense and healthy foliage
» An “it” factor — that indefinable character, personality or
star quality that draws people
An estimated 500,000 people visit Rockefeller Center to see
the Christmas tree each day during the holiday season.
Each branch is individually wrapped in lights to achieve the
tree’s dazzling effect. There are no other ornaments except for the
star that sits atop the tree.
STEFFAN HACKER
O N C E T H E T R E E S come down after the holidays, the trunks are
milled into lumber that Tishman Speyer, the owner and operator
of Rockefeller Center, donates to Habitat.
This year, some pieces of the tree that couldn’t be turned into
lumber have been used to make special paper for a commemorative
bookplate that can be placed inside copies of The Carpenter’s Gift.
“People probably say, ‘It’s done; the tree is gone,’” says Habitat
homeowner Iveth Bowie of Connecticut’s Fairfield County. “For
our family, it’s more than a tree. It’s hope.
“The Christmas continues. It used to be a nest for birds, but
now it’s going to be a nest for me, for my family.”
Lumber from Rockefeller Center Christmas trees has been
used to help build Habitat homes in Pascagoula, Mississippi; New
York City; Stamford, Connecticut; and Newburgh, New York.
T H E C A R PE N T E R’ S G I F T was inspired by the generous annual donation of the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree to Habitat.
“What first drew me was simply a beautiful story, wonderfully rendered and illustrated. And Rockefeller Center and that
tree,” says Chip Gibson, president and publisher of Random
House Children’s Books. “I walk through Rockefeller Center almost every morning of my life. That means I have that tree sort
of to myself, which is a great rarity.
“We can enrich what is already a wonderful thing: the whole
Habitat story, experience, exposure and connectiveness.
“The achievement of The Carpenter’s Gift — and everything
that comes with it — is dimension upon dimension upon
dimension. It’s one of the most wonderful projects I’ve been
involved with, and I’ve been in this business for 30 years.”
DECEMBER 2011
HA B I TAT. O R G
19
BUILDING A BOOK
Artist Jim LaMarche welcomes Habitat World into his studio
as he brings the story of The Carpenter’s Gift to life.
J
STEFFAN HACKER (3)
im LaMarche sits inside his second-floor studio
in downtown Santa Cruz, California. Through
the open windows that line one end of the
narrow space, the sounds of a sunny Monday
morning filter into the room, but conversation
inside has drifted back to the artist’s Midwestern boyhood.
As he leafs through a stack of nearly completed illustrations for The Carpenter’s Gift and reflects on his work, LaMarche’s talk frequently takes these kinds of trips — growing up in central Wisconsin, serving as an AmeriCorps
VISTA member in North Dakota, working as a carpenter
in east Palo Alto when he was getting his art career off the
ground, driving along Santa Cruz’s West Cliff Drive and filing away for future use one perfect image of three boys leaping over a hedge.
This ability to draw on his personal real-world connections is important to LaMarche’s work. He doesn’t simply
draw what he imagines based on the outline of someone
else’s story. He draws what he knows, the places and people
that have somehow struck a chord with him along the way.
His is an art of experience.
It’s a wonderful approach to a story that speaks from the
very heart of Habitat for Humanity. The Carpenter’s Gift is
full of so many of the things that inform the organization’s
work around the world — families, new friends, the simple
wish for a decent home, quiet generosity, magic moments.
Written by David Rubel in collaboration with Habitat
and illustrated by LaMarche, The Carpenter’s Gift builds all
of this — and more — into the celebratory, enduring tale of
a boy named Henry who dreams of having a better place to
live and then grows up to help make that happen for others.
Hear from the artist himself as he puts the finishing
brushstrokes on The Carpenter’s Gift.
20
HA B I TAT WO R L D
HA B I TAT. O R G
“The parallel between building
and what I do in children’s books,
it’s as close as it gets,” says artist
and illustrator Jim LaMarche. “It’s
like being the designer/architect/
builder/contractor.”
THE COLORS OF THE CARPENTER’S GIFT
I
was born in Wisconsin. Small town,
knew everybody. Wonderful place to
grow up, really. It was safe. For a nature boy like me, it was perfect.
My father was a biologist, so he and my
mother both loved being outdoors. So yeah,
whenever I was a kid, even when it was really cold, I still wanted to be outside. We
lived right on the edge of this small town.
I think there is a lot of that place in my
work. There’s something really beautiful to
me — and I remember it as a kid — seeing
the snow and the shadows of the snow and
the color of the bare trees. A whole wood line
of oaks and elms and the occasional fir. And
there’s this color that is there. It’s this lavender gray. And then there would be this startling blue in the snow. To me, it’s beautiful. I
think that sense of color has stayed with me.
DECEMBER 2011
HA B I TAT. O R G
21
STEFFAN HACKER
THE VALUE OF SERVICE
I graduated from college in ’74. It was just at
the end of Vietnam, so I’d seen people from
my town come and go — and some of them
not come back.
You know, I just went through college
comfortably while other people didn’t. So I
felt some obligation to give back something.
I thought, “There’s plenty enough to do in
this country,” so I started looking at VISTA.
And they came up with Bismarck, North
Dakota, at United Tribes of North Dakota.
They were working on a Native American
curriculum program for high schools and
junior highs, and they plugged me in. It was
a great place. It was a great year, probably
one of the best years of my life.
My wife was also a volunteer. I met her,
and of course obviously that changed everything. You know, I’ve been spending most
of my adult life now working for my family.
I want The Carpenter’s Gift to connect. I love
this Habitat for Humanity connection, I really do. I mean, I may join VISTA again at
22
HA B I TAT WO R L D
HA B I TAT. O R G
some point in my life, but it’d be nice if the
book made a connection this way.
BUILDING AND BOOKS
I love to see things built. I love to see ideas
go all the way to a solid thing that I can hold
in my hand. I worked in east Palo Alto for
a carpenter when I first moved West. I was
pretty untrained, but I learned a few things.
I built the table where I draw with two-byfours and a handsaw. I have a couple of
beautiful drafting tables, but that fits me
like a glove. I will never use another table
as long as I live.
The parallel between building and what
I do in children’s books, it’s as close as it
gets. It’s like being the designer/architect/
builder/contractor. You start with your concept, on a napkin like so many good ideas
start, and you follow it through all the way
through the construction of this thing.
You start with these little thumbnail
sketches, rough ideas. You block it out — it’s
almost like building these little rooms. And
then you move to a final set of blueprints, a
final book that you use as your guide. You
start construction, and you build this thing.
The parallels are just amazing to me.
The first time I read, I really do see a lot.
I get a sense of what does this book look
like, how does this book feel, who are the
characters. I take a pencil and start breaking the manuscript down into what looks
like a book size. And then I just start with
a big pad of paper and thousands — literally thousands — of little sketches. I get a
sense of what I want and just draw, draw,
draw. Ideas, right out of my head. And that’s
where most of the creativity really happens.
FINDING THE FACES
Professional models wouldn’t know what to
do, wouldn’t look right. I want people. So
where do you find people? Well, you find
people in your life around you. It’s in everything I’ve done. I have three sons; they are
all in my books.
My wife Toni works at an elementary
DECEMBER 2011
HA B I TAT. O R G
23
school. I saw this little boy at a carnival, at
a festival they were having. He really just
turned out to be perfect for Henry. His
mother is from New York, and they have a
connection with the Rockefeller Center tree
like I think most people do there.
One thing I love about this story is you
see the boy from the beginning of his life
to the end of his life. The intergenerational thing that’s happening, I like that a lot.
That’s very appealing to me, that “you are all
of these things.” That if you’re lucky enough,
you’ll get to be a person who looks at his life
with a certain sort of happiness. Believe it
or not, I used myself as a model for older
Henry.
The man — the carpenter, the original
worker at Rockefeller Center who helps
the family — he lives across the street from
me. I’ve known him for so long, but I had
to look at him with fresh eyes to say, “Oh,
24
HA B I TAT WO R L D
HA B I TAT. O R G
he is right. He is the right kind of face that
I want.”
RESEARCH, RESEARCH, RESEARCH
The Carpenter’s Gift reminded me of a mural at Coit Tower in San Francisco. It’s an
incredible mural, and it has a real time and
place. It was a New Deal project.
I thought about that era, and I wanted to
have a sense of that feeling because I didn’t
want the book to look contemporary, but I
didn’t want it to be this sepia-toned, romanticized look back at the past. I wanted it real.
For the characters, it’s 1931, it’s Depression. The family is living in a shack. The
cabin had to be the right cabin. I found one
in this little state park north of here on the
beach; it was used as a cowboy cabin during
the ranch days up here. So I went and gathered information. How the door closed,
how the wood was done, how the light
comes through the cracks of the boards,
through the walls.
The truck had to be the right truck. It’s
1931, the dad is borrowing a truck, and he
borrows a truck that is not in great shape, so
it can’t be a newer truck, it’s got to be older.
So I looked online and looked at photos,
and then I remembered up in San Francisco, there’s a maritime museum. There’s
an old ferry that used to shuttle people back
and forth before the Golden Gate Bridge,
and now it’s become a museum. And I remember there were trucks! I got the green
light to walk through there, but they weren’t
quite right. But I did get to see the relative
size of these trucks and look at the steering
wheel and what it was made out of, and the
interiors and information that I needed.
I went back online and found a company that makes these little replicas, and
I thought, “That’ll work.” So I ordered a
bunch of them, and they’re right over here.
I literally would hold one like this and get a
good angle.
There’s a picture of the house under construction. It’s when the neighbors and the
Rockefeller workers show up and they’re
building the house. I’ve got a bit of an
aerial view. I think that’s the architectural
part of me that wants children to see what
I’m building here. I tried to do the framing
relatively accurately, how framing would
be done. You know, little things like they’re
laying floorboards diagonally against the
floor joists.
Then I look for things to add to it. I went
to an old flea market, and I found the right
hat and I found the right leather coat and I
found all this stuff.
PUTTING IT ALL ON PAPER
I have a stack of photos this high. Photos
like that thick of the boy that I used as a
model.
My wife and I went to Boulder, Colorado, where my son lives and set up all the
preliminary shots that I needed. I used a
camera and set them up in clothes. We kind
Excerpt and illustrations from The Carpenter’s Gift by David Rubel, excerpt
copyright ©2011 by David Rubel and illustrations copyright ©2011 by Jim
LaMarche. Reprinted by permission of Random House Books for Young Readers,
an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House Inc.
of go through this drama playacting thing,
and it all works.
I have a copy machine over there which
I do a lot of my design work on. I cut and
paste and move around. I use acrylic paints
— very thin, the colored pencil will still
take on it and I can still build over that for
more opacity. Layer on layer on layer until
I get exactly what I want. The under-sketch
shows. The next layer of washes of color
shows. Everything shows.
When you look at a piece of art, you see
an element of time, the entirety of how long
it takes to make it.
MEMORIES AND MOMENTS
I think, like everybody, you store away snips
of images and moments.
You see things that you can’t forget. One
day, I was driving home and I saw three
boys running. They were sort of running
parallel with me, and they kind of veered
off the sidewalk and cut through a yard.
They all jumped over this hedge. It was just
like horses leaping — one, two, three. I don’t
know what it was. That was an image that
I thought was just perfect. A perfect moment. You have to store that somewhere.
When you see a moment that is a very
human moment, you recognize it as universal. It connects with people. If I could
do anything well, that would be my wish,
that I could connect on that level. I want a
book that doesn’t look like a technique, a
style so much as just getting to those really
important truths that I think we all know —
heartbreak and parenting and family.
It’s not about me as the illustrator. It’s
about the story. Each little book is a beginning world and the end of the world within
itself. It’s a poem. It doesn’t have to be any
more than that, I think.
VISIT habitat.org/thecarpentersgift to see
LaMarche at work on his illustrations and
to learn more about the Rockefeller Center
Christmas tree and Habitat, the book, and a
special commemorative bookplate.
AN EXCERPT FROM THE CARPENTER’S GIFT
F O R TH E R ES T O F TH E A FTER N O O N , Henry and his father sold trees to passersby. By the end of the day, they had earned enough money to make the trip a success.
“We should be getting home by now,” Henry’s father said as the sun set behind a
tall building.
“What about the rest of the trees?” Henry asked.
“I thought we’d give them to Frank and the other fellows.”
Henry nodded in agreement. The best presents are the ones you don’t expect, he
thought.
B EC A U S E I T WA S C H R I S TM A S EV E, the workers were having a little party. Frank
and the others took the tallest of the trees that Henry and his father had given them
and decorated it with whatever they could cobble together: paper garlands, cranberries
threaded onto string, and even a few shiny tin cans. Henry added an ornament of his own,
made of newspaper that he folded into a star.
In the background, he could hear his father talking with Frank about grown-up things:
the hard times for Henry’s family, the shack in which they lived. But Henry didn’t want to
think about those things. He just wanted to look at the most marvelous Christmas tree he
had ever seen.
I T H A D B EEN TH E B ES T D AY TH AT Henry could remember, and he didn’t want it to
end. He stood before the decorated tree, enchanted. The streetlamps had just come on, and
the tin cans glittered in their light. If ever there was a magic moment, Henry thought, this is it.
He decided to make a special Christmas wish. He wished that one day his family
would live in a nice, warm house.
DECEMBER 2011
HA B I TAT. O R G
25
FINISH
Announcing the winner and
top four finalists in the 2011
Habitat World photo contest
I
n the official rules announcing this
year’s Habitat World photo contest, we
challenged readers to send in images
that “show us what Habitat means to
you and why the work we all do together
remains such an important priority.” Once
again, we received hundreds of submissions
from Habitat volunteers, advocates, travelers and professional shutterbugs.
Late this summer, three rounds of judging yielded five finalists, with photos that
included subjects such as volunteers at work,
staff teaching in the field and a child exploring her new Habitat house. In the end, our
first-place image came via a volunteer from
Austin, Texas, who took his shot inside a
concrete-block house he helped build in
Chiang Mai, Thailand. For his winning photograph, “Concrete Break,” Chris Sebilia was
awarded a volunteer opportunity in Haiti
last month, during the 2011 Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project in Leogane.
On the following pages, Habitat World
proudly shares Sebilia’s photograph and the
images of our top four finalists, along with
each photographer’s thoughts on what their
pictures signify.
26
HA B I TAT WO R L D
HA B I TAT. O R G
WINNER
PHOTO
“C O NC R E T E B R E A K ” :: Chris Sebilia | Austin, Texas
After a couple years in the working world, I felt the need to take greater strides
toward making a difference. I started giving blood and spent some time working with
my local Habitat affiliate. Eventually, an opportunity came up to go on a Global Village volunteer trip with Habitat to Chiang Mai, Thailand. A departure from the typical
vacation of overcrowded museums and too many fanny packs sounded like the perfect opportunity to travel and give back at the same time.
This photo comes from that trip. It features Sornchai Meinoi, a skilled assistant
on our build site. He spent much of his time working with us volunteers, literally running to different areas demonstrating tasks to different teams of participants. I am
sure working with 16 well-intentioned but inexperienced volunteers was trying. But
the air of warmth and laughter that he and all the Thai volunteers brought to the site
seemed impervious to any physical or mental stress.
The photo shows a moment Sornchai and I took to reflect on the small triumph
of finishing the interior of the home. After having mixed and transported concrete all
day, pouring the last bit of the floor brought home the fact that, beyond just another
batch of concrete, this was someone’s living room. Around the corner was not just
another concrete block wall, but someone’s bedroom. Most of all, it showed that the
red two-by-fours were not just door frames, but the doorway to a better life.
When I look at this picture, I don’t see the concrete walls or Sornchai’s seemingly laidback stance. I see the part of myself I found in that small village outside Chiang
Mai. I see the strength of everyday people uniting for a noble goal. Most of all, I see
Mit, Ari and Mint Panjaikaew, the new homeowners, the people that motivated us.
“ I NS P I R E D ”
Pi-Lin Vuong
Toronto, Canada
FINALIST
This photo is very special to me, as
the gentleman in the middle is my
Global Village trip leader to Malawi,
Yamiko Samu. Yamiko was born in
Malawi and now works for Habitat
for Humanity International. I saw
firsthand how Yamiko spoke to the
local parents and children about
how important education was to his life story.
The casual conversations were relevant for
both the parents and the children.
This photograph showcases how Global
Village team members can inspire the lives of
the local community. On the right-hand side,
Kerry Gray, a longtime volunteer for Habitat
Toronto, listens to Yamiko. Kerry’s passion for
Habitat goes beyond her local chapter as she
builds hope globally. Alongside them walk
some children from the neighborhood. To the
left and the right, just touching the sky, you can
see new Habitat houses that have been raised.
DECEMBER 2011
HA B I TAT. O R G
27
FINALIST
“ PA I N T I NG”
Eric Rudd | Bloomington, Indiana
Habitat of Monroe County organizes a Women
Build each year here in Bloomington, and many
local photographers volunteer their time. We are
each assigned an afternoon to come shoot a group
photograph of that day’s participants, along with
some more photojournalistic images. I captured
this image during a build this past spring.
I look forward to this event every year as a way
to help my community in a small way — to document the folks on the front lines who sacrifice a
large chunk of their own time to help families with
real needs.
I took this particular photo of a volunteer painting one of the home’s bedrooms. Standing back in
a doorframe to the hallway, I shot this image on
35mm Kodak Portra 400 film.
“GA B BY : H O M E
D E D I CAT I O N ”
28
This is an exciting time for Cincinnati Habitat, full of new opportunities to start relationships with
families and communities. Our affiliate is on a mission to double our number of builds over five
years. The build at 1522-24 Elm Street is a rehab of a home vacant for 10-plus years. It will be
energy-efficient to a LEED-rated standard, is situated in a historic district and must, of course, be
affordable to a Habitat homeowner.
My first time entering Elm, the home’s past immediately washed over me: peeling sections of
paint and wallpaper, forlorn plumbing fixtures not worth scrapping strewn about the floor, a chair
looking vacantly upon the memory of children’s play. I was excited that Cincinnati Habitat would
rescue this building, that it would again host life and be a place of stories. Many partners have
assisted our affiliate in this great endeavor. The build, now under way, is one of constant activity.
The moment captured in “Elm: Who were you, who will you be?” takes place between those
two frenzied periods inside the long-abandoned home: planning and execution. The construction
manager for this project, John McEwan, pauses in a doorframe as he and I walk the chilly building
together on an early February morning.
HA B I TAT WO R L D
HA B I TAT. O R G
This photograph was taken during the
home dedication for Gabby and her
parents. Gabby is excitedly exploring
every nook of her new home. The family
moved in earlier this year after months
of swinging hammers, cutting wood
and installing insulation in freezing
temperatures.
I started as a volunteer photographer with
Habitat Philadelphia and had a blast climbing
ladders, learning about green building materials,
and meeting people of all ages and backgrounds.
In moving to Maryland, I became involved with
Habitat Montgomery County. I have fallen in love
with Habitat and look forward to many years of
documenting our accomplishments.
FINALIST
FINALIST
“ E L M : W H O W E R E YO U, W H O W I L L YO U B E ? ”
Adam Nelson | Cincinnati, Ohio
Jessica Notargiacomo |
Gaithersburg, Maryland
Give the gift
of Habitat!
2011
ornaments
Shop online or call our store
habitat.org • 800-422-5914
What will
you build?
Worldwide connections.
Habitat partner homeowner Geeta
Bishwakarma carried stones up
steep mountain paths in Pokhara,
Nepal, for her home’s foundation, but
she had help from around the world.
Mini Flashlight Gift Set
More than 460 international
volunteers converged on Pokhara,
about 200 kilometers west
of Kathmandu, for the six-day
Everest Build in October 2010.
Working in partnership with the
residents of the communities of
Lakuri and Pachbhaiya, they built
40 bamboo houses.
2012 Wall Calendar
At special builds like this, it’s as if
the entire world comes together
in one place for one purpose.
Volunteers on the Everest Build
came from the United States,
New Zealand, Australia, Japan,
South Korea, Germany, Canada
and Singapore.
Volunteers on short-term Global
Village mission trips immerse
themselves in the local culture
and forge bonds of friendship
that will last a lifetime. They learn
snippets of local dialect, try foods
they could never have imagined
eating, and come back home
bursting with stories.
No experience is necessary —
just a willingness to be open to
having your life changed.
habitat.org/calendar/2012/march
March
sunday
monday
LL
2012 WA
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tuesday
wednesday
February 2012
April 2012
S M T W T F S
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15 16 17 18 19 20 21
22 23 24 25 26 27 28
29 30
thursday
friday
saturday
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CALENDA
5
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PuriM (Jewish)
11
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DaYLight
saViNg
Da
DaYL
ight saV
a iNg tiMe BegiNs (usa)
aV
18
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st. PatriCK’s
’s DaY
Da
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sPriNg BegiNs
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Media
Sleeve
Herb Garden Set
26
FieldNotes
Find Habitat World online at
MAGAZINE.HABITAT.ORG
Read weekly updates at
HABITAT.ORG/BLOG
Perspectives from around Habitat’s world
Reconnecting with the Home Front
GO ONLINE »
Go to habitat.org/hw to view a
photo slideshow of the Tacoma Veterans’ Build.
30
HA B I TAT WO R L D
HA B I TAT. O R G
STEFFAN HACKER
O
ne of the intangible benefits of
Habitat’s volunteer model is
that it allows people to connect
with their community — and
their neighbors within it — on
a level they might never know otherwise.
Habitat’s affiliate in Tacoma, Washington,
recently found a way to bring that experience to a group of wounded American
soldiers looking for a productive way to
reconnect with their community.
Through a partnership with Tacoma/
Pierce County Habitat, more than 30
soldiers from a nearby U.S. Army “Warrior
Transition Battalion” helped frame and
roof a pair of houses. Battalions like the one
in Tacoma exist to provide medical care,
advocacy and long-term support for soldiers
and veterans healing from combat-related
injuries, illnesses or post-traumatic stress.
Habitat has a long history, in many countries, of working with soldiers who want
to volunteer, or apply to become potential
homeowners. Thanks to the success of the
Tacoma build, that bond may grow even
stronger. Lt. Gen. Eric B. Schoomaker,
commander of the U.S. Army Medical
Command, visited the soldiers on the
Washington worksite. “This is an innovative
therapy for our wounded warriors that I
would like to begin implementing Armywide,” he told the Northwest Guardian.
The initial Tacoma build already has
proved mutually beneficial; many of those
involved are continuing to volunteer as part
of their ongoing occupational therapy. And
the commitment made by these recovering
citizen-soldiers has provided Habitat with a
new crew of inspiring volunteer-advocates.
B Y P H I L L I P J O R DA N
Michael Martinez, a U.S. Army specialist, prepares the way for roof trusses to be placed atop a
Habitat house going up in Tacoma, Washington. Martinez was one of 30-plus local soldiers and
veterans to build with Habitat from the U.S. Army’s “Warrior Transition Battalion.”
YOUTH IN SUPPORT
Hundreds of youth involved with Habitat’s ministry gathered in Indianapolis,
Indiana, Nov. 4-6, to share ideas on how
their respective, local efforts can best aid
global housing needs.
The 2011 Youth Leadership Conference featured guest speakers, discussion-oriented workshops and ideas on
how to get youth involved in Habitat
beyond the build site. Young adults are
some of Habitat’s most ardent volunteers. Attendees of this year’s conference focused on rallying youth to also
support Habitat’s work through advocacy, fundraising and disaster response.
Matt Howard, a junior at the University of Minnesota, attended the conference for the first time this year. He came
to Indianapolis with fellow students on
the board of his school’s Habitat campus chapter, which supports the work of
Twin Cities Habitat in Minneapolis and St.
Paul, Minnesota.
“Our chapter has been expanding
at a very rapid pace over the past few
years,” Howard says. “Participating in
this year’s conference [was] perfect to
give us ideas on how to maintain our
momentum, sustain further growth, find
solutions to challenges that we face, and
perhaps provide such solutions to other
chapters by sharing our experiences.”
To learn more about Habitat’s youth
programs, which can involve young people from ages 5 to 25, visit habitat.org/
youthprograms.
ComingHome
g
The camera captures a moment in time
WHO WE ARE, WHY WE BUILD
OU R M I S SIO N V I SIO N : A world where everyone has a decent place to live.
M I S SIO N S TAT E M E N T: Seeking to put God’s love into action, Habitat for Humanity brings
people together to build homes, communities and hope.
DECEMBER 2011
HA B I TAT. O R G
31
121 Habitat Street, Americus, GA 31709-3498
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» $125 Carpenter’s Gift Book Package
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