Final Reflection--Habitat for Humanity

My objective was to finally gain an understanding of the community I lived in and I wanted to have a chance to actually help people. I did a variety of tasks ranging from what build I was in. My most common job was hoeing dirt to break it up, and then shoveling it out. I also did a lot of painting but I preferred the harder labor. Each build as fairly successful though we often did not have as much time to complete the build as was necessary. In the first build I helped digging four ditches to lay the foundation of a house. In the second build I helped paint three classrooms. Finally, in the last build, I dug two irrigation canals to divert water flow from a school building. The outcome was being able to finally see the look on people's faces when we were done helping them, and being able to glimpse at the great feat we had just accomplished, being able to say that we built something from scratch, and made people's lives better. We were for the most part successful but sometimes did not completely finish our plans for the builds. Most of my difficulties were purely physical. For the first build I had to wake up at 4 a.m. and that was almost impossible. Also, I have racked up numerous injuries over the builds, and even nearly passed out from toxic paint fumes. However, eventually you learn how to ignore these pains and you continue to trudge on until you get the job done. I greatly enjoyed Habitat for Humanity. It was a great way for me to directly help people, gain a deeper knowledge of the condition that some Kenyans were living in, and showed me what a little help could accomplish. I have learned many skills ranging from basic home improvement to the beauty of helping the less fortunate. I have learned that helping people benefits both parties, emotionally and otherwise.