And So It Ends

Nikom and his family got their new house today. Though I wasn't there in person, I know it was a very moving moment--for Nikom and his wife, who have greater hope for their children; for their children, who have a sturdier place to live; and for our team, who arrived 10 days ago, helped build a house from the ground up, and is about to leave.

Like most new homeowners, Nikom also has a mortgage. He needs to repay Habitat for the materials and the skilled labor needed to build his house. The terms are manageable, but they are still a debt. But he doesn't have to pay anything for the labor our team provided. That was our gift to him and his family. And to ourselves.

15 years ago two friends stood up at meeting and announced an ecumenical group was forming to help rebuild black churches. In the mid-90's, there was a rash of arsons of black churches in the Deep South, and groups were organizing all over the country to help rebuild them. I joined immediately. It was a disparate group religiously--mostly Jews and Catholics, a few Presbyterians, two Quakers, and one secular humanist (which I guess is a sort of faith.)

We journeyed to Johnston's Station, Mississippi to help rebuild the Rocky Point Missionary Baptist Church. The church had been burned down on the 25th anniversary of Martin Luther King's assassination. Two teen-age white boys from the community were arrested, convicted and serving time in prison. It was now time to help rebuild the church.

We went, we worked, and we found a new vocation--one that combined our interest in travel, meeting and connecting with other communities, and being of service.

Annually thereafter, many of us journeyed again to do the same. In alternate years, to El Salvador. In between, in Philadelphia, where most of us lived (I had quite ironically moved to Mississippi) and knew that people and communities needed us at home as well as abroad.

And then I discovered Habitat's Global Village program. I had worked on Habitat locally but had never known they had a global program, in 100+ countries, that combined my interests in travel, meeting and connecting, and serving. And so began the next iteration in my vocation.

Over the years, I've been on 15 Global Village trips. Taking me to places I couldn't pronounce or spell (Kyrgyzstan) or had a nomadic allure (Mongolia), to more typical places like Ecuador, Chile, Mexico and Guatemala, to Zambia with my long-time best friend, to India with my niece, and to other places as well.

In between, I also went back to New Orleans, a city I had grown to love (and still do) when we lived in Mississippi. We knew it pre-Katrina, and I wanted to be of service post-Katrina. And what better way, in the City of Music, than to participate in helping to build the Habitat Musician's Village in the heart of the upper 9th ward.

Eventually, after resisting for several years, I decided to volunteer to be a team leader. (I used to say I was in a 12-step program of recovery from management and was only in the 1st step.) I realized the Global Village trips only work when leaders step forward and volunteer, so I finally decided I had taken enough (11 teams as a participant) and it was time to give back (as a team leader.)

And it was what I expected it would be---a different experience. I was management rather than participant. I had to hold back and manage, forming the team, informing them, managing team dynamics and workplace issues (amazingly enough, they exist on a volunteer work site!), etc. And I grew to realize that the fun/not fun quotient was declining, as it did for me when I was working for money. While some of the same aspects were present (travel to fascinating places, connecting with "real" people that you simply can't do when you're a tourist, being a traveler rather than a tourist as one team member said), it was beginning to seem more like work and less like fun. And while I still always derived some of the same pleasures, I had to do them through others and their stories, rather than directly. Sort of like through my "students" rather than directly. But I wouldn't trade any of this--even my most challenging experiences--for anything.

And so, after 20+ build trips, to 17 countries on 5 continents (I've missed Antarctica, "and don't forget Australia."), it is time for me to find a new vocation.

My rear car bumper has an array of flag decals from the countries where I've built. With the latest decal from Thailand, the bumper will be full. Some time ago Anne asked "what will you do when the bumper's full--get a new car?" No, I'll get a new vocation.