About the Habitat Map App

In celebration of Habitat′s 500,000th and 500,001st milestone and World Habitat Day, we’ve created the Habitat Map App to encourages volunteers to tell us where they’ve built with Habitat for Humanity. Our goal is to create a dynamic representation of 35 years of Habitat volunteer experiences around the globe. Add your previous experience and tell us--what was it that made your Habitat experience memorable? Then help us spread the word by sharing with your friends and family.

Shuiweidong, China July 2011

Celebrating 500,000 homes.

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Shuiweidong, China (July 2011)

Created by Julie M.

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About my experience We had a team of 16 people from across the US. One member was from Hong Kong. Our hosts in Guangdong province were well prepared for us. We dug the foundation and repaired the road. It was hard, hot work and our team members were ready for the challenge. The village has approximately 400 residents and 100 house in very bad repair. These house will be torn down and replaced with 100 new permanent homes able to withstand the conditions of area--heat, monsoons and humidity. The foundation we dug was for a temporary residence to house 4 families while they tear down their current residence and build the new one. When they move in, the temporary home will be used by several more families while their homes are built. And so on till the homes are complete. The temporary structure is being built with strong materials and will later be used for housing animals who currently live in people's homes in unsanitary conditions. Besides building, our team visited local village members in their homes and had tea with them, had a rice harvest demonstration and many conversations. Village members including children worked alongside us daily. At the end of our 4.5 days of work, we were sad to leave and anxious to see the future progress. The Guangdong HFH staff send us periodic photo updates so we can stay connected to the project.

Why I volunteer I choose to volunteer with HFH because I believe in the philosophy that everyone deserves a simple decent home. I also love to travel and meet new people. HFH GV allows me to do both. I especially enjoy putting together a diverse group of people who have not met before and seeing them come together for a common purpose and successfully become a team of friends. In addition, the team expands to include the local HFH people as all as the local villagers.

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Julie M.
Green Bay, WI, United States

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