Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 19, 1994 TAG: 9406190107
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"It was definitely a different Habitat experience," said Rosa, a senior from Rhode Island. "There was no wood, no hammer, no nails, no electricity."
The 4-year-old affiliate of an international organization whose mission is to provide decent, affordable housing for people in need has taken its efforts outside U.S. borders. Last month, Rosa, one other affiliate member and Ned Morris, the affiliate's faculty adviser, were part of a nine-person group that traveled to Tanzania for three weeks, in part to perform Habitat volunteer work.
The group spent one week in Nkinga, a village of 5,000, manufacturing home construction materials. The bricks they created will replace ones made of mud and water that deteriorate during the country's six-month rainy season. The tiles that the group fashioned out of cement will replace thatched roofs.
"You can imagine that the pace of construction is a little different," said Morris, who is assistant to the Roanoke College chaplain. "What could be done in a day here, takes a week there.
"But just to have the opportunity to connect with someone thousands of miles away and finding that there's a commonality in our existence - that being as simple as shelter and the need for people to be there for one another - had a powerful impact."
Roanoke College students' involvement in Habitat started a few years before the affiliate was established. During each spring break, a group of students would travel from the college's Salem campus to the inner city of Columbia, S.C., to work on home construction and renovation projects.
Students returned to the college with a desire to establish a program that would carry on their Habitat interests year-round rather than one week, once a year. The affiliate was formally established in 1990 and has 30 members, a number that fluctuates from project to project, Morris said.
Rosa said she had been volunteering elsewhere, mostly at community service organizations.
"But I wanted to get involved in other ways," she said. "Habitat caught my eye. Once I started going, I didn't want to stop."
The affiliate continues its yearly trek to Columbia, where this spring, students helped renovate the second story of an office building that was being converted into a home for single mothers and their children.
The group has volunteered on home construction projects of Habitat for Humanity in the Roanoke Valley as well as the Greater Lynchburg Habitat for Humanity, and has teamed up on projects with the Habitat affiliate at Virginia Tech. Last year, affiliate members spent a week in Homestead, Fla., putting roofs on homes damaged by Hurricane Andrew.
"Our eventual goal is to raise enough money to sponsor our own house," said Terri Cobb, a senior from Hampton who served as co-president of the Roanoke College affiliate during the 1993-94 academic year. One problem "is finding a lot that is relatively inexpensive," she said.
For Morris, a 1988 graduate of the college, Habitat brings a sense that he's doing something that "most people talk about."
"Doing what I can as an individual to help is a responsibility that we all have. It's not at all a one-way giving experience. Because I certainly get back just as much, if not more, than I've given."
by CNB