The last day of the build was to be an emotional one. The foci of the teams were to finish up small projects, clean the home space, decorate the front of the house as a part of the welcoming, and participate in the ribbon cutting ceremony with the family. Post-ribbon cutting, there was a closing ceremony with speeches, thank you’s, and some entertainment.

I’ve included a link to a video shot by a New Zealander which gives you a sense of the day.

Of course the best part was meeting the entire family who would be moving into the house along with extended family members. Our family was a couple with their two children, ages 9 and 2. The lady who took a liking to me was there along with some additional grandchildren.

The ribbon cutting ceremony totally caught me by surprise. Each of my team members and i were allowed to make one small cut in the ribbon with the owners who made the final cut. Cutting the ribbon, I got totally teary, choked up, and started to cry. What a moment for that family! All I could think of was ‘they have a house’ and how important that was in their lives. It was the start of more teariness for much of the team. Once officially in the house, there was dancing, singing, and a definite sense of joy. Mostly joy…the 2-year old, who I suspect had never seen a white person, started to bawl every time one of us went near him. I really think it was the Caucasian factor. The look on that child’s face was priceless. They’d take him out of the room, he’d stop crying, back into the room, one look and the tears began all over again.

The family was also very emotional. Through a translator, the lady had some lovely sentiments. The mother kept touching me. As i was standing there readying to leave the family, the mother and daughter came to me with a translator. Through the translator, she said that i was to be called the first sister of her daughter. I don’t know the meaning of this exactly, but I took it as something of honour. Nekane, my roommate, had a similar experience, being called the first sister of the owner’s daughter.

It was a meaningful day. A day of pride and joy. I thought about the future of that family. My optimistic self wants great things for them and knows that the housing will change so much for them. Along the way, in small and big ways, I hope that each of the volunteers were changed. I personally feel some kind of shift internally. I don’t know how big it is, but at minimum I have a changed perspective about poverty. I only hope that my changed perspective will make a difference.

It already has….on January 10th, I was to return to Canada. I’ve decided to not come back and to extend my time away so as to participate on another HFH build and will return in March. This build will be in Chetwan, Nepal in mid-February. It will be a 2-week build. I am planning on fundraising my HFH donation/fee (which pays for build materials and my accommodation during the build). I’m really hoping that friends and family will be able to support me in this endeavour. Baring any difficulties in setting up visas from over here, I will go. Stay tuned…..

Baci, Sonya