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[Women Build Summary] Port-au-Prince, Wednesday March 19th, 2008
On Saturday March 8th, Habitat for Humanity Haiti (HPHH) recognized International Women’s Day by hosting “Women’s Build” at Village Bercy, a 100+ home village at its Cabaret affiliate. The build day resulted in painting of exterior walls of 22 newly constructed, 49 m² homes in Bercy.
Over 200 volunteers participated in the build day, with groups coming from local schools, businesses, women’s organizations, and various other civil society groups. In addition to the volunteers from outside the village, recipient families and many of the 77 other recipient families in the village participated during the day. Télé Haiti filmed the event and featured it as part of Women’s Day coverage on the evening of Monday March 10th. Of the volunteers, approximately 78% were females, and approximately 75% were students.
Mrs. Guerline Milty is married with four young children, and moved into her new home in Bercy just over two months ago. She and several volunteers painted her new house in just a few hours. She said it made her feel “proud and happy” to paint her home alongside the volunteers.
The volunteers were greeted by Habitat Haiti National Office staff and Affiliate committee members with a presentation on Habitat for Humanity’s work. They learned about the need for housing in Haiti, a deficit of over 1 million homes, and what Habitat Haiti is doing to meet the need for housing in the country.
Eighteen (18) more homes will be painted in the village over the next several weeks by members of the Bercy community, as construction is terminated on the latest round of construction. MATPAR, a Haitian paint manufacturing company donated a large amount of paint for the event, and funds were contributed by several other businesses and individuals who made cash and/or in-kind donations among them Citibank.
The vast majority of participants in Women’s Build were volunteering with Habitat Haiti for the first time, and groups have already expressed interest in building a lasting relationship with HPHH. One volunteer, when asked about her experience said, “It was very fun… working together with friends, painting the houses and helping the community…” Asked if she would participate again in the future she responded, “Yes. If there [are] projects like this, I’ll definitely come.”
On March 18th HPHH organized a second build day with the families and the National Office Staff to continue the work started on March 8th. More than 180 people participated in this project and 22 houses were completely painted during the day.
With an average of 4 hours per person, eight hundred (800) work hours were completed during “Women’s Build” visiting volunteers, and one hundred and seventy six (176) hours were contributed by an average of 2 people from each of the recipient families.
On March 18th, the NO staff and the families completed eight hundred (800) work hours.
Thus, an estimated one thousand seven hundred and seventy six (1,776) work hours were completed in two days of work.
These events have helped HPHH raise 15,350 gourdes ($US 403.94 and $US 100 in cash and 28,721.56 gourdes ($US 755.83) in kind donations. The total value of donations reached $ US 1,259.77.
Jean Joseph Sanon
Volunteer and Brigades Coordinator
G. Jeff Barnes
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