Habitat

At the end of the long day, I surveyed myself.  My jeans were covered in sawdust and mud.  My arms boasted a chalky pink-red hue.  My right hand sported several burgeoning blisters.  And, my hair was molded into what could only be described as hard hat hair.  As my appearance confirmed, my first time volunteering with Habitat for Humanity had been quite productive.

On Friday, I went up to Daly City to work on the construction of a four-story building that will provide condominiums for 36 families.  Monica invited me to tag along as her guest to volunteer with JusticeCorps members for César Chávez Day.  It was fitting to spend the day laboring as a construction worker, contemplating workers' rights.  After learning more about how Habitat works, as well as safety protocols, we divided up into smaller groups to accomplish various tasks.

Along with ten other volunteers, Monica and I spent the day nailing up OSB to studs to form interior walls and rough door framing.  I didn't have much knowledge about carpentry, so it was exciting to get a little technical with things like nail schedules and measurements.  And, I had never used a chalk line tool--so cool!  At the beginning of the day, it was taking me a long time to hammer in each nail, but I was much better by the afternoon, swinging my hammer in long, forceful arcs that hit the head almost every time.

I had always wanted to do Habitat, and I was glad to have this opportunity.  While I enjoyed the day, I'm not sure it was my favorite type of volunteering.  Reflecting on the experience, I think I thrive the most through community service where I am actually able to interact with the person receiving the benefit of my labor.  Here, I could see that there were walls where there had been none, but it was not quite the same as seeing the face of a person I had impacted directly.  Perhaps my experience would be different if I did one of the international week-long builds, where I could see the community being affected.  That being said, I think I would do Habitat again, because doing construction felt pretty hardcore, I felt like I learned some practical skills, and the organization has a very good structure.