From February 25 to March 4, 2012, a group of fifteen students from Korea International School went to Thailand as youth volunteers for the Habitat for Humanity. For them, this trip had a great significance in their lives because they were able to build a house for a family living in an area destroyed by the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami.
Habitat for Humanity is a non-profit organization that builds and provides new homes with “the help of the homeowner families, volunteer workers and skilled personnel.” Through this program more than millions of families were able to sleep in clean, decent houses of their own since it was founded in the year of 1976. Now, it became an international business where people around the world began to share their love for humanity through donation or actually helping out with the construction of the homes.
Its missions to bring together and provide homes for the poverty-stricken families and communities in need are the reasons why HFH is important to make a better living for people throughout the world. Many people who received help from HFH and many others in the world are without a voice: a voice that can be heard if others are able to take into consideration. Although they are in pain and hungry, these impoverished families cannot cry out for themselves without the help of others. They are in need of the attention of others in order to gain the voice and find that there is always a hope that guides them out of destitution. Therefore, it is important that organization like Habitat for Humanity prosper for the greater good of the society.
In an effort to continue to follow the global mission of Habitat, KIS students went to Krabi, Thailand and started to build a house from scratch. What was amazing was that the job that was suppose to be finished throughout the whole four days was nearly finished in just one day. Due to a great deal of enthusiasm from the students to work even more, they continued to build the walls using cement and hundreds of bricks. According to the Construction Coordinator of HFH Thailand, U-Thit Labrie, “[t]here’s no youth team [that] finished 80% of the house in four days! You all are amazing!”
Luckily, I was one of the privileged volunteers of this amazing HFH 2012. It was an unforgettable experience for me, as I was able to help building a house for those who were severely affected by the tsunami. Although the work was sometimes tiresome, the thoughts of joie de vivre to be of help, overpowered all of the fatigue and weariness. During the eight days of fabulous adventure, I attained an epiphany: the realization of finding joy in giving service to others.
For more information about Habitat for Humanity, please go to http://www.habitat.org.
Life is Good 