PRINTHelping near and far
March 27, 2008 | 12:00 a.m. CST
Growing up, my mother always had high hopes that our family would start volunteering with Habitat For Humanity. Our sturdy, cinder block ranch house in a middle-class Orlando subdivision contrasted sharply with a neighborhood less than three miles away. Many of its homes had tarp-covered roofs atop rickety wood boards. Habitat’s volunteers, which eventually included my mom, built these residents hurricane-withstanding homes resembling our own.
Only as I read this week’s feature story, “Redeeming Graces,” did I realize that for many people around the world, these American-dream homes might not be a dream-come-true. Replacement materials, such as glass to repair broken windows, are more than a trip to Lowe’s in a continent like such as Africa.
This week’s feature explores a new kind of Habitat home that volunteers from mid-Missouri built in Mozambique over the past summer. The homes, though sturdy, don’t include a piece of window glass or a cement block. In fact, the only cement is on the floor. The round huts are built of reeds and have a thatched roof. The more traditional structures are made of materials easily found near villages and towns in Mozambique.
Habitat’s efforts to help people near as much as those far show that plenty of Americans live lives unfathomable to many people in our country. The phrase human trafficking conjures images of girls in Southeast Asia and other remote locations. The fact, however, is that it also happens here. Theresa Flores, author of The Sacred Bath, spoke with Vox about her own trafficking experience as a teen in Detroit. As Flores explains in our Web-exclusive story, she is now involved in efforts to educate Americans about modern-day slavery on their own soil.
It shows that, no matter how different two countries might seem, they can share common problems.
