Today was a great day, and somehow, even though yesterday's ride was three times longer, today was a much longer day. We did so much today and most importantly, finally got to North Carolina!!
We all cheered as we pulled into Camp Royall, our home away from home, for the next week. I think many of us were pleasantly surprised by how nice the camp is. There are soccer fields, frisbee golf, a pond with boats, two dining halls, a playground and more. We will be sharing camp with two other colleges working with habitat, Providence and University of New Hampshire. We got the opportunity to speak with some of the students from UNH and they were very friendly and I think many of us hope to spend some time meeting people from the other schools during our down time.
Another great thing we got to experience today was an orientation with David from Chatham Habitat when we first arrived. David was able to tell us about the area, the campsite, and the Chatham habitat. Some of the most valuable information he gave us included who we build and work for and also out value in habitat volunteer work. David told us that although habitat is commonly misconceived as a volunteer program which gives away houses to families for free, the families who receive the house must meet three main requirements: 1) they must be in need of a home 2) they must volunteer sweat equity or volunteer a required amount of hours through habitat and 3) the ability to pay for a non-interest mortgage. The other thing I really took away from his speech was that the collegiate challenge, the program through habitat which brings college students to work with habitat, has made one of te biggest impacts on the success of the chatham habitat. David really made us feel welcome in our new home and made us feel like what we are doing is something which really helps the habitat program.
Another couple highlights of the day include going to a fantastic BBQ resteraunt where we tried hush puppies and assorted fried foods, exploring mount chapel and the UNC campus, and shipping for groceries as a group. These activities were all a lot of fun and allowed us to bond with each other, an the grocery trip really challenged us all to become organized and work together.
Something really exciting tonight was the team's excitement for the reflection. In the discussion today, there was a lot of focus on getting know each other better and also getting to know the background that each of us came from. It was meaningful to discuss our pasts and then to discuss how the recipients of these houses are not just reviving simply shelter, but a home in which to have similar experiences and memories to those we have. I think that this point, that we are not building just shelter but memories, brought up by the reflection leaders Yessenia, Michelle, and Nicole, was a very inspiring and powerful image for the group. I enjoyed the discussions in reflection tonight a lot and I hope to have more of these. Meaningful discussions In our other reflections as well.
Finally, I think that the most valuable thing which happened to me today, even better than the hush puppies and fried okra, was a discussion I had in the grocery store checkout line with someone from the area. Imagine being at a relatively small grocery store on a Monday night and then you see twenty college students with at least seven carts full of food pull up to the register. I think that what you are imagining in your head right now, is exactly what the lady in front of me was thinking...what on earth is going on, and she was pretty clear in expressing that. I explained to her that we were a group of college students from Quinnipiac University in CT who came down to volunteer for Spring break with Habitat for Humanity. Her reaction was something I don't think I can ever quite explain exactly, as she put her hand on my shoulder, she said to me "why you guys are doing here is incredible! People give young people a bad reputation but we were all young once and there are a lot of you who are doing some really great and impressive things. I really want you to tell your group that what you are doing is incredible and has a huge impact on our community." I don't think anything on this trip will be close to as satisfying as hearing this woman thank us just for coming. We didn't build her a house, we hadn't worked with us, she had only just met me, but I think what she said had more impact on me than most things anyone has ever told me. Just coming down to help meant so much to her because we came down to help her community. To know that what we are doing makes such a difference, is not something that always ces with service, but hearing it from this total stranger will be something I will never forget.
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