Today was a day of mixed emotion and joyful celebration as we completed our last day on the build site. Our two houses are pretty well completed except for the work of the finishing trades. This includes hanging the doors, putting glass in the windows and completing the floors.
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| The floors must be super-smooth to sleep on... |
We hustled about to be sure our site looked tidy and cared for, placed a Canadian flag at the door and then wrapped
The celebration was attended by our recipient mothers, Lisettte and Erlinda, their children, the neighbours, numerous other children, Magaia and Ida from Habitat, the “Mayor” of the community, the site contractors and various other notables. And what a celebration it was! The only male presence was from the contractors and the “Mayor”. We had lunch together and then the ceremony began with singing and dancing which eventually included us; a pretty pathetic sight in our work clothes and boots, but we had lots of laughs and hilarity.
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| Celebration Dances |
The locals, especially the teenagers are quite amused by us and frequently giggle at our antics. The dancing and singing was followed by speeches and our new homeowners also had an opportunity to speak. Perhaps the most poignant words were from Lisette when she said that now when she tells her friends she is going home, she has a real dwelling to go to, not just to a tree. After the speeches, there was more singing and dancing. Fortunately Mel had taught us a “Habitat” song that we could sing together. (we were not nearly as rhythmic as the locals)) This was followed by a blessing of the homes done by our team leader Dennis Anderson and an elder from the community. We then went to the other site to bless that home as well.
The Habitat song is the words of Amazing Grace done to the tune of Gilligan‘s Island:
Amazing Grace how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost but now I’m found
I’m blind but now can see
We’re building homes here in Mozambique
We’re building hope here in Mozambique
We’re building community here in Mozambique
With Habitat for Humanity
God is great
God is good
So we thank him for this build
We are going to thank him morning, noon and night
Because our build is out of site
Amen, Amen, Amen,
Amen, Amen, Amen.
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| Group Photo in front of One of our newly-built bouses. |
Submitted by Judy
