Global Village

This blog post was guest written by Habitat Wake volunteer, John Twomey.

Hola!

We again leveraged our commute to engage in some "reflections". The topic was how did our experiences and perception of Argentina so far meet or not meet our expectations. For the most part we felt that Argentina has an image of being a somewhat wealthy country. Certainly not like the poverty one finds in Malawi or Cambodia where some of us have built in past trips. Yet, there is clearly Argentine poverty when you get outside the city. 

This blog post was guest written by Habitat Wake volunteer, Laura Ogle.

Today was our first official “work” day and what better way to start it off than with a group reflection to share with one another why we’ve all come together in this beautiful country to help make a difference.

After an hour long bus journey with views ranging from the city high rise buildings to the city’s high rising slums, what an honor to have our team orientation at the National office with none ofter than Ana Cutts, the National Director. 

This blog post was guest written by Habitat Wake volunteer, Steven Worrell.

This blog post was guest written by Habitat Wake volunteer, Emily Hudspeth.

We woke up this morning to a glorious day in Buenos Aires. The team arrived throughout the day yesterday, and we got to start this morning with a guided tour of the city by bus. 

Today, the duality between poverty and uncertainty is on my mind. Does uncertainty cause poverty? Does poverty cause uncertainty? The unreliability of systems that provide an efficient delivery of goods and services and investment definitely leads to poverty-ridden communities. On a personal level, lack of material resources contributes to uncertainty—especially in the housing arena where families relocate frequently from tenuous rental situations. Add on layers of injustice, and you have a recipe for long-term sustained poverty that is difficult to escape.

I had the privilege of travelling to the Dominican Republic week before last along with 14 other Habitat directors from affiliates in the U.S.  We travelled to see first hand the housing challenges in this country and to learn about the ambitious plans that the local Habitat organization there has.

“It is not enough to limit your love to your own nation, to your own group. You must respond with love even to those outside of it. This concept enables people to live together not as nations, but as the human race.” -- Clarence Jordan