Building lesson

Building homes for the holidays

Over the Christmas holiday break, a team of 12 people set out from the University of Calgary to make a difference in a family’s life in Mexico.  What they didn’t realize is that this experience would do more than help just one family.

For the past eight years, Kelly Johnson, a chaplain with the University of Calgary’s Multi-Faith Chaplains’ Centre, has gathered groups of students, alumni and staff to help build homes for poor families in Mexico—a labour of love called Project Amigo. 

During the December break, a team of 12 from the University of Calgary drove 36 hours in a van to Juarez, Mexico to construct a new house for a young couple and their daughter. 

The diverse group of individuals—which included students from first through fifth year, recent grads and a staff member from the Mustard Seed Street Ministry—came together for various reasons to create a tight-knit and cohesive team. 

In the course of three days, they built a 242-square-foot, two-room house. The structure, with no running water or indoor plumbing, is the equivalent of a small garage in Calgary. 

But by the standards of Juarez, Mexico, this was a standard home for the typical small family,” says Adam Rumjahn, a fifth-year engineering student and first-time participant in Project Amigo. 

Although a Juarez family might be drawing a steady wage, it would be impossible for them to fund the construction of such a house. With a home provided free, this couple is now able to focus on other priorities like feeding and clothing their daughter.

The fight against poverty, of course, is not limited to less-developed countries. Some members of the group say they were criticized by their peers for choosing to help those in another country when there is a significant homeless problem in Calgary. 

But the group learned two important lessons regarding local and global poverty—first, that resources make a difference, and second, that the impact from a trip like this reaches far beyond the days spent in Mexico.

“The people of Juarez face a much different situation, as there aren’t an abundance of resources for support other than from organizations like the one through which we built these houses. A homeless shelter is something that is unheard of in Juarez,” says Rumjahn.

And although the group travelled to Mexico to help address issues found further south, the impact of their trip will be felt at home, as well.

“This experience makes the students more sensitized to poverty—they come back and want to contribute more locally,” says Johnson. 

Many of the students increase their involvement in local organizations such as the Mustard Seed following the trip—they are more aware of the poverty that surrounds them every day. 

“We’re numb to the fact that there’s poverty here—you can pass it on the street every day,” says Stephenie Hawker, a first-year biology student. “But when you’re down there—surrounded by it—you can’t ignore it.”

The group took home lessons about themselves, family, friends and spirituality. They also discovered just what kind of a difference they can each make in the world around them.
“It takes so little for us to really change someone’s life,” says Meera Bai, a repeat participant in Project Amigo.

Johnson is already beginning orientation for a spring trip leaving at the end of exams for undergrad students, as well as for a trip for grad students, alumni and staff at the beginning of April. For more information on Project Amigo, contact him at the Multi-Faith Chaplains’ Centre (www.ucalgary.ca/chaplain/).