We're 64% of the Way There!

We're getting there!

We have received several donations over the past few days and we're up to $3,842.98!!

It was an especially nice boost to receive a box of rolled pennies from the Habitat ReStore in Victoria (thanks John & Margot!) as well as a generous donation from the Habitat for Humanity Victoria Board. In addition to supporting our trip to Ghana, Habitat Victoria has also committed to build a home in Argentina!

We are very grateful for the support of the local Habitat Affiliate and are looking forward to returning home and hosting a photo slide show presentation to share our experiences with the board and our other donors as well.

In terms of other news, we have received some more direction about our travel Visa's and this is making it all seem so much more real! For the past two months we have been very focussed on raising awareness and planning our fundraising events and so now the reality that we will actually be traveling to Africa in just 8 weeks is setting in!!! We have met many people who have lived and volunteered in Ghana so now we are eagerly connecting with them to learn all we can about where we are going. We have been reading books (such as: The Shadow of the Sun by Ryszard Kapuscinki, Lonely Planet West Africa and The Famished Road by Ben Okri) checking out travel blogs and learning all we can about Ghana.

We have yet to hear exactly which village we will be in, but we do have a good sense of what our building experience might be like based on photos we have seen of some other Global Village Builds.

First, here is a photo of a Habitat Ghana family in front of their family home. In Ghana, many rural homes are wooden structures with mud walls and bamboo or palm thatch roofs and provide shelter for the entire extended family. Roofs must be replaced often to prevent collapse of the house and heavy rains can destroy mud foundations or cause entire walls to collapse. Families continue to occupy the remaining part of the house which is therefore very crowded.



The homes we will build will likely be made with earth and cement bricks, made as seen below, and will have cement floors and aluminum roofs.




Houses are typically two rooms and will likely include a kitchen and shower as well as a toilet which may be attached or detached from the main dwelling.



We have also learned that we will likely be volunteering in a Habitat community which may look something like this, which gives you an idea of what the finished homes look like.


All of these photos are from the Habitat Ghana website and looking at them again, gets me thinking about all kinds of things . . . how will we pack everything we need, will we survive the heat, will we be fit enough to build with these blocks? Mostly though I am excited and can't wait to meet and get to know our team mates from across Canada, I can't wait to try Ghanaian food and I can't wait to meet the families we will be building alongside!

Thanks for helping us get there everyone! We're getting close to our goal, thanks to each and every one of you!

Brandy