Disaster course

I spent the past week with the most awesome group of people in a Habitat Disaster rebuild course here in Americus Georgia.  Habitat has a sub group called Care-A-Vanners or CAV.  We’re a group of people who travel in RV’s to build Habitat houses and have fun doing it. http://www.habitat.org/rv  Within that group, some of us are interested in going into disaster areas specifically and rebuilding.  This course covered such topics as emergency management, psychology of disaster, volunteer self care, safety, safety, safety, conflict resolution and managing volunteers.  The Care-a-vanner desk is manned or supported by the most amazing people Mary, Lu, Kristen, and Brenda just to name a few.  I’ve dealt with them via email for so long I felt like I knew them.  I was so excited to finally meet them and I was not disappointed.  They were even better in person, if that’s possible.  OK, Lu wasn’t here, but I met her several years ago in Michigan.  My fellow builders were so much fun to be around.  Some I had worked with before and some I will be working with in the near future.  Others I’ll be looking for on future builds just to be able to work with them.  I’m so excited about this program, the only drawback is that we go in long after the disaster happens.  We’re there to rebuild the community, but it takes time for the local affiliate to regroup and organize.  I’m also interested in going in right after the disaster, but will probably need to work with the Red Cross or other agency for that.  So that’s my next project I guess.

The class was 4 days of fun, on Friday many of us visited  Koinonia Farm, the birthplace of Habitat for Humanity.  Koinonia farm was founded in 1942 by Clarence and Florence Jordan and Martin and Mabel England as a “demonstration plot for the Kingdom of God.” This meant a community of believers sharing life and following the example of the first Christian communities as described in the Acts of the Apostles, even amidst the poverty and racism of the rural South.  They envisioned an interracial community where blacks and whites could live and work together in a spirit of partnership.  In 1965 Millard and Linda Fuller visited friends there.  They intended to stay for an hour.  After hearing Clarence Jordan speak, they stayed for several months.   Eventually Jordan and Fuller developed the concept of partnership housing which would become Habitat for Humanity. No Jimmy Carter did not start Habitat for Humanity.   http://www.koinoniapartners.org/ http://www.habitat.org/how/historytext.aspx

This week I’m headed back to Tuscaloosa one final time to work with Roger.  Things didn’t work out with us as I had hoped, but I think we have the basis for  a good friendship and who couldn’t use more friends.  My only regret is I didn’t realize it before I committed to building this week.  I would rather have spent the time visiting friends and family in Virginia.  I’ve been working nonstop for the past 2 months and I’m tired!  Next week I’m attending a RV rally, the following 2 weeks a disaster build in Kentucky followed by another disaster rebuild in New Jersey.  On the bright side, I talked my friend Doug into coming a week early.  He’s a CAV I met last year in Louisiana.  He signed up to come to Tuscaloosa next week, but I told him to come a week early and we’d hang out.  I finally get to do some flooring and tiling, something I’ve been wanting to learn how to do for a long time.   One of these days I want to buy a rundown house, tear it down to the studs and fix it up.  I have this fabulous bathroom in my head, even down to the kind of tile.  I just need to develop more building skills.

I’ve been really good at eating healthy, even resisting all the tempting snacks in class all week.  Everyone was so impressed that I was munching away on fruit while they ate candy.  I’ve lost 22 lbs so far and have rewarded myself with a new pair of jeans.  I’m having to wear a belt with everything else because my pants are too big.  It’s crazy that I just gave away several pair of jeans this winter from when I was doing triathlons a few years ago.  I didn’t think I would ever fit into them again, and now I’m probably only about 10 lbs away.  One good thing about being on a construction site, you are doing physical work and not eating.  The bad thing, since I’ve been working every day, I haven’t been riding my bike or hiking.  I think after NJ I’ll slow down on the builds and get back into the outdoors. 

pictures:  https://plus.google.com/photos/118205599704530902363/albums/5861579818897586641?authkey=CLe5t_Gq26yHeQ