Building Social Awareness in Schools with Habitat for Humanity

There are few teachers would argue that schools have an enormous responsibility for not only the intellectual development of our pupils, but also for their emotional, spiritual, career, personal as well as social development. Many schools now run major social awareness projects in their schools, principally as part of their Transition Year programmes, which can aid in developing a social awareness amongst the pupil body. In my own school, we have partnered with the charity Habitat for Humanity (HFH) in designing a social awareness initiative that meets the needs of our pupils, staff and school community as well fulfilling our duty in helping those less fortunate than ourselves.

Habitat for Humanity is a non-denominational Christian Charity, which helps build houses for people who simply can't afford them. Habitat works in partnership with families to build their own homes and other homes in their community. It is completely non-profit, with all funds used to build houses and create the structures in other countries to do the same. Since its inception in 1976, HFH have built over 250,000 homes in more than 100 countries, including Ireland. Once built, Habitat supplies the family with an easy to pay loan. The family will help build their own house but also build other homes in their community, a term described as "sweat equity".

Since 2007, the school has been sending pupils and teachers to building projects with HFH in Hungary, a country we have fostered a great relationship with since our first visit. We worked for two years on a building project in Csurgo (during St. Patrick's Day in 2008 - hence the dodgy photo above), one year in Hajdu and this April we will travel to Miskolc in north eastern Hungary to continue our work.

Hungary may seem like an odd choice of country - a member of the EU, yet it still has a serious housing situation. According to the Habitat for Humanity Hungary website:

"Twenty years after the fall of communism, Hungary is still struggling to improve its housing stock and find housing solutions for low-income and vulnerable citizens. One out of four houses in the country is overcrowded, and the poor quality and affordability of housing also are problems. Housing privatization of the late 1980s hurt most low-income families. First, the social housing sector shrank, resulting in home waiting lists for more than 10 years. The small percentage of homes in the public sphere consist mainly of one room without basic amenities. Second, the majority of privatized houses had been built from low-quality, prefabricated materials. Although people could buy this property, they cannot afford to maintain it. The situation is aggravated by sky-rocketing utility costs. Home maintenance can be as high as 50 percent of household income."

This crisis has been further exacerbated by the decision of the Hungarian government to scrap housing benefits for low-income families in 2009, as a direct response to the economic crisis. HFH have been working in Hungary since 1996, so far helping 630 families to secure comfortable affordable housing.

I have been extremely luck to have been involved in the school's housing project with HFH since it's inception, and I travelled to Csurgo in 2008 along with five colleagues and 20 pupils. I am one of six teachers returning to Hungary this April to the town of Miskolc and I am looking forward to it immensely. My previous visit was hugely enjoyable and a real life altering moment for me. Meeting and working alongside the families of the homes we were building was a great feeling and has left a lasting impression on me. Indeed, I get an email every Christmas from those families, all aglow with smiling faces opening up presents under their tree.

For the pupils too the experience is memorable. I frequently get emails from past-pupils who travelled with me to Csurgo, now in college or the working world, with newly discovered photos or forgotten stories . The staff who accompanied me still reminisce fondly of events during the trip - the Csurgo bridge club or Rex (or wrecks) the dog.

So far the pupils and staff of St. Columba's have raised over €220,000 for Habitat for Humanity. We certainly hope to continue to work with the charity and would recommend them to any school wishing to develop a social awareness project in their school.

The pupils and teachers of St. Columba's blogged about their experiences of their trips to Hungary and posted loads of photos! Click here to check it out.