Break Your Back to Serve

Following up on my previous post, I finally managed to find a date that I could go out for construction. I went out this morning to a wall raising at one of the new Habitat for Humanity locations. It was a tad bit awkward at first because the lady that I had e-mailed about going was not there when I arrived and by the demo-graphics of the crowd, it was obvious that eager college students in their upper-teens were in the minority. At first, I felt out of place and unknowledgeable about the building procedure, but eventually that did not matter. As we got further in the project and I proved that I could handle the tasks they gave me, I started to feel a lot more included. Despite the fact that my supervisor still knows me as Nick, it was nice to see the other volunteers at the construction site warm-up to my presence. At first they simply gave me a hammer and told me to go, but after I started getting the hang of the program, they moved me up onto a ladder to help frame the house. I spent about two to three hours measuring and framing the walls of the house then we took a quick lunch break. After lunch, a majority of the regular volunteers left. This left me in an interesting position. We needed to free some piping from the cement foundation, but the jackhammer was missing. John, my supervisor, gave me a section of foundation, a sledge hammer, and some encouraging words. It was difficult to get the first parts out, but after that it became easier. An hour later I finally managed to loosen all of the cement, and my back was screaming in pain. I guess you have to suffer a little to do a good thing.