Okay so its not actually day one. But it was our first day on the construction site. Yesterday was a day of tanning and frivolous fun at Miami's tourist-filled South Beach. But today, we got to see the beginnings of a little community, thirty or so single family homes all lined up, painted in soft pastel colors with gray roofs. It was so cute, but far from complete. To think this is how communities are built. There is no magic "suburb" machine that just spits them out. They are built, brick by brick, hand over hand.
Another surprising note! I didnt know that Habitat was a christian based organization and I didnt realize how international it is. I suppose it doesnt matter that it has a big religious following but something about it made think. Like today, when a pastor gave the daily devotional by reading a few words from the Bible and one of the groups from another school walked away before he had a chance to even ask us to bow our heads. I assumed they were jewish since the older man they were with wore a yomaka. I realized then that religion can be just as alienating as it can be uniting. But at the same time, I felt that it was rude of them to walk away during the pastor's speech. He was speaking to a group of over 100 volunteers, all united by a common cause and a call to labor for the betterment of the community. Maybe that should be more important than religious affiliation. And yet, I still wondered how religion and community service intersect. What would one be without the other? Habitat has been around for over 50 years and is an international force among the NGOs of its kind. But what would it look like if it didn't have that christian foundation?
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