Habitat for Humanity is an organization that helps provide families homes. The organization, which was started in 1976, has been in Thailand since 1998. According to the organization, currently about 8.5 of Thailand’s 67 (12.6%) million people live in substandard housing. For this reason, Habitat for Humanity now has projects in 29 of the 77 provinces, and they have helped provide over 6000 homes for people in Thailand. They count largely on volunteer support from around the world, with 30% of the volunteers coming from the United States. Most of the homes they build come from one of three simple designs. Families that qualify for a home through the organization are required to save 15% of the materials costs prior to the building of the home, in order to show an investment in their future.
In 2009, Habitat for Humanity organized their Mekong River Project, referred to at the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Work Project. This project organized large “blitz’ builds in China, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. We visited the location of the Thai site for the project, which was located about 18 km from Chiang Mai city center. The goal was to build as many homes as possible in a short period of time, and they were able to create 82 houses in Thailand as a part of this project. Since the site was empty prior to the build, it was necessary to establish the initial infrastructure as well. This includes the building of roads and the establishment of electric lines and plumbing.
The community, which is now referred to as Piam Sook, which means happiness, reminded me of the scene in It’s a Wonderful Life where George Bailey is talking about the “cutest little homes you’ve ever seen.” Although the houses are all identical in structure, each homeowner has done something to make the houses into personalized homes. We had the chance to visit the home of Mr. Nopphadol Wisithrawong, an artist who was chosen as the community leader. He has included creative touches to his home, making it clear that an artist lives there. He invested a significant portion of his savings into a different housing project during the economic crisis about six years ago that turned out to be a scam, and he ended up losing most of his money. His wife found out about the Habitat for Humanity project, and he doesn’t know what they would have done if they had not been selected.
His gratitude is clear. Like most of the people living in the project, he has left up the plot marker put up for the initial build almost two years ago. These markers indicate homeowner, as well as the organization that sponsored the building of the house. Mr. Wisithrawong’s home was sponsored by a Habitat group from Canada, and he has painted a red maple leaf on his front gate in honor of the sponsors. Another family home features an enormous Australian flag to honor the sponsors that made the home a reality.
Mr. Wisithrawong also gave each member of our group a piece of his art. He said that, since he has been given so much, he is always looking for ways to give back. His art was only beaten in beauty by his spirit, as I found him to be a wonderful person.
Visiting this project has given me a renewed sense of social responsibility. In high school I worked on a Habitat for Humanity build, and I had a great time doing it. This summer I am spending most of the summer traveling in style, but I am thinking that next summer should be about giving back in some way, and possibly by doing a Habitat for Humanity project…maybe I should bring students with me?
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