Experiences of an IP in Portugal
26 July 2000, by Jane Silverman

From the experiences I�ve had so far as an International Partner (IP) with Habitat for Humanity International, I think Habitat could borrow the Peace Corps slogan, �the hardest job you�ll ever love.� Coming to Portugal was almost like coming home for me, as I lived on the island of Faial in the Azores for a number of years, but establishing Habitat programs is challenging in any country and I have been stretched in many directions since my arrival in Braga at the end of March, 1999.

all over the country, and so many other things I�d been pining for while back in the US. Then hosting student groups, and work on Portugal�s first Habitat house, and a course in Portuguese at the University of Minho, and meeting people, and settling in, and leaving to help out with first aid at the Eclipse Build in Romania.

I was promised that summer here in Braga is hot, and kept waiting..... Well, the climate here turns out to be similar to that in Faial � pretty damp (when you see a really lush, green landscape, know it rains!!), and when HOT, only for a few days. I thought it might be nice to have a little of whatever is promised by the phrase �Welcome to sunny Portugal....� Then one thing and another and here we are into this thing called �Portugal 2000�. Wow, building 12 houses all at once during one summer � totally important, but totally challenging.

Within the blink of an eye, we went from a tiny office with one employee and me, hidden in a residential area outside the city center, to a very visible office in the city center, with double the affiliate staff (two people!) and what seems like a crowd of HFHI staff and volunteers who are here to help for the summer, and some of them for a bit longer. I remain convinced this is the right place for me at this time, but have had my ups and downs.

What makes it completely worthwhile?

I�ve just recently been up to visit Jos� and Celeste Br�s and their children, Portugal�s �first family� for Habitat, and am so grateful to have played a small part in helping them into decent conditions. The place they were living was almost cavelike � a structure with one wall being the rock of the hillside, a leaky, falling-in roof, holes in the floor, no running water, and �pirate� electricity. What a place to raise 4 children. Now they have a decent house, with, as God�s little extra, a spectacular view of the C�vado river valley. It was a challenging building site, and there were many difficulties that my predecessor, the volunteer Dutch engineer, the local Board of Directors, and I worked to overcome, but what joy to see this family now.

How exciting it is to see the houses being built in Palmeira, and to see the group of families work together on their houses and begin to get acquainted with each other and develop a sense of community.

Each time we take visiting volunteers to see where these families are currently living, I am reminded of the importance of this work. This past week, the bedridden father-in-law of one of the homepartner families died. The funeral was Saturday evening, and during breaks in the work on the houses Saturday, these folks who had not known the family a few months ago,

were talking among themselves about attending the funeral. I am happy to know they will soon be out from under leaky roofs, away from houses where the neighbor�s septicsystem leaks down their back stairs. One of our families has a drain in the middle of the floor of a miniscule bathroom, so the whole room becomes the shower stall. Imagine how happy they will be to have a full bathroom. Another family will move into a house with running water instead of a well 50 yards away in the garden.

Besides becoming acquainted with each other, they are changing as individuals as they see their houses going up and have the opportunity to work on them with the international volunteers. Some of the Habitat principles seem so simple � we work alongside the families as partners to build their houses. Easy to say. Not hard to do � well the work can be hard, but the doing it alongside part is easy and enjoyable. But what an impact it can have. People who have not been able to have a vision of a future for themselves and their children see people coming from all over the USA and Canada, and other countries in Europe, to give them a hand. It�s powerful. And it changes people.

The other group of people who are affected by Habitat-itis are the volunteers. I�ve seen some come with a pretty skeptical stance � very likely they thought they would go away able to �expose� this project � and they get a hard hat on, and some work gloves, and they start to do a little something, and before you know it, they are enthusiastic. Imagine, they can actually do something useful with their spare time, and even get a tan at the same time, while meeting people from other countries, from sectors of their own country they would never have had contact with otherwise.

Lately, I�ve been accompanying the family selection committee to visit still more families who are living in unacceptable housing, examples of the �pobreza escondida� that Portugal and other members of the European Union, and Habitat for Humanity International, would like to eradicate. It�s not over yet folks. There are still houses without running water or bathrooms or electricity, and dwellings put together of whatever could be found on the street, and people living with no particular shelter whatsoever. While we concern ourselves about having a bathroom for every member of the family, and toilet paper that matches the color of the wallpaper or bathroom tiles?! There are people all over the world who, just like you and me, care about their kids and their kids� futures, and who would like a simple, decent, home in which to live, but who do not have the resources to accomplish this alone.

Working as an IP here in Braga has been great, and frustrating, and challenging, and rewarding, and several times I�ve wondered if maybe I shouldn�t just quit. But I haven�t. The job�s not done. There are people here who care as much as I do about trying to put into action the love for others that comes through our hearts only as a result of Jesus�s love for us. So my message is �Let�s do it folks�. Together we can change the world.

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