Guest Blog Post by: Chris Untiet, Faith Manager
The Great Wall was amazing. Watching Chinese soldiers lower the Chinese
flag in Tienamen Square at sunset was incredible. Finally learning to use chop sticks well and
eating Chinese food for an entire week were proud achievements for me! Yet by far the most rewarding and inspiring
moment were the people I was blessed to interact with in Shui Wei Dong , a
village of 400 in the mountains of southern China during my recent mission’s
trip to serve and build with Habitat for Humanity.
When
you head out on your week long building adventure, you want to devote all the
energy that you can into giving these individuals living on $1 a day a better
life. Whether it’s loading sand into a
truck to mix cement with or spending endless hours carefully laying bricks in
the 100 degree heat, you can’t help but feel great knowing that you are giving
it everything you have. By the end of
the week, you know that you have built your own “Great Walls of China” and helped
amazing Chinese families have more decent and affordable places to live.
Yet
despite our global village group going to China to help build homes, the people
of Shui Wei Dong helped us as well.
Living in the great fast paced and money driven country that we do in
the United States, it was a true blessing to see how people, so poor
monetarily, could be so happy and content with the simple lives they were
leading. It forced our group to slow
down and appreciate the little things around us. Kids playing throughout the village, rice
farmers working away in the fields, and people looking so thankful to have a
new group of friends in the village for the week were all such beautiful
moments.
Those are the memories I’ll always thank God for
blessing me with in China and why, whether it’s in Los Angeles, China, or in 90
countries around the globe, it’s such an honor to be a part of Habitat for Humanity.
Related Posts:
Hello from Thailand!
Jo-An Turman with an Update from Thailand
Update from House #25 at This Year's Jimmy Carter Work Project
Labels: adequate housing, affordable housing, Chris, Faith Manager, habitat for humanity china, habitat for humanity of greater los angeles, international build, volunteer trips, volunteers
