Home Again

Well, we're back in Evanston. We left the quiet of the Delta and have returned to the sounds of the city. As you will see in my Interview with Lorenzo, Natalie's reflection of Sarah and Nicole's reflection. I think we brought home more than we left behind.

Lorenzo first stopped by our worksite about ten years ago when he was nine years old. At first he would just hang out and then he gradually began helping us. This year he was waiting for us when we opened the door in the morning and stayed until we closed the door in the evening. A few years ago Lorenzo and one of our members, Dino, formed a friendship that went beyond the bounds of Tutwiler. They now regularly text and talk to each other during the year. This year Lorenzo and I spent time working together and teasing each other. I got the idea of interviewing Lorenzo for this blog. I wasn't sure how he would feel about it. He is not a shy kid but I worried that he wouldn't know what to say or that he wouldn't be interested. I was so wrong! For days he walked a little taller with his head held high. "Casey gonna interview me!" I finally sat down with Lorenzo on Thursday. What follows is my interview of Lorenzo.

Interview with Lorenzo 5/22/15 Interviewed by Casey Christensen

Lorenzo is 19 years old and lives in Tutwiler, MS. We first met Lorenzo when he was 10 years old and he came to our worksite. He lived in Memphis a long time ago and he still has folks over that way. They came back to Tutwiler so his Daddy could work at Parchman State Prison. He lives with his Daddy, Momma, brother and sometimes his grandma. Also with a whole bunch of dogs.

What do you remember about the first time you met us?

I rode my bike over and helped move stuff. We was workin’ on that gray house over there.

Do you ever help with other groups?

It depends on how I feel. If I feel they good then I go over to help them. But ya’ll  are the best in the nation!

Why do you like helping us?

It’s fun hanging around with ya’ll and gettin’ to know you. 

Who are the people that you’ve gotten to know?

Dino, Mike, Nicole, Kristin, Casey, Natalie, Kathy, Bob and Jimmy. You fun people and you like to play jokes and sing. I heard you singing this mornin’ I was sitting out front and I thought I heard somethin’ I took off my headphones and heard you singin’, you good!

Why do you like working on houses?

If I want to build a house I can learn from here. I used to work replacing shingles if there was a hole in the roof. But, the guy died so can’t work for him no more.

Tell me about Dino.

He a funny guy. He pretty cool. We talk on the phone and text each other when ya’ll ain’t here.

(Dave walked by) Lorenzo said, he my Grandad.

What are some things you like to do?

I loves to play the drums! I play at my church and every now and then at the community center. I loves football! I play most every day if I can. Bulldogs is the name of my team, we undefeated so far since 2008.

Do you go to school?

I go to a 2 year school. I go to school at night and practice football at night. My coach works durin’ the day, so we practice at night. After my 2 year school I want to play at Valley State. Sometime they be on the tv!

What do you want to do when you finish school?

I want to go to Chicago! I’ll move to Chicago an’ be a street performer, playing drums.

After the interview I typed it up and printed out a couple of copies for Lorenzo. We sat on the porch and both read a copy. He was grinning from ear to ear. Dino later told me that Lorenzo ran over to the worksite with the interview in hand. Dino read it aloud to those on the worksite. Lorenzo was proud of the intervview I am proud to have been able to write the interview.

The other person that we've written about in this blog is Sarah. Here are some reflections by Natalie.

Another amazing week in Tutwiler has come to an end. There are so many amazing moments such as when we raised the first wall, the view of the house totally framed, and I ditto everything that has already been said. 

July 2013, Sara watched as the slab to her new home was poured. June 2015, Sara will move into her new home almost two years to the day. I worked on Sara’s house last year and helped with finishing touches this year, and without a doubt the time I spent with Sara has had a profound impact on me. Every conversation with Sara began and ended with how excited and grateful she was for her new home. “I am so blessed,” and “thank you so much.” are the words I heard over and over. I said to her “Sara you have been waiting for two years!” “Yes Mam, and I thank God for being so blessed”.

You have heard about the gifts we bring to the people of Tutwiler, but the gift Tutwiler has given me is the true meaning of patience and gratitude. Thank you Sara.

Natalie

Finally a reflection from one of our fearless leaders, Nicole!

“You need to go to Habitat this year”

 

A few weeks ago during the end of the semester stress my office mate, Anita, said to me, “you need to go to habitat this year.”  She followed that by questioning, “ You are going, right?”  I looked at her and said with a smile, “Of course, I would not miss the trip this year.”

For many reasons that I do not wish to expound on, this year has been quite challenging both professionally and personally.  I think that I have shed more tears since our last Habitat trip than I can recount.  For those reasons, I needed to go on the trip this year.  Not only was that evident to me, but also to those who have helped me cope with the challenges that I have faced over the past year.  This trip refreshes me both emotionally and spiritually.  After a week in Mississippi, I return refreshed and ready to conquer whatever challenges I may face.  Now, I do not wish to deal with all of the challenges that my husband Mike and I have encountered over the past year, but I know that I have a renewed sense of empowerment after returning from Mississippi.  There are so many aspects of the trip that are refreshing --- relating my volunteering work to catholic teaching, laughing like I have not laughed in months, pounding nails into a block of wood, and meeting the excited soon-to-be home owners.  All I need to do is to think about Sarah’s infectious smile and that will help me overcome the challenges that I might face in the upcoming year. Plus, I know that my Sheil Habitat family will continue to be there when we build more houses for people in need and when we need support here at home.  That is the power of this trip.

Here are some final photos!

The view out of one of the bedrooms.

Natalie

The front door.

Mike

Sarah and Kathy

Chris and Sarah in our lovely accommodations.

Dave's new friends.

Chris

Mike locking the door.

Here we are!

I have really enjoyed sharing our experiences with all of you once again this year. Look for this blog again next year!

Casey

 

Raise the Roof!

We did it! We raised the roof today. I thought I felt Amish before, today I worked ON the roof. (In case my family and friends are holding their collective breaths, I did not fall or get injured in any way!) In fact I had a great time and felt very accomplished. I will say that the journey, from the ladder, through the struts, and onto the roof was not a pretty one! 

I have lots of pictures tonight and some reflections. The photos are from myself, John, Bill, and Charlotte. Some of us worked on the new house today and others worked on Sarah's house.

More tomorrow...

Casey

From inside this morning

Boards that would soon become the roof.

Bob and Jimmy came out to help us build this house. Bob comes out a couple of times a year to work on houses.

The first boards to go on were the most difficult.

I joined them once more boards were in place.

A view from below...

A view from above...

I took this picture from the top of the roof looking in.

Dino

Mike

Andy

Charlotte

Bernadette

JD our Habitat supervisor extrordinare! 

Getting there...

Almost time to call it a day.

Kristin and Lorenzo

Meanwhile, work continued at Sarah's house.

Jan

John

Natalie, Sarah, and Nicole

Chris, Jan, Marie, our young helper

Sarah laying down seed.

End of the day!

Reflections by Jan

A handful of Sheil people visited the Tutwiler Public Library this evening. It is located just over the tracks in a clean, modern looking brick building across the street from a three story structure with a cornerstone identifying it as a one time Masonic Temple. The library is a very pleasant place with a sizable collection of books, a battery of PC's for patrons, and a brightly carpeted nook with toys and books to capture the interest of the younger kids.  Roshella, the librarian was thrilled to see us and anxiously gave us a update on the library's status and usage. She very graciously received several boxes of books Marie brought from Evanston.

Marie, a former Evanston Library North Branch clerk, made Roshella's acquaintance on her first trip to Tutwiler nearly ten years ago.  Since then, they've maintained regular contact. Marie and Linda Balla, another EPL staffer and HFH veteran, routinely sort through the titles culled from the EPL collection for books and materials that Roshella has indicated would be of interest to her patrons. At least two shipments per year come from Evanston to Tutwiler, librarian to librarian, a practice that will likely continue even when Habitat completes its work here.

It is connection like this which keeps the Sheil Associates coming back to Tutwiler year after year. We've become part of the community here, albeit in a limited way. Our work does not end when we return home.  Tutwiler is always on our minds, and Marie and I routinely track the weather forecast for this part of Mississippi.  Sheil Associates are not the only volunteers who come to Tutwiler but I do know that many of the people in Tutwiler remember who we are and think of us as well.

Reflections by John

I finally found a job down here that I am really good at!  Usually I find myself following the rest of our talented crew around and hope that I can contribute something without making too many mistakes.  Today I spent the day sanding down and refinishing doors in Sarah’s house.  The crew that came before us did a pretty sloppy job with the doors and left them full of drip marks.  I have done enough woodworking lately to know what I am doing, and the defects stood out to me like spotlights. It felt good to be able to smooth out the defects and turn the doors into something to be proud of.

 

Sarah came by to help and I showed her the first door I finished.  I am not sure she noticed the difference, but she was appreciative.  She kept hugging us and saying things like, “I love y’all to death!”  The slab for Sarah’s house was poured in July of 2013 and it was framed in October of that year.  Finally, after almost two years, it is nearing completion.  She is not even trying to hide her excitement at this point.  Late this afternoon, she was scattering grass seed over what will soon be her lawn.

 

Today a little girl named Maya came by to visit.  I taught her how to refinish woodwork, a skill I am pretty sure she was not at all interested in acquiring, but she seemed to enjoy the attention.  Then she ran off with my camera and proceeded to shoot a dozen or so out-of-focus and underexposed pictures.  She brightened the afternoon.  

 

We come down here for a bunch of reasons.  We all love the fellowship, the food is great, and the work rewarding..  But of course there is a spiritual dimension to all of this.  We begin each day with someone leading a morning devotion.  This morning, Charlotte did it and played the song, “God is Love.”  She concluded by having Bill read a prayer.  Here is the second half.

 

Father,

Allow me to serve others with a joyful heart;

Never keeping score;

Always giving;

Never expecting to receive.

Allow me to give of myself,

To give of my talents and of my goods,

To give of my time and of my energy,

To give of my heart and of my soul.

Allow me to serve others as You serve,

With gentleness, compassion, and tenderness,

Never diminishing the worth of another,

Choosing to extend mercy to the brokenhearted,

Like You have repeatedly shown it to me.

 

Oops!  I fall well short of that standard, but I’m working on improving!

 

I have also been thinking today of the story of the last judgement of Matthew.

“In truth I tell you, in so far as you did this to one of the least  these, you did it for me.”  Matt. 25:40.

 

It is not hard to of grasp the concept that what we are doing for others we are doing for Jesus.  It is especially easy when Jesus is coming up to us and giving us hugs and telling us how she loves us all to death, or when Jesus is a cute and  precocious little girl.  But Jesus is not always so easy to find, or so attractive in appearance.  Jesus referred to the least of these, not the greatest of these.  What if Jesus is the really dumb store clerk? What if Jesus is that annoying person on the other side of a customer service call?  Or most challenging of all, what if Jesus is somebody I just do not like?  That is when Jesus is harder for me to find.  That is something I still need to work on.  Perhaps this trip will encourage me to look a little harder.

Don't Smell My Boots!

This afternoon we put the tresses on the house. I soon learned that tresses form the skeleton of the roof and they are VERY heavy! You'll see from tonight's pictures that it took a lot of teamwork and a lot of muscle but we got them all up and in place. We  had to carry the tresses from a spot near the road to the house. Remember all the rain we had earlier in the week? Notice the farm across the street? We had to walk through mud that had a distinct country smell. Some people are going to wash their boots and some are just going to throw them out at the end of the trip. I'm not sure what I'm going to do, my wool socks kept my feet dry but my boots are outside airing out. The title for tonight's blog came from Dino who at one particularly squishy moment exclaimed, "Don't smell my boots!"

In addition to pictures from John and myself, a few people have shared some of their reflections.

Enjoy!

More tomorrow...

Casey

We tried to cover the mud with boards.

A big stack of tresses!

We picked up the tress..

Carried it through the stinky mud..

Moved it around other building materials..

Tall people were in the front and short in the back...

And up to the top......

We did this 19 times!!

Before...

After...

Bill

Natalie

This is from last night. Kristin just couldn't make it through the 3rd overtime!

This is a picture from the new house.

This is the same hallway in another house.

Here is a post from Jan which he wrote last night.

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

While most of our crew opted to start the week framing the new house, Kathy, Marie and I set off to do some finishing touches on a nearly completed house already designated for Sarah. There was still some trim work to attend to, dings in the drywall to be repaired, and paint splatters that needed to be removed, etc. Small things, but a list that grew the more we looked and which promised to keep us busy for a few days.  Not the glamorous work of the "framers", but important work nonetheless.  (Of note, more and more of the framers are finding reason to help work on Sarah's house.)

That import of our work was made clear to me when Sarah visited her new home on Monday, noting the various glitches as she walked from room to room. I assured her that we'd have the place in good shape before we left.

I shared this observation with Dr. Brooks (aka Sister Anne Brooks, DO) when I visited with her yesterday.  She was quick to point out the significance of what we were doing. We were telling Sarah that she was important, worthy of a nice home, and worthy of our time and effort make sure her home was as nice as we could make it.  That is the philosophy Dr. Brooks and her colleagues brought to Tutwiler some 30 years ago.  It is not enough to attend to a patient's physical ailments if you don't see that they don't have a decent house to live in. That is why they invited Habitat to start building here. Our purpose in coming here is not just to build houses. We build houses that will be homes, homes for people we come to know, people like Sarah.  She deserves the best work we can give her.

Jan Nowak

Here is a post from Dave.

After dark I took a stroll alone along the street past our neighbors' units. I was greeted by a little group and strolled over to say hello. Mum was braiding the hair of Jer'Riya,  her 4 year old daughter, adding glass beads to the braids. “How long does that take, Mom,” I asked. “About 4 hours. She is graduating from Preschool tomorrow and going into kindergarten”.Mom was very proud of this and mentioned that the young boy, D’Quavio was  in an awards ceremony too. I asked each to tell me their names and after several times and much laughter,I had to have mother write them for me. Mother’s name is Timekia and told me she is the sister of De Marco, the young  man I spoke with this morning. I asked to take a picture and Mum asked me to wait till she finished braiding.

I fumbled the camera looking for the flash, she took the camera, found the flash and we took a photo. Mother was so excited she sent it to her mother who was working. Later, Timekia said she is one of 7 sisters and her family has been living in the original Habitat house since1993. Seems Habitat means more than just houses here: pride, respect and the open hospitality of "hello"  to visiting strangers from Habitat.

Here is a post from John

Habitat as a Metaphor for Life

 

​It is amazing to watch a house come together.  When we started this week, one of the houses we are working on was nothing more than a concrete slab with some pipes poking out of it.  By Monday evening, three walls were up.  By Tuesday, the interior walls were up and you could make out where the rooms are.  This afternoon, we put up all the trusses, and the house is clearly recognizable as a house.  Tomorrow we will put up much of the plywood.  At this rate, you would expect the whole house to be up to be done by the end of summer.  You would be wrong.

 

​My first trip here, we put siding on a house and worked on a few other finishing details.  We left knowing that the house would be finished soon.  The next year we returned with our biggest crew ever, twenty-four people, including a contractor. We worked on two houses and put a new roof on the Bargain Barn.  The first house we worked on did not have any windows yet, and looked like a dark cave.  We cut out the windows and tiled the  entire house.  The owners of that house would be moving in soon as well  Meanwhile, the rest of the crew, lead by the contractor, started on the house next door which had  just recently been framed.  Dry wall flew up like magic!  Bill, who used to be a an electrical contractor, and Charlotte, who does theater lighting got started wiring the building.  Surely this one was going to be finished soon as well.  Each year when we return, the houses we worked on in the past look a little bit more like places people live.  They have cars in the driveway, barbecue grills and kids’ bikes on the porch, and other little touches people add to make the houses theirs.  

 

​When we returned last year, the owners of the first house had indeed moved in.  The second house looked pretty much the way it did when we left it.  Of course, some work had been done since we left, but few groups show up in the summer.  It is just too hot to work.  During the rest of the year, most of the groups that come down to work do so during school breaks.  And our group is unusually big, experienced and talented.  We get more done in a week than most groups.  So for much of the year, not a whole lot of progress might be made on a particular house.  Last year, we again worked on two houses.  One was near completion.  The other was a little further behind.  Sarah the future owner dropped in several times to work with us.  

 

Sarah is a school bus driver and came in between shifts.  Owners are required to put in a certain number of hours on either their house or someone else’s, so Sarah was putting in hers.  Sarah was nice and friendly, but a little shy around our group.  That is not surprising.  We can be a little overwhelming. She is back again this year, but now her house is nearing completion.  Sarah is already making plans for decorating, She has bought a garden hose.  She is putting in screens.  She is quietly but clearly excited about the prospect of moving in.  Meanwhile, between Sarah’s house and the one we are framing is one we have not worked on at all.  We will leave it exactly as we found it.  

 

The process of watching a house go up is a bit mysterious.  Visible progress seems to come in fits and starts.  Sometimes it seems that the house is virtually arising before your eyes.  Sometimes it seems nothing is happening at all.  Meanwhile, the future owners look on with varying degrees of anticipation and patience.  What a strange and mysterious process it can be to work for a goal not knowing if and when it will be reached.  

 

One of the things we find ourselves doing this week is cleaning up the mistakes that a previous group left behind.  I expect to spend the next couple of days sanding down and refinishing several of the bedroom doors.  Perhaps it is just my experience in refinishing furniture that makes me think so, but the way they look right now is just not acceptable.  There are visible drips and runs all up and down the doors.  If this was my house, I would notice them every day.  Of course, all the houses we work on have their share of mistakes, and I hope the owners never discover some of mine, but seeing someone like Sarah looking forward to moving in makes it hard for me to be satisfied with anything less than my best efforts.  Perhaps seeing the person on the receiving end makes it easier to carry that attitude into one’s work.  If we could only be able to do that in all we do.