Stories

Kentucky Habitat in Malaysia: Madelyn's Global Village Experience
By: Madelyn Anetrella, KHFH Development Director

From December 10-24, 2010, I traveled to Kuching, Malaysia with the Habitat for Humanity Global Village Program. Kuching, Malaysia’s fourth largest city is in the Malaysian state of Sarawak on the island of Borneo, and is home to a diverse population of native Malay, Chinese, and Indian people. The population of Kuching is 658,000 people.

I had very vague expectations going into the build. It would be my first trip to Asia and my first physically-intensive construction experience. I had volunteered for Habitat and similar organizations in my community, but the extent of my work was painting and landscaping. I wanted this experience to be something unlike anything I have ever done before, in a place I had never visited, with people I did not know. Those expectations were met.

I joined a team of sixteen volunteers from all over the United States and Canada. Our team ranged in age from 16 to 61, men and women, from all different backgrounds. Our individual paths probably never would have crossed in our regular lives in North America, but as Global Village Team 11362, we came together with a common goal: to provide a home for Silon Anak Enkah and his family.

_{Top (The house where the Enkah family of four and their dog lived) & Bottom (Our last day at the work site)}

We followed our team leader Eric’s lead and put all of our hearts, souls, minds, and energy into the house. When we started, only the roof was up. We mixed and poured the concrete floor, mixed mortar and put up brick walls (3000+ bricks!), and plastered the walls. We also built an exterior bathroom. I’d say we were able to finish over 90% of the house in our time there. The walls need to be painted, floor glossed, and windows and doors installed (the frames are up). Silon and his family should be able to start 2011 in their new, safe, and decent home.

_{(The Enkah’s dog)}

I will always remember Malaysia for its greenery, beautiful landscapes and people, and colorful Chinese temples alongside sturdy Muslim Mosques.

Early Christmas for the Louden Family

by Mike Ogburn

Christmas came early for John and Joyce Louden in December of 2008. Just days before the holidays, the Oldham County residents were the first to move into a new home constructed by Habitat for Humanity of Metro Louisville following its merger with the Oldham Country organization.

“It was a blessing,” said Joyce Louden. “We had never owned our own home, so moving in was a feeling I can hardly describe. You don’t have to fear getting kicked out. You don’t have to move. It’s your home forever, as long as you make your payments.”
The Louden’s were looking for a home after the property on which they lived – and where John worked – was sold, leaving the couple temporarily without a job or a permanent residence. Joyce said her prayers must have been answered when she saw a story about Habitat for Humanity on television and followed up with calls to the Oldham County and Metro Louisville organizations as they were working through their merger.

At the time, the Oldham County habitat affiliate – which was staffed solely by volunteers – was seeking an arrangement that would provide additional resources, while the Metro Louisville organization was hoping to expand beyond Jefferson County. The Louden’s project became the first test of the new partnership.
Working together, the two organizations acquired land off Camden Road, screened the Louden’s through the interview process, and engaged the couple in earning “sweat equity” volunteering with Habitat. For Joyce, who has a disability, the sweat equity involved administrative work, while John joined Habitat teams in helping to build houses.

By September 2008, the Louden’s and a group of Habitat volunteers shifted their focus to the Oldham County property, and started raising walls on what would become the Louden’s home.
“The merger was mutually beneficial,” said board member and Oldham County resident John Greenup, “and the Louisville organization was a tremendous help on the Camden home.”

Greenup said the biggest challenge for Habitat in Oldham County, even though it is a rural county, has been acquiring affordable property. This was a challenge with the Louden’s home and has been a challenge in the 15 months since.
“Ideally,” says Greenup, “we would like to try to build at least one new home in Oldham County each year.”

Joyce Louden likes that plan, and says Habitat won’t have to look far for volunteers.
“That would be terrific,” said Louden, about building additional Habitat homes in the area. “I think there’s a big need for it in Oldham County, and my husband and I want to volunteer with Habitat to help others have what we have.
“We just love it here – just love it.”

The Louden’s wished to thank all that helped make the dream of home ownership a reality, including God, Habitat for Humanity Metro Louisville, Semonin Realtors, The Lion’s Club, the Halloran Trust and all of the volunteers who worked on the house, donated appliances and provided landscaping, as well as the churches that brought over food.

Love on the rooftop

by Krista Burden

Debbie Stone started volunteering building Habitat homes four summers ago. Little did she know that her big heart and endless giving to others would lead her to the man she would marry. Susan Turner, a House Leader for the Women for Habitat builds, told Debbie she knew of a guy she should meet, someone who would have a lot in common with her and also loved to volunteer his time. It would be several months after when they would finally meet, but not to Debbie’s knowledge.

She recalls coming back from Kenya in August of 2008 and then working on a Habitat house in October, where she first crossed paths with Greg Cooper, her future husband. Susan had not mentioned to Debbie that she would meet Greg on the roof of that particular house, and they would work side by side all day. Debbie says, “At first I thought he was arrogant and he blew me off, he tried to tell me how to sit on the roof, which I had been doing for the last three years!”

Several months later, in July of 2009, Greg and Debbie would finally meet on another Habitat house. Debbie says once they met, they talked the entire day and didn’t do a bit of work! She says another worker on the site joked with Greg, “Are you going to do any work today?!” They discussed hanging out at a later date, and then Debbie says, “I went back in the house and thought, there isn’t any rule that says I can’t ask him to hang out tonight, it is a Friday!” So she did, and they’ve been together ever since. They have thoroughly enjoyed working and volunteering together on Habitat homes and other ventures including volunteering in Appalachia.

Debbie reminisces, “The roof is kind of our place.” Both strong in their religious beliefs, they feel the Lord has brought them together, at his time and not theirs. She says neither of them did a lot of dating in the past, just a lot of praying and asking the Lord for the right person to come along. She jokes and says, “He’s a good guy, I think I’ll keep him.”

They plan on a June 5th wedding, at a Habitat House under construction on the roof and Debbie will be in a traditional wedding dress!

New House, New Life, New Name:

A Fresh Start in Mid-Life

By Garrison Cox

Are you a skeptic who thinks people never really change? Apparently you have not yet met Ellen Sloan. Ellen is one of our newest Habitat homeowners, having moved into her new two-bedroom home in June, right down the street from MeyzeekMiddle School on Jackson Street. And she is a changed woman.

Looking much too young to be a great-grandmother, Ellen is one of those warm women who greet everyone (including Habitat reporters) with a generous hug. When we met, she was dressed in the cheerful hospital scrubs she wears to her nursing assistant job at the Good Samaritan Center in Jeffersontown. The walls of her home are painted sky blue and ocean blue, reflecting her love of nature. She keeps her Bible and a handful of devotional books on her kitchen table, where she starts each day with her quiet time. She tries to keep track of her four children, 11 grandchildren (two more on the way), and one great-grandchild (one more on the way). And, from out of her second bedroom, she runs a volunteer service, In This Life, that supports those who have (or have had) an addict in the family.

But only a few years ago, Ellen Veronica Sloan was known as “Miss Roni,” the person to visit if you needed access to drugs in Beecher Terrace. She has been clean and sober now for four years, but she spent 36 years of her adult life as a “functional addict.” At times, she moved drugs across state lines and hosted two drug dealers in her apartment, often having guns and large amounts of drug-related cash at hand. Divorced after over 20 years of marriage to a man with his own addiction issues, Ellen knows firsthand the havoc addiction can wreak on both individuals and families.

So what happened? A little over four years ago, one of her daughters (who was in recovery herself) persuaded Ellen to leave her drug-infused life in Beecher Terrace. Ellen checked into The Healing Place, where one “tap from God” after another persuaded her that she had made the right move. Her path led from there to other places where she could straighten out her life. One of those places was the Healing Hearts Home for more than a year. When she rededicated her life, she chose to go by her given name – and her grandmother’s name – Ellen. She is no longer known as “Miss Roni.”

Ellen was able to get a job as an office worker near the campus of the University of Louisville. (She had some accounting skills, and–amazingly–no police record. Her only previous brush with the police had been a parking ticket.) And she found residence in a halfway house in South Louisville. While helping a co-worker find a house to buy, she found a reference to Habitat on the internet. When she realized she met Habitat’s applicant guidelines, she wondered, “With my background, do I have a chance?”

She definitely did. She applied in May of 2008. Two days after her intake interview with a Habitat staffer, the application committee met and approved her application. Her excitement waned a little when she learned about “sweat equity,” and got a bit nervous. “None of the things I had been involved with before involved sweat,” she laughs.

But with the support of her family advocate Ellen Guthrie, her church, her pastor, her friends and new Habitat sponsor Whittenberg Construction, Ellen’s house quickly became a reality. In fact, with a team of builders from Whittenberg, Ellen’s house went from foundation to being under roof with windows and doors in two days. “It was like one of those fast-motion cartoons,” she marvels.

Now, with her past life as “Miss Roni” in the rearview mirror, Ellen can manage an active, engaged life full of work and friends and volunteering from a safe two-bedroom home. And her house payments are lower than those for her former one-bedroom apartment. “Now I’m participating in my own life. Not like before.”