Global Village Trip to Jordan

More than a month after returning from Jordan to build a Habitat home for a family in desperate need, thirteen Habitat for Humanity of Metro Denver staff members and volunteers have a new definition of “community.”

“I now define it as someone who’s willing to move their family of seven out of their home for a week to let others stay inside their house,” says Nicole StanekScott, Habitat Metro Denver’s director of volunteer engagement. “And at one point, [the family] brought us cake!”

For one week in September, the team from Habitat Metro Denver immersed themselves in Jordanian culture while building a two-bedroom home for Ahmad, Maysaa and their five children, ages 7 to 19 years. And while two bedrooms may not seem like a lot for seven people, the team says the spacious new home is both an upgrade from their current unsafe apartment, and offers stability for the couple raising four children with special needs.

“I can’t overemphasize how welcoming these people were,” says Alex Gonzalez, Habitat Metro Denver’s manager of mortgage operations. He was humbled when a local partner family offered their home as a guest house for the team.

The hospitality didn’t end there. The build team took well-earned breaks from mixing mortar, moving bricks and building walls to enjoy tea and authentic food with locals. They enjoyed watching men fling fresh pita from brick ovens, playing pattycake and rock-paper-scissors with area children, and uncovering 2,000-year-old mosaic tile church floors from the dirt.

One emotional day, the crew visited the apartment that Ahmad and Maysaa share with their children, all but the youngest of whom is confined to beds. Seeing the need truly struck the team.

“Every time I come back [from a Habitat Global Village trip], I’m grateful for my life—for what I’ve been exposed to,” says Cherri Peterson, Habitat Denver ReStore procurement manager.

“I think we all like to think that we were the best crew ever, getting an incredible amount of work done,” says Lori Pidick, Habitat Metro Denver’s chief development officer. “But more importantly, I think we really enjoyed being invited into people’s homes and sharing a meal with them. There is something so simple and so lovely about that—just that sense that we are all more similar than we are different, and we all need a decent place to live to help our family thrive.”

Interested in participating in a Habitat Global Village trip? Reach out to Nicole to see what the plans are for 2020.

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