The Publication of Habitat for Humanity International | December 2007
| The Publication of Habitat for Humanity International | December 2007 |
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Nashville-based singer/songwriter Anna Wilson wrote "A House, A Home" after her first Habitat experience.
‘A House, A Home’ song serves as centerpiece of PSA campaign A new public service announcement released in the United States this fall aims to put a song in the heart of Habitat for Humanity’s volunteer homebuilders and supporters. The PSA pairs a song written especially for Habitat with a collection of images of new homeowners and volunteers from around the world. Singer/songwriter Anna Wilson penned the song “A House, A Home” after working with Habitat for Humanity Nashville as the affiliate prepared for the Whirlpool® Building Blocks community build in November 2006. Invited to perform as part of the event, Wilson began to learn firsthand about Habitat’s mission in general — and the event’s participating partner families. “These beautiful stories,” she says. “A lot of blood, sweat and tears. That’s really what motivated me to write the song. I was moved by it all, and inspiration struck. It just sort of flowed.” The song that resulted is a heartfelt reflection on all the things that truly make a house a home: “Got a welcome mat at the front door to my dreams,” Wilson sings. “Gonna fill all the rooms with my favorite things / Photos of the family, keepsakes, and odds and ends / But most of all I’m gonna make sure that love moves in.” “Anna joked that while it took 300 volunteers just five days to build 10 homes, it took her the same amount of time to write that one song,” says Chris Clarke, Habitat’s senior vice president of communications. “When you think about it, the result of her labor is equally dramatic when you consider the potential of how many people will be drawn to Habitat’s mission through her song.” In 2006, Habitat for Humanity PSAs received nearly $30 million of free air time on television and cable stations throughout the United States and reached more than 202 million U.S. households. “Anna’s song demonstrates not only outstanding creativity and rich talent, but also reminds us all that supporting Habitat’s mission need not be limited to swinging a hammer or laying a block. While that work is and always will be vital, clearly God has provided us each with many talents,” Clarke says. “I hope ‘A House, A Home’ and Habitat’s images will remind viewers this holiday season that they can make a difference and that the gift they provide of time, talent and support will provide more homes for families and children all over the world.” To view a 30-second and 60-second version of the PSA featuring Wilson’s song, visit the video gallery at www.habitat.org. |
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Height of innovation 
A schematic of the proposed bamboo-design shows bamboo stilts reinforced by old tires and adobe bricks.
The design involves building houses on stilts, with bamboo columns inserted in a foundation of recycled tires, adobe blocks and sand for stability against flood waters. Wall panels would be made of jute attached to bamboo and covered with earth plaster or stabilized mortar mix. The emphasis would be on using and recycling local materials; the structure could be moved to a new site if erosion made a location unsafe. An assessment team composed of staff members from Habitat Bangladesh and Habitat for Humanity International has visited the affected areas, showing the house-on-stilts concept design to villagers whose homes were damaged or destroyed by the worst monsoon rains in a decade to hit the South Asian country. During the assessment trip, members of the team used an eight-seat seaplane to visit areas to the north of the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka. The flight passed over flooded areas where rice fields were brown from the weeks of rains. Entire communities once covering vast areas had become separate, small islands. A community of 5,000 families, Taltala Char normally would sit astride a small, low-running river. Protective embankments were normally at least 10 feet high, but river waters overflowed, eroding the land. “In the past two years, we have lost nearly 500 feet of land due to river erosion,” says Taltala Char resident Mohammad Khorshedul,. “Every year, we lose at least 250 feet, and every year we have flooding. This house design would be good for us so we could rebuild a safer house.” HFH Bangladesh has built and rehabilitated approximately 1,000 homes, operating mainly through Habitat Resource Centers and related satellite centers in local communities. 
Men from the island of Taltala Char – nearly all of their homes affected by the flooding – are keen on the proposed idea of building on stilts.
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