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Creating Communities Without Fear in Northern Ireland
By Ursula Bohen
I helped build a duplex at the Model Farm Estates in Downpatrick, working alongside a Global Village group of 12 people from Massachusetts. Overseeing the building were two Northern Ireland locals, Rob Branney, our site supervisor, and volunteer Nigel Henderson. These two gentlemen not only made us feel welcome, they never ran out of corny jokes to keep us laughing and groaning at the same time!
We also had the privilege to build with Patrick McEntee, who will own one of the two homes with Carey Hughes and their three children. Patrick would work the night shift, then show up in the morning to build with his father. It was inspirational to see someone so dedicated to making his dream of homeownership come true.
We already know the power that Habitat for Humanity has to change lives through its primary mission to end substandard housing and homelessness. HFH Northern Ireland is charged with a second, and perhaps more important, mission: to provide healing to a country with a history of internal religious and political conflict stretching back more than four centuries. Anyone who works with Habitat in Northern Ireland can testify to its almost miraculous ability to create communities without fear, bringing together a divided people for a common cause.
On our last day on site, we held a communion service on the second floor of one of our houses. As we huddled together under the plastic sheeting that we had just finished tacking onto the roof, listening to the rain and wind outside, we were each asked to say what we were taking with us from the trip, and what we were leaving behind. I brought so much back home with me-the beauty of the country and the warmth of its people, in particular. And I told the group that I was leaving behind a promise: To return to Northern Ireland, and to bring more people with me.
Ursula Bohen, center, with Downpatrick Site Supervisor Rob Branney and His Wife Karen at the Farewell Dinner
Ursula Bohen in Front of the Downpatrick Houses on Her Last Day of Building
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