In this month's blog, our Communications Intern Ashley Ng recalls her experience participating in Habitat's House to Home programme for a day.
House to Home is a programme I looked into months before I arrived in Northern Ireland. This was back when I was researching organisations to apply to for my next work placement. For me, it was easier to understand Habitat's greater impact worldwide, but I was curious how the organisation approached its local impact delivery.
House to Home was the first initiative listed on the website's local impact page and to me, it signalled something important. I liked the idea of making a house a home and I even watched the embedded video a handful of times to get a feel for the people who participated in the programme.
Fast forward months later, House to Home is a programme that I always hear about, and a programme that people want to know about. Even back in March, with the Love Your Home show, attendees often asked what Habitat was doing to help the local community and I would make sure to mention House to Home in my responses.
All of this to say, there is a different between learning and doing. Every small thing I learned about House to Home was putting together a bigger picture, but I didn't have a big enough picture. Not until I got the opportunity to participate.
House to Home is a programme I know people are passionate about and I was lucky to have a front-row seat to the work being done. That day, I was with Rab and Karen for the second day of practical work, which was painting the rooms of the house in the colours that the individual had chosen. Coincidentally, Rab and Karen are people I recognised from promotional photos and videos! They appeared to me as larger than life and it was fascinating watching the both of them fall into a rhythm of doing things. Their years of experience showed with the ease of which they divvied up the tasks and the quiet confidence in their movements.
I was someone who had absolutely no experience in painting. Rab and Karen took turns demonstrating and walking me through the technique of cutting with an angled brush and then using the paint roller. I got off to an excellent start by using the wrong shade of paint on a wall. A good first impression of my work. It wasn't the end of the world, but it definitely wasn't my finest moment. For most of the day, Karen and I were painting the living room. This gave us the opportunity to chat about life here in Northern Ireland.
On our breaks, I got to hear from Rab about the family whose home we were painting, their story, and what drives him to keep working in House to Home post-retirement. Later in the day, we switched to paint rollers and it was deceptively difficult for me to figure out the hang of it. Rab would occasionally pop his head back into the living room and give tips to make things easier.
By the end of the day, we were done with all the rooms. I vaguely recall looking down at myself and noting how much paint ended up on my clothing (despite how careful I had been throughout the day). There's a metaphor in there somewhere, I'm sure.
House to Home has been the most physically demanding of the programmes and events I've attended during my time with Habitat. Yet, I do understand why volunteers keep coming back to the programme. It's very satisfying to see progress as the hours pass and then finally taking pride in the results. On top of that, knowing that this kind of work contributes to the feeling of home for the people who may not have had a home before is a powerful motivator.
I personally gained life skills from this. Now I know how to paint walls, as long as we ignore the speed and quality of my work. I learned more about the local community by listening to stories from Karen and Rab. This experience reinforced the difference between the "learning" from my internship experience and the "doing" from my participation in House to Home. If I want to be clever, I could also say that this was a perfect example of me "learning by doing" as well. Regardless, I learned much more than I would have been able to from my desk.
But most importantly, the three of us sat in the van in the end of the day and shared some sweets. That may be my favourite part, especially with the exhaustion setting in after hours of painting. (Don't tell Rab or Karen about this. The tradition of indulging in post-painting sweets is meant to be top-secret).
Keep an eye out for my next blog in June, where I will share a different experience in my time as Communications Intern! Learn more about the House to Home programme here.
