This is an archive site. For the main site, please visit https://homesforscotland.com
Kenya Build 2019 (8 - 12 April) by HFS Chief Executive Nicola Barclay
A week after I returned from Kenya, and back into the swing of things at work, I’m still trying to reconcile the events in my head. Some of the group who came with me have been posting photos and comments on LinkedIn. The most common phrase is ‘words can’t describe’ so how do I sum up our experience? Why is it so hard to explain the profound impact of the experience to those who didn’t join us? To go back to the beginning of this story, I set up a charity partnership with Habitat for Humanity three years ago, shortly after I became Chief Exec of Homes for Scotland. I believed that it was incumbent on me to use my influence and position to be a force for good, beyond the excellent work that we do as part of the day job, promoting and advocating for the need for more homes across Scotland. I had a duty to reach further and have a ‘better and wider’ impact on the lives of others. I was aware that our levels of poverty and need are a world away from those in developing countries. While we recognise that improved housing options in Scotland can improve the education, health and financial outcomes of our citizens, in places like Kenya and India, the provision of a basic home can be the difference between basic life chances: • do your kids have a dry floor to study on, without fear of scorpions or snakes biting them? • do you have a lockable door on your house that protects you from the risk of theft, attack and even rape? • do you have access to clean water and hygienic places to prepare and cook food, with a chimney to stop you inhaling deadly smoke and fumes? Superficially, health, safety and education are similar desires across the globe, but in the developing world the provision of a home can lead to far more fundamental outcomes.
Published 25 April 2019
Women Build - Mumbai 2017 (21-28 January)
by HFS Chief Executive Nicola Barclay
What do you get when you cross 13 western women, a home building charity, and a remote Indian community? A new house for Leela and her family, that’s what!
My journey to Mumbai started last year when I decided that it was about time Homes for Scotland stepped up to the plate and got serious about its corporate social responsibility. We have a loud and strong voice in Scotland – representing the home building industry on a variety of planning and policy issues – and I decided that we should put it to good use by highlighting the global challenge that is building enough homes. Habitat for Humanity therefore seemed the perfect fit. Although I’ve worked in the home building industry my entire career, I have never been involved in construction. My previous roles have mainly focused on land acquisitions and securing planning consents. By the time diggers arrived on site, I was already off looking for the next land deal. So, whilst I readily agreed when the good folks at Habitat for Humanity suggested I go on a build, it was with a fair amount of trepidation! As luck would have it, a Women’s Build was due to take place in Mumbai in January 2017, and there were a few spaces still left. I quickly signed up before I could change my mind and found a willing accomplice in Gill Henry, Head of Business Development at Cruden Homes. Neither of us had done anything like this before, but we were both up for a challenge! The idea of a Women’s Build appealed to me as I loved the idea of females coming together to support others in India. As a society, traditional divisions of labour are still very much in place, especially in the remote village we were travelling to. The women spend most of their time cooking, fetching water from the well, washing clothes in the river and rearing the children so the quality of their domestic environment has a huge impact on their day-to-day life. I don’t think I truly understood the meaning of the word ‘community’ until I experienced it there. Everyone in this small tribal village came out to help build a house for their neighbour. We worked alongside everyone from old women to young kids and the local stone masons helped us to create a home made of handmade bricks and mortar. They all pulled together and we rolled up our sleeves, applied the factor 50 and grafted hard alongside them. In the space of five days we constructed a home that will survive the monsoon season – the roof won’t leak and the floor won’t turn to mud - and it will provide separate living and sleeping quarters. Most importantly, Leela’s two young boys Rohit and Rutik will have somewhere to study. But the 13 women who came together that week also created a community – one of solidarity for our fellow women around the world, and one of support for each other. There were highs and lows throughout our time together – jokes and laughter; ill health and bereavement; and we are still supporting each other now, as we try to adjust back into our ‘normal’ lives – knowing that we have all changed, while the world around us hasn’t. So we carry on, but with the benefit of a recalibration of our values: family, friends and community are fundamental to our happiness, but the value of a home is immeasurable. HFS charity partners Habitat for Humanity Great Britain work to ensure every family has a decent place to live. Visit www.habitatforhumanity.org.uk for further information.
Published 22 February 2017
n.barclay@homesforscotland.com @HFSnicola
Help us deliver the new homes that Scotland needs
Join Us