Global Village Trip

How Habitat for Humanity makes a difference – close to home and faraway. by Mark Waligore, Board President When we think of Habitat for Humanity, we sometimes forget about the organization’s global mission. Yes, our fundamental purpose at Habitat for Humanity – DeKalb is to provide a helping hand to those close to home. But…

To understand just what this Habitat for Humanity house means to the Kawka family, it helps if you first step inside their current home. See this one room? This is where Miroslaw, his wife, Agata, and their six children all live. It’s only 269-square feet and is situated on their family farm in the Polish…

It was 3:30 in the afternoon here in Poland – time to set up for the party. As America celebrated July 4th, those of who traveled to Poland for the Habitat for Humanity Global Village trip were wrapping up a productive day. The back of the home we’re helping build was now completely covered in…

Over the last several days, Irene Devine has been a whirlwind of activity: She’s hung drywall. She’s installed door frames and baseboards. And on a cool and overcast Wednesday afternoon in this small Polish village, she loaded wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow with dirt to address a drainage issue. Irene Devine at work. For Irene, this type…

It’s 1 o’clock in the afternoon, and Miroslaw Kawka is standing among the fields of rye, wheat and oats in the small village of Redzynskie. This family farm dates back to the late 1930s. It was once farmed by Miroslaw’s father and grandfather. Today, this land, which includes cattle, pigs, grains and potatoes, not only…

At 8 o’clock Monday morning, as most of metro Atlanta was still asleep (after all, it was only 2 a.m. back home), a small bus filled with Global Village volunteers bounced along the narrow roads winding their way through the Polish countryside. Gone were the tall buildings, the cosmopolitan restaurants and, as we learned during…

“One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.” -Virginia Woolf Indeed, nothing forges friendships, bridges language barriers and brings people together like food. Those of us taking part in this week’s Global Village trip to Poland were reminded of food’s extraordinary power when we arrived at an apartment building…

On Warsaw’s cobblestone alleys, along the banks of the Vistula River, you’ll find one of the city’s oldest – and most charming – squares. Old Town’s distinctively colorful buildings, medieval architecture and galleries, street vendors and Polish eateries make for a picture-perfect afternoon. “It’s impossible,” someone once wrote of Old Town, “to not fall in…

GREETINGS, FROM POLAND A lawyer from Philadelphia. A comedian from New York. A college student who knows first-hand the blessing of a Habitat for Humanity home. These are just some of the folks who will be joining me in Warsaw this week as we finish building a home for a Polish family. The family of…