I was a little nervous going into this week’s column. Granted, I’m an old hand at manual labor — my mom’s had me washing floors and scrubbing toilets since I was old enough to smart-off. I’ve hedged shrubs, thrown mulch, painted, stained, weed-whacked and raked. Whether it was self-induced or delegated down, I never thought I’d find myself to be lacking in experience. Until I was asked to (help) build a house.
That said, I was at a bit of a loss when I tagged along with Northwestern University’s chapter of Habitat for Humanity this past weekend. As a group, the 15-year-old Northwestern Habitat organization is much larger in full than many of the other groups considered to be “underrepresented,” especially considering its nation-wide reputation. However, this Saturday’s build only attracted 11 students –- a far cry from its 1410-member listserv, of which 267 have participated at least once.
The day’s build was to take place at Carter Crossing, a Habitat for Humanity subdivision in South Waukegan, Ill. Once there, the other Northwestern students and I joined the professional task force and seasoned veterans waiting in the muddied front yard of one of the houses under construction. After signing a waiver and being briefed on safety precautions, we were broken up into a few smaller groups and put to work.
The rather lengthy talk on safety glasses and hard hats was given by Jake, the AmeriCorps leader, and reiterated throughout with slight modifications by a tall, gruff, barrel-chested, but equally good-natured, fellow twice Jake’s age. The tasks they mentioned sounded daring and borderline dangerous.
I hoped and prayed for a simple assignment, or at least one that would keep my fingers attached and spinal discs in place. I lucked out.
Put in a group with two other Northwestern students, I was assigned the task of measuring the horizontal base of the soon-to-be bathroom’s walls and cutting out the required amount of baseboard. For a group that had just met, we worked together on the detail-oriented assignment surprisingly well. The conversation stayed task oriented, and considering we represented journalism, economics and graduate biomedical engineering, it’s easy to understand why.
Of the three of us, I was definitely the least helpful. Sam, a fourth-year graduate biomedical engineering student, and Teddy, a sophomore economics major, made up the brains and the brawn of our group. While I mostly took measurements and only occasionally took charge, they were the masterminds behind the more complicated calculations and certainly were the primary operators of the miter saw.
Although my fear of using such equipment is a bit unfounded, Jake had added prior to us starting that the saw was a bit scary and that no one would be forced into operating it if they didn’t feel comfortable doing so. Very gratefully, I let Sam and Teddy take care of that.
Despite my skittishness around all things dangerous, I was good for other tasks and was able to hold my own in a house full of busy volunteers fighting the same battles. Despite a small mishap when a senior worker in a flame-patterned bandanna informed us (and Jake) that we had prematurely installed the baseboards in the bathroom, forgetting that in a bathroom other things might take precedence, the day went smoothly in a pattern of measuring and cutting.
Although I may have been a bit inept at the basic duties required to participate in Habitat, I have to give the rest of the group credit. Across the board, the Northwestern volunteers really seemed to embrace the opportunity to work with the other volunteers, the professional workers and, of course, the woman for whom we were building the house. They showed far less hesitancy than I at using the equipment and completing the tasks that I was so afraid of.
Don’t get me wrong: This isn’t a pitch for Habitat. If the eight hours I spent measuring baseboards taught me anything, it’s that not everyone can do this kind of work. Sure, I like to get my hands dirty, and I like to help people. But I’ve found I don’t share the same skills. That’s not to say anyone is better or worse, just that while Habitat is a fun way to meet new people and lend a hand to your community, it’s also a place for some degree of seriousness and requires necessary skills. Some things can be taught — Jake and the other workers were more than willing to instruct us — but at the same time, there is an air of urgency. Everybody has a job to do, so the mentoring can only go so far.
But I encourage you to give it a shot. The opportunity to work with fellow students was rewarding, as was the responsibility of building a house and working side by side with its future owner. After all, when a guy in a flame-patterned headband trusts you with power tools, even if you don’t use them, it can’t be all that bad.