NCHA's relationship with Habitat for Humanity over the past several years has previously involved maintenance workers travelling to South Africa to lend skills, such as plumbing and wiring, to assist in house building.
This inspired the idea to continue the relationship with Habitat for Humanity but this time, instead of sending maintenance workers, we decided that they should send NCHA service users from their young persons projects. Some of them even named the project: Build for Better Lives.
The idea of sending service users instead of maintenance workers has huge advantages. Critically, the service users have either been homeless or at risk of homelessness and so will have some idea of what it's like not to have an adequate place to live. However, it is obvious that being homeless in South Africa is very different to being homeless in the UK. For starters, they do not have businesses like NCHA to house them and assist them in improving their lives. Therefore, this is their chance to give back.
