Great Britain: Discovering new possibilities

Ten-year-old Micaiah Fellows didn’t learn to ride a bike until just last year. That’s because she and her little brother Jared, four, lived in a council estate where their mother, Tina, was too frightened to let them play outside. The children’s last memory of the estate is of a group of boys throwing glass bottles at them as they moved out of their flat.

They moved into a Habitat for Humanity house in Southwark, South London at the end of 2001. "The quality of life now is 100 times better than it was. The children and I laugh so much now," says Tina.

"I have more time to spend with them now, and they are both much calmer. Micaiah got an award for behaviour at school after we moved in because they saw an amazing change in her.

"There are so many things that I believe for myself now. I know I have choices. I have abilities that I have never explored because I had other things to worry about. I might be able to go to university part-time to study psychology or landscape gardening.

"Building your own HFH house is seriously hard work, but it’s all very worth it. It rebuilt my confidence in people to see that there were people who were willing to give without expecting anything in return. It was amazing to see everybody building the house together, from big corporations and donations to single volunteers.

"Habitat for Humanity is dealing with the big things. They are really changing lives."

Find out more about Habitat for Humanity's work in Great Britain

Read about the experience of a volunteer in Great Britain