Habitat News
Nepal: Where there's a Wills...
Clarrie Wills Way in Otara, is more than just a street sign. It
is a legacy of a man and his wife and the help they have given 50
Auckland families to own and maintain their homes as volunteers for
Habitat for Humanity. Clarrie and Jenny Wills, residents of Acacia
Cove retirement village in Manurewa, had always planned to travel
overseas together to work on houses one day. But Clarrie died three
months ago and, next month, Jenny will make the Everest Build trip
to Pokhara, Nepal – alone.
“This is for him really,” Jenny says of her pending
trip. “He always talked about going overseas on a build, but
his health was failing and I had to take care of him. If he’d
been here, he would have been pretty excited. He was involved in so
much with Habitat for Humanity.” Clarrie, a builder and
inspector with the department of Maori Housing and Housing New
Zealand, was a founding member of Habitat and a member on the board
for about 13 years. Jenny spent eight years as chairwoman of
Habitat’s family support committee and six on its board of
directors.
“Between the two of them they have contributed a tremendous
amount,” says Habitat Greater Auckland’s executive
director, Warren Jack. “One month before he died we had him
(Clarrie) on a Habitat site to dedicate the street to him. And
Jenny has had quite a big role for someone on a voluntary
basis.”
Jenny’s two children have had the opportunity to go to Nepal,
and Jenny, 70, is relishing the opportunity to go herself.
“I’m so excited to be a part of a 16 member Global
Village team,” she says. A total of nine New Zealand teams
representing 150 Kiwis will make up half of the volunteers from
around the globe. They will be charged with the ambitious goal of
building 30 new homes together with local family and community
members next month.
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