Habitat: One Culture, Many "Regionalisms"

I am Latina.  I was born in Puerto Rico in the early 70's.  My Mom moved us to Connecticut in the late 80's.  When I lived in Puerto Rico, I never saw the difference between a Puerto Rican, a Dominican, a Cuban, a Peruvian or anyone who came from the islands or South America and who also spoke Spanish.  In my eyes, we were all Latinos because of the one thing that made us equals:  our language.

It wasn't until I came to the US that I learned about "dialects" and was later re-educated to understand "regionalisms" was the correct noun to use and why.  I was told that Latinos are not tribes (as in Native Americans) and that because we come from different countries, we have regionalisms in our language.  Dialects or regionalisms, I really don't mind either one because to me, the one thing that is important is that we can communicate with each other.

Today was our mandatory volunteer orientation at Gallaudet University.  I took the metro into town - loved it!, - got off at the closest station and walked to the University.  I found the Auditorium where the orientation would be hosted and of course, it was like walking into a hive of buzzing Habitat bees!  Lots of people, volunteers, staff, Americorps, young, old - all speaking "Habitat" lingo!  There must have been easily 300 people in that room.  Orientation lasted about an hour and included speakers from the local Affiliate, local government and Gallaudet University.

Meeting my "House Leaders" (the same as Crew Leaders), was interesting as we will be doing "demo" on House #9 and House #10.  Mike and his wife are a couple from Florida who have volunteered to work with different crews through the week.

The Affiliate Volunteer Group Supervisor has 'merged' the groups from Houses #9 and #10 due volunteers dropping out at the last minute.  *Where have I heard that before?*  So, we have about 12 people, plus the house leaders to do demolition work: removing drywall (aka sheetrock) that may contain low levels of lead-based paint.  

Initially, I was praying to not get demo work, but after Mike described the type of work we'd be doing, I really started looking forward to it!  I've never worn a hazmat suit -- I know, it sounds so dangerous! -- and compared to what I've done before, this is completely new!

After orientation was over, I walked with another volunteer to the metro stop and stayed together - as they suggested during orientation.  Throughout our walk, Kate and I got to know each other.  She's in her 50's and works for a local government organization - Fannie Mae, it sounds familiar (!!!) and lives in Virginia.  This is the first time she ever volunteers with Habitat, even though she has done volunteer work before teaching ESL in Virginia for 6 years.

I explained to her that today, I came to a deeper realization as we sat through orientation.  I told her that Habitat for Humanity is a culture.  In a sense, a culture like Latinos in that we all speak Spanish and our language is the one thing in common that brings us together.  It can either break the ice or push us away from each other. 

Our affiliates have many things in common:  we all work to fight poverty housing, we all work with hard-working families, we all work to revitalize our communities by investing in our neighborhoods and we are all doing something that is greater than we are as individuals.  However, the one thing that brings us together is our love for Habitat's mission of building houses that will provide safe, decent housing.  It doesn't matter if we're in DC, Hartford, India, Mexico - our goal is the same.

I am just lucky to be part of both: being Latina and being a Habitat junkie!  

PS - I got a baggie full of goodies!  I can't wait to order some of these things for our Affiliate to have and share.