On the Path with Heart, In Africa with Habitat for Humanity International

For more than 25 years, a grassroots organization called Habitat for Humanity International has been working with people in need to build affordable, decent housing in Africa. This is the story of a 58 year-old woman who signs on to become a Habitat international partner (an underpaid staff member or overpaid volunteer) and goes to Africa for six months to report on the low-cost housing mission's work. Five years later, she is still on the job as Habitat Africa/Middle East correspondent.

The author worked at Habitat International's headquarters in Americus, Georgia for six years prior to going to Africa, so she was familiar with the Christian roots and beliefs of the organization. "Habitat is not part of a church but faith based. My own background was not church oriented at all. In fact, one friend in Georgia referred to me as "un-churched."

To her surprise, Grey discovers in Africa that so-called missionaries can be a lot of fun. "They work very hard and play hard as well." She also discovers they are very tolerant of her life style which includes playing blackjack and gambling on the horses. Their stories are chronicled from Botswana where the Great Synchronized Swimming Competition takes place, to Tanzania where the Habitat staff pulls off a major build with the President of Tanzania.

Africans running Habitat programs in their communities in Uganda, Zimbabwe, and Kenya teach Grey about their culture, she finds a lot in common with a South African widow during the night she spends inside a former black township and in Kenya she learns that it's malaria that kills most Africans and elephants that African women fear most. "What did I fear most in Africa? Anything on four wheels."

Grey finds stories everywhere; among leprosy survivors in Uganda who are becoming part of a community for the first time in years, with orphan head of households in Burundi who are beginning life over after a brutal civil war, and on the road in Botswana when the truck breaks down. Then, there is the one about the mother-in-law who climbs into bed with her one night in Uganda.

"This is a book about people. Not just the people I met in Africa, but about myself as well. The title "On the Path with Heart" is a quote from Carlos Castenada. I used it because working in Africa for Habitat gave me a chance to use all the reporting and teaching skills I had accumulated in my life and do it to help a terrific organization. One day I was climbing up a steep path in Uganda to interview new homeowners and I heard myself humming under my breath. I stopped walking for a moment to savor the thought - I am happy."