OXFORD – It’s been more than 30 years since Barbara Walker
owned a home, and when she moved out, it wasn’t under the
best of circumstances. She was in the process of splitting
up with her husband, and the neighborhood was getting
rougher. In short, it was just time to leave her home of
six years.
“It was out on the outskirts of town,” said Walker, a
58-year-old custodian at the University of Mississippi who
works mostly in Bishop Hall. “I got out there and realized
I was out in the country by myself. I was going through
some things with my husband, and I just didn’t want to live
out there anymore.”
Now, thanks to Habitat for Humanity chapters at the UM and
in Oxford, Walker is about to get her second shot at home
ownership. After more than a year of construction, her new
home just east of Oxford is nearly complete, and she hopes
to move in this spring with her two grandsons.
“Owning a home again wasn’t really on my mind,” Walker
said. “This is really a blessing.”
Habitat for Humanity is a nonprofit organization that works
with volunteers to build affordable housing in this country
and around the world. Although homes are not given away,
they are built, priced and sold at the lowest possible cost
to the owner-occupant, who must qualify for an
interest-free mortgage and repay it if approved.
“Applicants must be screened and approved, just like a
traditional loan,” said Darryail Whittington, construction
superintendent for the Oxford-Lafayette chapter. “So far,
we’ve been able to get people into homes under $40,000.
There’s nowhere in Oxford where you can get a house for
that.”
Free labor is what helps keep the costs down. Like all
Habitat for Humanity homes, labor is provided by
volunteers, including the prospective homeowner. “The
client must provide 500 hours of sweat equity,” Whittington
said. “They must work on the house.”
Walker hasn’t minded sweating for her home one bit.
“It’s a wonderful feeling to know that you’re helping to
create something you want and need,” she said. “It’s
fulfilling to know you can help do that. It’s been fun and
quite rewarding.”
And she’s not the only one reaping satisfaction.
Whittington said that Habitat volunteers come from every
walk of life: faculty and students, young and old, black
and white, rich and not-so-rich. Yet all the differences
melt away as they work side by side on the paneling of
Walker’s future home.
“This crosses gender, race, education,” Whittington said.
“We’ve got teenagers, faculty, college students and career
people. We’ve got people who have never done labor at all.
It’s a melting pot of all kinds of people throughout
Oxford.
“The camaraderie is so close, because you’re working on a
common goal,” he continued. “I’ve gotten to know people
that I’d never have gotten to know otherwise. Most of us
feel that way.”
Most of the work is done on Saturdays, weather permitting.
And UM students often come out in solid numbers, even on
home football game days.
Among those students is Austin Sumrall, a sophomore
mechanical engineering major from McComb. Over several
volunteer Saturdays, he’s painted walls, put flooring down
and moved a dirt pile. But it’s worthwhile work for a
worthy cause, he said.
“After that first workday, I was hooked,” said Sumrall, who
oversees fraternity involvement for the newly reinstated UM
Habitat chapter. “Oxford is known for its grand houses, but
there are a lot of people living below the poverty level
right here in Oxford. People need homes. And working on
Mrs. Walker’s home has just been a great experience.”
Among the most dedicated volunteers are people Walker sees
every day at Bishop Hall – the faculty, staff and students
in the Department of History.
“Working with these people has really been a blessing,”
Walker said. “Just to have them give of their time, on
weekends, to do something on a volunteer basis without
getting paid … it’s more than a joy.”
For more information about the University or
Oxford-Lafayette chapters of Habitat for Humanity, visit
http://www.olemiss.edu/orgs/habitat or email the
chapter at
habitat@olemiss.edu.