A Journey of Faith Leads to 107 New Homes for the Poor

It is a pilgrimage of sorts, one in which the signs of devotion rise from mortar and brick, nails and wood.

Sharin Sarfaty will make the journey from Pasadena to Tijuana with a Bible and a key in her hands--and she is bringing her 14-year-old son, Donovan, along.

“You see,” she said Sunday at a kick-off celebration for the walk to Mexico, “as a Christian, I do believe it’s one thing to memorize a lot of verses. It’s another thing to put it into practice.”

So today, Sarfaty and about 80 men and women from throughout the country will embark from the steps of Pasadena City Hall on a weeklong journey to raise money for those too poor to afford a decent place to live.

Sponsored by Habitat for Humanity International, a nonprofit Christian housing organization, the walkers--who have received donation pledges as high as $6,000--will converge near the border with more than 1,000 other volunteers who plan to build dozens of low-income homes, starting them today and finishing on Friday.

With 100 homes being built in Tijuana and seven in San Diego, the construction effort, dubbed the Jimmy Carter Work Project, will be the largest such undertaking ever by Habitat, which started such weeklong efforts eight years ago to increase awareness about the lack of affordable housing, organizers said.

Former President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, longtime Habitat supporters, will participate in the construction and also take part in a groundbreaking Wednesday for a 48-home Habitat project in Orange County, said Ed Warmoth, a march coordinator.

Participants will walk only 50 miles, with the rest of the 120-mile distance covered by trolley and bus, interrupted by stays at volunteers’ homes, Warmoth said. When the trek ends Friday, he said, the walkers will present keys and Bibles to the new homeowners.

Christianity is not a requirement to receive a Habitat home. With the “theology of the hammer,” as organizers call their mission, necessity and a willingness to better one’s conditions by helping to build are the only requirements.

“We say each house we build speaks more eloquently than any sermon any of us could speak,” said chief organizer Gene Crumley. He added that organizers expect to raise $60,000 to $70,000 from the walk to be rechanneled into future homes.

Nevertheless, there are many who believe that in a massive effort such as this, there must be a little divine guidance. After all, Habitat board member Anthony Campolo said Sunday, “any movement that has an ex-president . . . building houses has got to be from God.”