Project Rise volunteers reflect on building homes in partnership with Habitat for Humanity across the United States.
As housing affordability continues to challenge families across the United States, Project Rise volunteers from the Dawoodi Bohra community partnered with Habitat for Humanity for build days held across seven cities.
Habitat for Humanity is a global nonprofit organisation that helps families build and improve places to call home through affordable housing initiatives and community-led volunteer partnerships.
“Since our beginning in 1976, Habitat has brought together people of all faiths and backgrounds to build safe, affordable housing with families around the world. Working with Habitat allows people to engage those around them and make meaningful change in their communities, live their faith and offer a unique opportunity to love their neighbor. We are grateful to the Dawoodi Bohra community for their support of Habitat and for helping to create a world where everyone has a decent place to live.”
– Charlita Stephens-Walker, VP of Corporate Partnerships and Cause Marketing, Habitat for Humanity
Across seven locations, volunteers from different professions, age groups, and backgrounds participated in the effort. Some arrived with construction experience. Many did not. But each build day offered participants a closer understanding of the teamwork, precision, and coordination required to create stable housing.
What many discovered was that building a home takes far more than tools and materials—and no two volunteers would nail that answer in quite the same way.
Together, the partnership reflected a broader commitment to civic participation, dignified housing, and service carried out in collaboration with local organizations working to strengthen communities across the United States.
Through Project Rise, the Dawoodi Bohra community continues to support initiatives focused on service, collaboration, and long-term community wellbeing.
The selected reflections below capture those experiences in the volunteers’ own words.
Mustafa Ravat
The first thing we noticed at the site was the sound—drywall splitting under firm strikes, insulation being pulled free, and voices calling instructions across the space.
As a mechanical engineer who enjoys hands-on work, using tools felt familiar. But this experience felt different because we were not renovating our own spaces. We were helping prepare a future home for another family.
Our team spent the day demolishing damaged drywall and installing fresh insulation into exposed exterior walls. The work was physically demanding, dusty, and at times unpredictable. At one point, a stubborn section gave way unexpectedly, leaving several of us covered in dust and laughing at the situation together.
What stood out most was how naturally everyone collaborated. Tools passed easily between volunteers. Support appeared before anyone needed to ask for it. By the end of the day, the walls stood ready for the next stage of construction.
The house itself remained unfinished, but the sense of progress felt real—not only in the work completed, but in the shared purpose behind it.
We walked away tired and dust-covered, yet inwardly renewed.
Alifiya Sanjeliwala
In Atlanta, the experience began with unfamiliar tools, measurements, and a worksite that felt entirely outside everyday life.
When the Habitat for Humanity partnership with Project Rise was announced, I signed up immediately despite having no construction experience whatsoever.
I’m a homemaker and freelancer in education, so stepping onto an active construction site filled with nail guns, siding panels, and measurements felt completely outside my comfort zone.
Our task for the day was installing siding onto the exterior walls of the home. What initially sounded simple quickly revealed itself to be highly precise work requiring coordination, patience, and constant adjustment.
A Habitat crew member explained that even a small gap in the siding could allow water into the structure and compromise the home over time. Suddenly, every measurement carried weight.
Inside the house, handwritten messages covered the exposed wooden beams:
“More than a house.”
“A home is where the family lives.”
There, I met the future homeowner, who worked alongside volunteers throughout the build day. When I asked what the house meant to her, she smiled and said:
“I’ve already started making memories here.”
That moment transformed the experience for me. The work was no longer about construction alone. It was about helping create stability, dignity, and a future for another family.
Hakimuddin Radhanpurwala
Grade 12,
In Fremont, a high school student discovered quickly that confidence and construction skills are not always the same thing.
I’m a high school senior, and although volunteering itself wasn’t new to me, Habitat for Humanity was unlike anything I had experienced before.
Our group spent the day at a warehouse in Oakland building a children’s playhouse from scratch. We split into teams handling construction, design, and painting, learning quickly that confidence and construction skills are not always the same thing.
There were mistakes throughout the day: incorrect drill bits, uneven pieces, and one upside-down window installation that left everyone laughing.
Eventually, the scattered pieces came together into a completed playhouse built around a spring theme centred on bees as symbols of community and cooperation.
What stayed with me most was how naturally teamwork developed throughout the project. We arrived thinking we were building something for another community, but in the process, we strengthened our own sense of connection as well.
Samina Taherbhoy
Outside Boston, the lesson became less about speed and more about learning to work with imperfections.
I arrived expecting to help build a home from the ground up. Instead, I found myself standing inside a historic barn dating back to the 1860s that Habitat for Humanity was converting into family housing units.
The project focused not on starting from nothing, but on transformation.
I joined the flooring team, where we quickly realised that working inside an older structure required constant adjustment. The walls and surfaces were imperfect, meaning every measurement and cut had to adapt to the building itself.
The work demanded patience and precision, but it also changed how I thought about construction. Building is not always about creating something entirely new. Sometimes it means preserving what already exists while carefully preparing it for a new purpose.
By the end of the day, our team had laid significant portions of flooring underlayment across the unit. What I expected to feel chaotic instead felt deeply coordinated and collaborative.
Hasnain Saboowala
In Plano, instead of framing walls or installing flooring, volunteers focused on the quieter work that allows projects to continue long after a build day ends.
The day began with an orientation led by the Habitat ReStore manager, who introduced volunteers to the goals and operations behind the facility.
Although our group originally expected to assist with homebuilding, colder weather shifted the work indoors, where we helped organize materials, refurbish donated playhouses, and prepare items for resale.
One particularly memorable task involved removing seasonal shingles from children’s playhouses so they could later be repainted and reused. The process highlighted how thoughtful effort can extend the value and lifespan of donated resources.
Meanwhile, outdoor teams handled physically demanding work involving lumber, metal sheets, and equipment transfers across storage areas.
What impressed me most was the efficiency and coordination between volunteers and Habitat staff throughout the day. The experience offered a deeper appreciation for the amount of unseen work required to sustain affordable housing initiatives beyond the construction site itself.
