World Housing proudly welcomes the Morrison Family, whose daughter, Michelle Morrison, is our newest and youngest ambassador. She is not your ordinary World Housing ambassador and definitely not your ordinary fifth grader. We believe everyone deserves a home and that a home is just the beginning. When Michelle and her family heard that motto, she took this message to heart, embraced her role as an ambassador, and began to educate her classmates about its mission.
“It’s really sad,” said Michelle about the homelessness crisis around the world. “A bunch of people are just living in and around garbage because of poverty. It’s not good. Everybody should have a house because it just helps, especially children.”
Andrew and Nicole Morrison, with their daughters Michelle and Julie, became involved with World Housing in 2018 when their family helped transform the lives of a family living in El Salvador. Michelle was only five years old then, and her younger sister Julie was two years old, so they selected a family that closely mirrored their own. A family with two daughters received a home in the Ahuachapan community of 55 homes in El Salvador that World Housing helped to build.
As Michelle grew up, her family emphasized the importance of philanthropy, and she realized the importance of World Housing and what they do. Michelle presented the story of the Zambia Girls’ Safe House, when it was under construction in Africa, at her school. In partnership with the boots-on-the-ground NGO Baraka Community Partnerships, the safe house has now been completed and gifted at the Baraka Learning Center near Kapiri-Mposhi to help the girls in that rural region get access to education.
Michelle’s World Housing presentation to her classmates was so successful that her class selected World Housing’s Girls’ Safe House in Zambia to receive a portion of the proceeds from their school entrepreneur project, selling homemade products where they raised $300. In addition to this valuable donation, Michelle’s class hopes to set up a message exchange program where the classes can exchange notes and photos of their educational progress.
Zambia may be Michelle’s first project for World Housing, but it won’t be her last. She believes there is still much need in Zambia and throughout Africa, as well as in countries affected by natural disasters, such as Haiti and Cambodia. She can’t wait to delve into new projects globally and at home.
For Michelle, a home is “a safe place that you make fond memories in.” Follow along on Michelle’s journey; you can help her provide homes and shelters for less fortunate and needy families worldwide.