At local Habitat for Humanity, women are helping women build a better future

Posted: Sep 7, 2020 / 07:18 PM MDT

Updated: Sep 7, 2020 / 08:17 PM MDT

CHESAPEAKE, Va. (WAVY) — It’s no surprise construction sites are typically filled with men, as they make up the vast majority of the industry, but South Hampton Roads Habitat for Humanity wants to help change that.

There’s something powerful about using power tools.

Rainham Rowe, program director for Habitat for Humanity, wants more of that power to empower women. WAVY visited a construction site in South Norfolk this summer to see the vision in action.

“The women are doing the work, they’re lifting the walls, they’re cutting the wood,” explained Rowe. It’s about women helping women. The person who will be buying this house is a single mother. 85 percent of our homes are bought by single mothers. So I thought it would be kinda neat to have women frame a woman’s home.”

On site, Tamesha Clemons was helping hammer a wall in place. Clemons knows how much it means to get one of these homes. Her family is on the list to get their own.

“Oh my gosh when I got accepted you would have thought we were having church in my house. I was shooting from the hills. It was just a dream come true,” Clemons said.

On this day, she’s hard at work helping make the dream come true for another woman.

“I learned how to saw boards, we learned how to use the nail gun which is a little intimidating at first because it’s heavy. You would think building a house you would see all these fellas doing it but no it’s all women.”

Also on the site — an all women team of volunteers from the Chesapeake Sheriff’s Office.

Nail by nail, board by board, Rainham Rowe aims to show women do belong on construction sites. They are capable and they are needed.

“It’s important that women feel that when they come onto a construction site, like with us, that they can do the work,” said Rowe. “I wanted them to understand this is an environment for everybody it’s not just for men.”

Earlier this summer the South Hampton Roads Habitat for Humanity held their first ever Women’s Build Week. Rowe hope to hold the event every year going forward.

If you want to volunteer for Habitat for Humanity you can sign up on their website.