SPEAKER 02 : 0:00

Welcome to The Good News with Angie Austin. Now, with The Good News, here’s Angie.

SPEAKER 03 : 0:09

Hey there, friends. It is The Good News with Angie Austin. And today, Jackie Calloway, the author of Love That Would Not Let Me Go. She’s got a couple of books, one in the works, another one too out. And she counsels people. And one of the things that she’s really interested in doing is establishing relationships, friendships, mentoring with older generation, with the younger generations. Welcome back, Jackie. Thank you, Angie. Good to be back. All right, so tell me about this calling that you feel, you know, about, you know, bonding with younger women.

SPEAKER 06 : 0:44

Well, in growing up, and I grew up in West Virginia, and growing up, there were always older women who would lend their wisdom to us as young people. And I just seemed to gravitate to the feet of older women and I’ve learned so much and gained wisdom from just listening to practical things that the ladies would be able to tell us young girls about our decorum and about how we should be carrying ourselves and how we should be thinking about higher things more than just, you know, dancing and having fun. We should be thinking about life, what we want our life to look like as we grow and as we get older. And, of course, also the older women talk to us about our moral standards and being in touch with who we really are and being in touch with Jesus Christ. And I don’t see a lot of mothers anymore really… trying to direct young girls in the way that they should go. And I want to be one of those people that is able to speak into the lives of young people and young girls especially.

SPEAKER 03 : 2:50

And I know you have younger friends that you’ve, you know, because that’s how I met you through Monique, one of your younger friends, younger than you are, younger than I am. But when you talk about young people, how have you been able to, over the years, fulfill this calling, this urge that you have to help out the younger generation, which I must echo you there. I mean, it’s… My kids have two parents that really love them, and they have close relationships with their relatives and their grandparents and a lot of structure around them. And I see a lot of the social media posts that I wouldn’t even – I would disapprove if my kids posted some of these things if they were 25. I’d say, you know, your rear end like that does not – in that particular swimsuit does not need to be on social media. It’s so inappropriate. Yeah. But my kids already know it’s inappropriate, so they’ll show us, the parents, like, oh, my goodness, look at what my old friend so-and-so just posted. And we’re like, do their parents know they’re putting pictures like this up? It’s just appalling. And I feel some of these kids are just lost, and no one’s reaching out to hold their hand and guide them through this.

SPEAKER 06 : 3:56

Exactly.

SPEAKER 03 : 3:56

So how do you do it?

SPEAKER 06 : 3:58

Social media is one of the things I think that’s gotten out of hand. as far as directing our young people. They’re on those phones constantly. So what I have done in the circles where I find myself, I have a goddaughter that is just her first year in college, and I just try to talk to her and question her about what she’s thinking about, what are your plans, where do you see yourself in the next five years, and just to get them to talk to me. And my daughters, I have three daughters, and as they were growing up, I always tried to pull in their friends and to be an influence in their lives, and I believe we did that. Because they’re still, I used to talk to them, the boys and the girls, and they would always have their opinions about different things. And I would just give them the truth and the facts and the reality of situations and of life. And sometimes they would say, oh, Ms. Calloway, that’s so old-fashioned. And, you know, we want to live and all this. And I told them, I would tell them, just keep on living. And you will come to see what I’m telling you is the truth. And I have them come back to me today, and they’re in their 50s. And they’re telling me, oh, your words just ring in my ears so much. Anytime I am in the company of young people, I am trying to insert some wisdom and some word of God in their lives to get them to see that there is absolute truth. And there is right and wrong. And you are more valuable now. than what you are making yourself out to be.

SPEAKER 03 : 6:32

Yeah, I love that. I love that idea of them valuing themselves. I might have told you that when my daughter was getting ready to date and she’s 16 and a half. Well, she’ll be, yeah, by 16 and a half. And so, you know, she’s been dating for about three months. And prior to that, when I knew someone liked her, this, that, and the other, and I’m like, well, what, what’s the problem, you know, or what, what, what do you think of this person? Or, you know, what, what are the, what’s your hold back on, you know, getting to know this person as a friend, obviously first. And she said, cause this is what I talked to her. She goes, mom, I’m a diamond. And I was like, it made me laugh because I always told her, I’m like, think of yourself, you’re like, you’re a diamond. So you want to find another diamond. You’re a diamond, you’re special, like someone you’re valued, you’re precious. And so you want to find someone that treats you that way, but also that you view is that way, you know, really special, really important, really expensive, really valuable, you know, really cherished. And so for her to say that back to me, I’m like, I can’t believe that sunk in.

SPEAKER 06 : 7:32

Well, that you would be surprised, I think. more is caught than taught with our children. And I hope that there are parents out there who are listening to us today who will talk to their children like they are diamonds. I know when my girls were growing up and I would go in their room and I taught them from a very young age how to make their bed, how to wash dishes, and the whole thing. And I would go in their room, and sometimes their room was a mess, and I would tell them, listen, I want you to know that you are smart. You’re so smart. And you also are, you know how to clean a room. You know how to clean a room well. And I just am expecting to see this room like I know you can do it. So let’s get to it. You know, I never talked down to them. I never told them they can’t do this or can’t do. They could always do anything, and they knew it. And so they lived up to my encouraging them. And I hope parents are doing that today, encouraging their kids, not cursing them. It just cuts to my heart when I hear, I’m in the grocery store somewhere, and I hear a parent literally cursing their children. And that is, that curse, it is a curse. It really is a curse.

SPEAKER 03 : 9:31

You know, I think about my husband gives more of the tough love, you know, about, you know, these are your chores for the day, you know, get on them and this and that. And he’s always really proud of them because some weekends we’ll get so much done and they help out so much. And our son, who is 18 now, he kind of joins in and does his jobs without as much prompting as the girls. And, um, I like that idea though, of really encouraging them to, to be, that you know, that they can do a really good job. You know, they’re capable of really doing this and making themselves proud and us proud. And I think my husband and I work on different levels, but it seems to kind of work together because he is definitely the tough one, you know, really tough. And I’m, and I’m, um, I’m not easy on them by any means, but I’m a lot more encouraging. I’m more of the taker of in the relationship, you know, so they get a lot of encouragement from me, but I have to tell you, it means a lot from him because they don’t get it as much. And my daughter played basketball this weekend and she scored about 15 points and she had a couple of really good threes and she did these floaters, you know, but he’d been working with her on and he doesn’t, When they come home, he gives them a grade in the car on their playing, and it’s not always solicited. They don’t always say, please give me a grade on the game. Sometimes they’re not ready for his grade. He was so proud of her and gave her an A+, and it meant so much to her because he is such a tough sell and because he does work with her so much in basketball. They get up at 6 o’clock every weekend. You know, to do basketball. And some of the girls that are bigger than she is made a higher team than she did at her high school. And she just cried for like three hours. And we’re like, it’s not a demonstration of your skills. You know, you can’t just give up now because you believe one person saying you’re not as good as some of these girls just starting out. A lot of it has to do with size, you know, because, I mean, she… Some of those varsity players are really big kids, I mean, over six feet tall, and she’s five feet tall and 95 pounds, you know. So part of it’s just a size thing, but she’s just been so destroyed mentally over that that when her dad gave her this really rave review of her playing, it just meant so much from him. Whereas, you know, for me, she gets it all the time. Does that make sense?

SPEAKER 06 : 11:38

Right. Yes, it does. The man’s voice is so important. that Ronnie Calloway, my husband, he was a man’s man. And he put so much into our girls and really taught them who they are. And he would take them on dates, and he would take them together and separately so that they would know that they are individually important And he would show them how a man should or a boy should treat them. But that man’s voice is so important. I remember my daughter, she was very little. And I was going to, she had done something that her dad told her not to do. I mean, she was real little, maybe five years old, something like that. And I remember she, I told her, I said, now, your father’s going to spank you when he gets home. And she was just all so distraught about that. And I remember I was in the bathroom and she knocked on the door, this little bitty knock. And she said, I said, who is it? And she said, Chauncey. And I said, What is it? She said, can you spank me instead of dad? I had to laugh. You know, I didn’t laugh out loud. But I said, no, he’s going to spank you when he gets home.

SPEAKER 03 : 13:25

Oh, my goodness. All right. I want to make sure people know how to reach you. Love that would not let me go, Jackie Calloway. We’re going to continue this conversation next week. Thank you, friend. That is so fun. All right. Bye-bye.

SPEAKER 01 : 13:43

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SPEAKER 06 : 14:42

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SPEAKER 03 : 14:51

Hello, there is Angie Austin with the good news. And I have returning guests. Boy, we’re getting to the point where we won’t even be able to track how many times they’ve been on the show. Margie and Don Cook and their nonprofit is hands on houses dot com. They started in India a long time ago. They found out that the after a tsunami, the widow was in it. villages weren’t being given rice. And they asked, well, why aren’t we giving the widows rice? And they said, oh, we don’t even want them here. Widows are very unlucky. We’d rather they go to another village. And so they just have to scavenge and get what they can get. And maybe another family will share with them. But we don’t specifically give them rice because They’re not really deemed important in the community anymore. And so Margie and Don got a real heart for these widows, and they started building homes for them. And Margie and Don, how many houses has Hands on Houses built now?

SPEAKER 05 : 15:41

Angie, we’re on House 500. It’s currently being built, and we’re calling it the Christmas House, and we’re just waiting for somebody to give us a donation to cover the cost. house last year, and it was in Zambia. And the precious older widow, grandmother widow, was given the keys on Christmas Day, and she and her grandchildren moved into their new home.

SPEAKER 03 : 16:11

Oh, that’s wonderful. So now they’re building all over the world, not just in India. And what I really wanted to do this time, because we’ve talked a lot about after you retired, you started Hands on Houses. I don’t think you’ll ever really retire. And, you know… being a married couple whose children are also involved in building houses for needy people. Uh, I want to talk a little bit about some specific stories because I know that every story and every widow that you’ve built a house for or needy person that you’ve built a house for is special. Um, but I’m sure there are some that really stand out to you, whether it be the community joining in with you, uh, maybe people learning about your faith through doing this or, uh, just someone who was, whose life we, was completely changed by getting a home because as we’ve discussed in the past the like little shanties that they live in made out of tarps and palm leaves are not even as nice as a dog house here in the united states i mean it’s so dangerous too with the snakes and the spiders etc they’re not in a safe environment so these houses that are built for them are life-changing so it’s Can you each think of a story maybe you can tell us about maybe a really special involvement or family or widow or situation or community?

SPEAKER 05 : 17:27

Well, the one that comes to mind in India was maybe about seven, eight years ago. We were working with a pastor called Pastor Jay Sheelan, who was our founding pastor and actually built probably 240 houses with him. He met a woman in the Christian bookstore in the town that he lives in. And she was a Muslim woman working in this bookstore. And she was exposed to reading the Bible and Christian literature. And he met her and he found out that she was a widow with two small children, I think under five. And he went to see where she was living and then asked us if we’d build a house for her. And we built a house for her. And through building a house for her and her communication with Pastor Joe Sheelan, she walked away from that religion and has embraced Jesus and goes to his church. So not only did she get a new house for her and her little children, but she completely changed her whole life.

SPEAKER 03 : 18:35

Oh, I love that. I love that. Don, you were going to add in?

SPEAKER 04 : 18:39

Angie, the person I think most about is a young man. We said we wanted to build houses for widows and for physically handicapped people. And this young man, Vasan, was severely crippled by polio when he was young. And the pastor we worked with had had a children’s home for a while. And Vasan was one of the children that came to stay with him. And Vasan studied until he was got 10th grade and then went back to the village that he’d been living in. Vasan was. decided he was going to build a house, and we went to have a look at what he’d already done. And he’d built walls that got to about two foot above ground, and then he’d run out of money. And we decided we would complete the house for him. And within two weeks, the church gathered around, and they just helped everybody get the job done. And he got this new house with a little storefront attached to it because it was in the center of a village and he could probably earn a bit of money by selling goods to people passes by. But then we had a little factory that we were manufacturing panels in and I was a bit worried that, you know, nobody was keeping track of our materials. And we realized that Basan with a 10th grade education could speak a bit of English and we gave him a job. So we employed him and we laughed about it because we called him our quality control manager. So Vatan got the job with us. And then now that he had a house and he had a job, his brothers found a wife for him. So the next thing was that Vasan got married and I remember the pastor and I were sitting at the front of the gathering presiding over this wedding. I remember looking at this young girl who was kneeling down with him and it looked to me like she was really, really not happy. And I kept on asking the pastor, you know, is she fine? Is she fine? And he said, don’t worry, she’s fine. And then After the wedding, she was all smiles, and then a year later, they had a little boy named that they named Joshua. And so Vassan went from having nothing to having a house to having a job to having a wife to having a little boy. And it was just such an amazing progression of what had happened in his life after just getting a house. And sadly, Vassan worked for us for quite a few years, but his disability just started affecting his health. And it got to the stage where he couldn’t come to work anymore. And, you know, and eventually Passant passed into eternity just before COVID hit. And so it’s a good story, but it’s also a story with a sad ending.

SPEAKER 03 : 21:49

But I would think, though, that you changed the course of his short-ish life. I’m assuming he was pretty young when he passed. And this disability that he developed because of the polio probably would have taken him earlier had he not had the home to live in. And what a fulfilling life he had that he wouldn’t have been able to get a wife with that disability and not having a home or a job. So what a wonderful story. Yeah.

SPEAKER 05 : 22:17

Yeah, and the even better part was when we dedicated the house, all his Hindu neighbors who had watched him pray and pray for seven years that God would help him finish his house, came to the dedication. We provided them with a meal. The pastor gave a gospel message, and Vasanth cut the ribbon in front of the front door and gave a testimony of the faithfulness of God. And they just sat there, all these neighbors with big eyes, and they couldn’t argue that God answers prayer because there was the house in front of them. And so that was a wonderful testimony to many, many Hindu people in that village.

SPEAKER 03 : 22:57

Wow, that’s a good one. You guys got me with that one. You know, when I go through all of the pictures on the website, I was looking for the houses because before you build these houses for people, again, Margie and Dawn Cook, Hands On Houses, they’re looking to build their 500th house this Christmas. Do I have that right? 500th? Yes, yes. and there’s six thousand dollars to build you don’t have to contribute the whole house but you can uh contribute you know on their website hands-on houses it’s really easy i mean you could do it on you know paypal or venmo or through your bank account checks all kinds of different ways but anyway i um was i was going through looking for the shantytown like the tarps and you know palm leave houses that they live in before you build the house and it’s a sturdy little house you build As I was looking for those, I started going through the people. And it’s page after page after page of widows, but also, as you mentioned, people with disabilities, handicapped people that you’ve also built homes for. And I wanted to share some of the personal stories because they make such a difference. I mean, just hearing about that young man, it’s just like life-changing for him to get a home, then a job, then get married, have a wife and a child. We have a few more minutes left. Any other stories that touched you? Because I know, oh, by the way, these widows, they don’t remarry because in India, at least when they lose their husband, they’re deemed very unlucky kind of, you know, they don’t really want them in the village. So they certainly aren’t going to get a husband. especially if they’re not educated and the majority of them aren’t. So they are destined in 99% of the cases that Margie and Don have dealt with to live then alone. And their children don’t have much of a chance if they don’t have a home to live in growing up and be able to continue their studies. So any other success stories that ring out to you or stand out to you?

SPEAKER 05 : 24:55

And the first one we built in Zambia with our partners there was a grandmother who was raising nine of her grandchildren because the generation of her children had died through AIDS. So she was the only living adult left. Oh, my goodness. We were there for the dedication of her husband. And we did a little short one-minute video on it. Just such a wonderful situation to be in, to watch all these African people dancing with joy, the little children, the adults, because this lady had got her house and she could now raise those children in a safe place. So that was a… A wonderful thing to be part of, actually, in Zambia.

SPEAKER 03 : 25:46

I can’t even wrap my, your grandparents, I can’t even wrap my head around as a grandparent raising, and I’m sure she’s a young grandparent, but raising nine grandkids after raising your own children, and she didn’t have a proper home. What was she doing before you built this house for her? Sorry, I’m…

SPEAKER 04 : 26:08

She had a hut made out of – I think a lot of the huts in Africa are built out of mud, and then they have a thatched roof on them. So she was living in a hut like that too, which was in need of repair, as I would imagine, too.

SPEAKER 03 : 26:24

I’m just dumbfounded sometimes by some of these stories. I’m sure that when you come back – you’ve lived in Hawaii. You’re now in Florida, but you spent a lot of time in India – And you’ve been all over Europe. I love talking to you about all the different places you’ve gone to. You’ve traveled so much more than I have. Do you ever have people that work with you or for you or volunteer? I know that’s a complicated endeavor to get arrangements to get people over. Do you just accept donations or are people allowed to volunteer and get to your locations and work alongside your children or your family, your people, your nonprofit workers?

SPEAKER 05 : 27:08

You know, we did a lot of that when we lived in India and we had a house there. We had teams come out and volunteers, individuals, families. But at the moment, we don’t have a place where we can have people to come to. We will do the odd trip when there are enough people who are wanting to do that. But at the moment, we haven’t got anything that we’re looking at at the moment, Angie. I think it’s something we will do at some stage.

SPEAKER 03 : 27:39

Yes, and when you are ready, you’ve got to put me down and my husband and my son. You met my husband, and that man can do anything. He’s like Don. If he watches a YouTube video, he can build a house. He can do hardwood floors. He just did our brick walkway. He just constructed a store for our son for his vintage business. I mean, this man can build. You give him some toothpicks, and he’ll build a house. So you’ve got to put us down on the list. All right, if people want to donate and see more about the work you do, go to handsonhouses.com, handsonhouses.com. And I’m looking forward to having you guys, both of you on as regular guests. We can continue with the journey and hear about the next house you’re building, handsonhouses.com. Thank you both so much. Such a blessing to have you on the good news.

SPEAKER 05 : 28:27

Thank you, Ashley. Merry Christmas to you and your wonderful family. Merry Christmas.

SPEAKER 02 : 28:34

Thank you for listening to The Good News with Angie Austin on AM670 KLTT.