By IAN MCINROY BARRIE EXAMINER

Updated 1 day ago

This wasn’t your average trip south.

Instead of drinks on the beach and working on tan lines, Heljar Hansen and his counterparts at the Canadian Home Builders’ Association -Simcoe County (CHBASC) put their backs into building homes for the needy in the Dominican Republic.

Hansen, president of the local builders’ association, and 23 other members joined forces with the Ontario Homebuilder’s Association in November to build homes in Puerto Plata’s poverty stricken slum of Aquas Negras (black water), so-called because of the foul water that runs through the streets whenever it rains. The village, comprised of rag-tag structures built with tin roofs and whatever else can be scrounged, is built atop an old landfill.

“When it rains, black water comes out of the ground and floods their shacks and streets. It was depressing watching the little kids playing in these conditions,” Hansen said.

During the trip to the Dominican, the CHBASC contingent formed their own team — Team Simcoe — and pledged to sponsor one of the six homes built.

They collected almost $9,000 for the build, the majority of which was raised from the Bike for the Build bike ride (which saw Hansen and his buddy, Christian Caswell, cycle from Barrie to Owen Sound and back) and the association’s golf tournament. Pledges also came in from many member companies and individuals. All the money raised went directly to the cause and participants paid for their own travel expenses and accommodations.

“It was an incredible experience, an eye-opener for all of us,” Hansen said. “The focus for the homes we built was not to build them castles, but rather homes that would keep them out of the flood zones to keep them dry and also safe by allowing them to lock up their homes at night.

“The majority of the current shacks you can see right through.”

Members of Team Simcoe spent a lot of time moving fill so that they could ‘lift’ the finished floor up and away from the floods, he said.

Despite the wretched conditions of their local housing, they were ready to help the Canadians.

“The locals took part in the build and the planning and were very enthusiastic about the project,” he said. “Even though we could not help all of them, they were happy for each other. It was amazing to see how the little children were always smiling and wanted to communicate with us and help wherever they could.”

Team Simcoe wanted to involve the people of Puerto Plata, so they hired one one local contractor per home and the team’s tools and supplies were sourced out locally to support the community.

“The problem is that they have no money to build properly and not a lot of prospects for well paid jobs, so they can’t afford the necessary materials,” Hansen said. “Families have a hard time bringing in enough money to feed everyone so they take their kids out of school and send them out onto the streets to basically bring home whatever they can.

“This creates a vicious circle which can make it difficult to ever get out of poverty.”

The Barrie-area builders also worked with DOVE Missions, a charitable nonprofit organization working in Puerto Plata since 2004 to improve the lives and futures of Dominican and Haitian children at risk.

“We are discussing how we can possibly help DOVE Missions purchase a piece of land so they they can build a school,” Hansen said, adding Team Simcoe is discussing going back to build more homes in the same area of Aquas Negras.

“We were touched by the stories that came out of the Dominican Republic and the need they have there for help,” he said. “We came back feeling like we had made a difference in our Dominican families’ lives. It really makes us appreciate how fortunate we are here in Canada.

“We were able to help these people and in the process learn something and make friends for life. We would all do it again in a heartbeat.”

imcinroy@thebarrieexaminer.com

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Leah Tysse didn’t have any formal musical training.

Whitney Houston was her “teacher.”

“Whitney is the reason I wanted to sing,” said Tysse, a dynamic, Berkeley-based soul-pop vocalist. “I was a huge fan. Her voice was just impeccable.”

Tysse was weaned on Houston’s self-titled 1985 debut album – and its three No. 1 singles – while growing up in Maine and New Jersey.

“That really is what made me wanna sing,” said Tysse, who, like Houston, developed her powerful voice in church choirs. “I never had any vocal training. Just Whitney.”

Tysse, a member of San Francisco’s Glide Memorial Church Choir, will perform in more secular surroundings tonight – the King’s Room at Stockton Arena following the Thunder’s ice-hockey game.

Stockton bassist AJ Joyce plays part-time in Tysse’s band, but he’ll be there tonight.

Tysse, 36, introduces songs from “Love Again,” her less-bluesy second album released on Nov. 29. Houston, who died on Feb. 11 at age 48, will be on her mind.

“Well, I have mixed emotions,” Tysse said of Houston, whose funeral is being held Saturday in Newark, N.J. “Given what we know, nobody was that surprised. But it was so tragic the way her life went. Her talent was unparalleled. She could have continued so much further.”

Tysse’s taking a sightly different angle with her music, edging away from straight-up blues into a more pop-oriented mode.

She’s been working on the 13-track “Love Again” since 2009, using lyrics written “years and years ago.”

Tysse “really belts out” some songs. Others are more subdued ballads: “Some of them had been written five, six, 10 years ago and shelved. I just pulled ‘em out. When we started, I didn’t expect it to come out like it has. The songwriting hadn’t fully developed.”

Those songs are mostly about “one particularly bad time,” she said. “A bad ending to a relationship. I got a lot of songs out of it. The whole album really kind of focuses on that. It’s about love and the heart, though. It’s not all ‘woe is me.’

“My first album (‘Real Good Fire,’ 2007) was a little more blues-focused. This one’s a little less genre-specific. More funky. R&B. Really, no blues.

“I’ve created something new that’s my own. Maybe not what the blues world expected it to be. What I created is something altogether new.”

Mike Blankenship, her band’s keyboard player, helped with that. A lot.

“We have a good working relationship,” she said of the Concord-based Blankenship. “There are elements of R&B. Also elements of, I’d call it pop, for lack of a better genre.”

While it’s not quite at the level of Adele’s Grammy Award-winning “Someone Like You,” Tysse’s “I Do,” a ballad, “seems to get the most reaction,” she said. “It was the most challenging to write, but it came out best. Everyone sort of has a song they like best. Like when they come up to me and start singing my songs to me.

“I’m not engaged or married. People ask, ‘Who is it about?’ It happens to not be about anyone. I didn’t really force the lyrics. It just came at one time. I don’t know why.”

She grew up singing in the United Methodist Church and has increased her vocal power and flexibility at Glide Memorial for 14 years.

“I love all types of music,” she said. “From Joni Mitchell to Tupac. I just love good songs. I don’t wanna be stuck in any box. Ever. I’ll always love the blues.”

Born into a “modest background” in Madison, Wis., she took piano lessons and taught herself to play trumpet at 7. An only child, she added vocals after she and her mom, Dorothy Breen, moved to Orono, Maine, following her parents’ divorce.

Tysse also was a competitive swimmer, 100- and 300-meter hurdler and soccer player.

Her father, Paul, a grant writer at the University of Wisconsin, accompanied her on acoustic guitar – folk and jazz tunes – and further developed her skills with her grandmother in Ocean Grove, N.J.

She spent a year in Grenoble, France, where she sang in clubs. She attended the University of Vermont and lived in Boston for nine months before arriving in San Francisco.

“Love Again” is more than an album title. It’s also a form of “giving back.”

Through the Love Again Project, Tysse donates income from some shows to charitable organizations – ranging from the Humane Society of the Sierra Foothills to Glide Memorial Church, which benefits when Tysse formally releases “Love Again” on Feb. 26 at Yoshi’s in San Francisco.

“I always wanted to somehow connect with giving back,” said Tysse, whose mother, a psychologist at the University of Maine, has been a do-good inspiration. “I’m not able to contribute that much. I’m not Bonnie Raitt.

“I just hope by connecting I can at least give some exposure to these causes. It helps give meaning personally to what I’m doing. It’s so fulfilling. It’s such a blessing. Sometimes I just feel spoiled. Not that it’s easy, but it’s not like other people making a bazillion dollars will do something.”

Houston’s contribution was inspiration: “She was the one.”

Contact Tony Sauro at (209) 546-8267 or tsauro@recordnet.com.