A young Bermudian who raised $5,000 to help build homes for people devastated by an earthquake, has returned home from a life changing experience in Haiti.Gabrielle Boyer, 22, helped build 100 homes in just one week for former US President Jimmy Carter’s Work Project with a team of 700 volunteers .Her fundraising efforts took six months to complete and the money she raised covered the cost of building two of the 100 homes built. For Ms Boyer it was a second trip to Haiti after she volunteered shortly after the earthquake on January 12, 2010.After her first visit she decided to go again this year and organised plans with Habitat for Humanity when she was directed to President Carter’s volunteer project to house 1,500 families.“President Carter has volunteered with Haiti for 29 years and they’ve done a special project once a year. For the last two years they’ve been going to a community called Santo in Leogane, Haiti which is about 30 miles outside Port-au-Prince, said Ms Boyer.“A year ago they built 155 houses with Habitat for Humanity and this year we built 100 homes in the space of one week.“I grew up hearing stories from my dad, Roy Boyer, about how wonderful Haiti was, he spent a lot of time there in the 1970s. When the earthquake struck our whole family was devastated by it and I decided to volunteer.“After my first trip I just fell in love with Haiti and I’ll never stop going back ever. My dad told me how little children would make little cars out of cardboard boxes, children no different from the children in our society who were just as happy if not more.“I always wanted to help people in other countries struggling and decided when I was 20 years old it was time to just go.”When asked how this second trip has changed her and her sense of social consciousness she replied: “It has changed me in ways that I can’t even express.“Every thought that I have is about Haiti, I work so that I can afford to go back to Haiti, I can afford to support people in Haiti. I sponsor two children through World Vision and I do their 30-hour famine twice a year, every year for Haiti.“Everything that I do I’m always questioning myself how can I help more, although it’s never enough,” she said.World Vision’s 30-hour famine programme calls on participants to abstain from eating food for 30 hours to raise money for starving children.“I’ve done it a few times and raised $500 or more each time, but for my second trip to Haiti I raised $5,000 through my family and friends.”Astonished by the support she also expressed gratitude for the help she has received from her church family at Holy Trinity Church in Bailey’s Bay.“My church family was absolutely amazing, they donated quite a bit of the money I raised, and my own family and friends really helped out a lot.When asked what it was like to work alongside a former US President she replied: “It was daunting.“For months I had it in my head what I was going to say, how I was going to introduce myself and when he was standing right in front of me I was just absolutely speechless.“His presence just commands so much respect, you’re just kind of in awe, but he is so gracious, so humble and he truly does believe that everybody is equal,” said Ms Boyer.“Even though he’s so privileged, he was eating in the cafeteria with us daily and he ate what we ate.“So many people have volunteered for his programme, some have done it for the full 29 years. There was a man there in his 70s and President Carter himself is 88-years-old.”And she is already planning another trip to Haiti next year. “I’m not sure with which organisation, but I’ll find one — I’ll figure it out,” she said.While noting that she also volunteers for local charities to help people in Bermuda she said Haiti is her leading cause. And as a young Christian living in today’s world she admits life has its challenges.“Being 22 is empowering and I love it. This is the time when I can go to a third world country and spend my time helping because I’m free and ready to go at a moment’s notice.“But I say to everyone else who is my age who wants to do things like this I say don’t wait for a time, just do it whenever you can.“Living a Christian life in today’s times is a challenge even more so when trying to stay true to who you are in this society. So much is dictated to us about who we are, who we should be friends with, how we should carry ourselves, what we should be interested in,” said Ms Boyer.“What keeps me grounded is my church, my family and Haiti, because in Haiti you don’t have texting, you don’t have anything like that so you have to go to the bare essentials,” said Ms Boyer.“My main message is to keep God first. One woman who we built a house for said our work inspired her to help others in her community. For me that’s what its really all about.“Habitat for Humanity is not so much about building houses, its about building hope and its about building love.“I’m hoping that it goes forward with more people in the world passing it on.”