Walking back to the house after a water break, a worker on the roof called down to him. "Hey, Orie," the young worker yelled. "Do you mind if I call you Oreo?"
"What do you think?" Orie Lehman yelled back with a smile.
He is too respected among the other workers on the future home of LaKeisa Hawkins for a nickname. His house leader said he’s one of the hardest workers, and others look to him for leadership.
He and his brother Ernest Lehman are Amish, but they are just two mingled amongst the close to 2,800 volunteers at Habitat for Humanity’s Jimmy Carter Work Project in Anniston.
"Our background is helping each other," Orie Lehman said of his faith. Since Amish separate themselves from the outside world, the community is called upon in times of trouble. When a house has to be rebuilt, the Amish do it in about a week.
They worked for a local Habitat affiliate in Indiana, and they wanted to work on a JCWP. Orie Lehman said his reasons for taking the bus to Alabama came down out of a desire to help others, a personal satisfaction.
"There’s more to life than just making money," he said.
The Lehman brothers are general contractors in LaGrange and Noble counties in Indiana. They build homes, and most of their work is outside the Amish community, where they build all the modern excesses. Inside the community, houses are built without electricity and phone lines.
Amish or not, they use electric tools, however.
But their scaled-back lifestyle has helped them become good carpenters. "There’s not anything he hasn’t been able to do and do well," said Darlene Raughton, leader on the house Orie Lehman is building.
Raughton said he’s kind, teaching other workers while being a servant. "He’s much more of a lead person of the team," she said.
Ernest Lehman works on the future home of Kenny and Lolita Patton.
"He’s an asset to anyone’s crew," said Richard Tatum of Mentone, house leader.
Though they look different, both say they are not.
"We are very much common people," Orie Lehman said. "It’s basically the Christian faith, we just happen to be living the Amish lifestyle."
