Five Houses Completed in Four Weeks

The Villa Maria summer volunteer team are settling back into home life after 4 action-packed weeks at the project, where they completed the construction of 5 new homes for some of the poorest members of the community - fantastic work!

The third house built was a particular challenge for the team, as the muddy road to the site meant they had to carry the panels most of the way up the hill without the help of a truck.  Exhausting work!  But this was a particularly an important house to be completed, built for the family of a 3 year old with cerebral palsy, a condition only made worse by the damp, cold unsanitary condition of the house where they have been living.

 

Their hectic last week saw them construct 2 of these houses with the last one going up from scratch in just one day.  Brilliant work all round!

Not content with building on the weekdays, the team also put on family shows at the weekend, dressing up as Donald Duck, Barney, Minnie Mouse, the Incredible Hulk...  Volunteer Callum Russell also put his musical talents to good use, giving drumming lessons to some of the Villa Maria kids.  As a stroke of luck, a drum kit was donated by Chantel Owen just before Callum and his team mates headed out!  The drumming apparently went down a storm, although it may be questionable how happy the children's parents will be once their pans start to be comandeered for drums too...

Find out more about how and why our My New Home initiative first started.