Recently, one of our members of staff, Catherine, took a trip to Brazil to volunteer with a building project there. Here’s what she had to say about it…
“The project was to support a local project in the city of Curitiba in the south of Brazil. It was a small building project set up by local people to build 8 houses, as a stepping stone to help people out of poverty from the slums and into their own homes. We were just at the beginning of the project setting up the perimeter wall and preparing the site. The project is all funded by charity donations and volunteer support.
There are photos of the team I went with, people from all parts of the UK and Samuel from Brazil who started the project. Evidence of me working on the building site! It was very muddy due to the tropical rain fall.
The ‘wheel barrow girls’ – part of our job was to wheel barrows of cement to put in the foundations of the site wall. The land has to be protected and only perimeter walls and barbed wire keeps people out!
The team also visits people in their homes. A lot of people live in very poor houses often wooden shacks with poor sanitation. Some people collect rubbish to sell on for recycling.
We also took supplies of clothing, toys, toiletries and first aid.
Did I mention ice cream? Mmm the ice cream parlours were very good – a bit like a big pick and mix store!”
