Day 1: Our first visit to the site

It was a very early start this morning for everyone on the team. We all met at 6am in the check in area at Luton airport ready for an 8:30 flight to Cluj Napoca. The team consists of 10 volunteer builders including 11 year old Archie who, in addition to raising the sponsorship required to fund his own trip, raised enough money to buy all of the materials required. Two other members of the team will be assisting the local church by visiting children in some of the poorest families in the area.

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After lowest price generic viagra the three hour flight we were met by Jacob who is the local church minister. He selects a family who are in desperate need of a new house and organises the build from the Romanian end. We drove in the heavy rain for two hours to a village called Bistrița where we are staying. The Hotel Don is basic but much more comfortable than I was expecting! We stayed long enough to have a quick omelette as a very late lunch before heading out to the village.

After another half an hour driving we turned down a very muddy track, and there was no doubt about which house we would be rebuilding. It is a miracle that the old house is still standing, with many of the walls badly cracked and warped under the weight of the roof which it turn has started to sink in places. Despite the lack of sufficient shelter or warmth, there is a very real chance that it will collapse during the winter. The site of the new house, which will have two bedrooms and a small kitchen, is just behind the old one. Other than the concrete foundations that have been laid in advance by local builders, we had been left a large pile of bricks and a lot of work to do! Even though it was 6pm and raining we got started straightaway by cutting down a tree that was overhanging the new site and moving the new materials away from the foundations.

Back at the hotel we discussed the build in more detail over dinner and then got an early night ready for another early start tomorrow.