Three schools from Ireland, Scotland and Switzerland send 100 volunteers to Bihor to help in building Habitat houses!
45 Irish students, 15 Scots and 32 volunteers of various nationalities from a Swiss international school alongside Romanian volunteers are working to raise Habitat homes in 3 Bihor localities: in Beius, Oradea and Sântandrei. They are participating in the building of new homes, of which two will be inaugurated during this week, on Wednesday in Sântandrei with the volunteers from Ireland and on Saturday in Beius with the Scottish volunteers.
The first to arrive in Romania are the Irish and Scottish who started work at the end of last week, and then the volunteers from Switzerland arrived on Monday morning. The three schools from where the volunteers have come are: Wesley College – Ireland, Royal High School – Scotland and Zurich International School – Switzerland.
“This is the twelfth year that Wesley College from Dublin has had volunteers participate alongside Habitat for Humanity Beius. Our young people have always had an excellent experience in Romania and every time we have lots of students who want to participate in the projects that we have in partnership with Habitat, making it hard for our selection. I was saying last year that in Dublin we’re in a recession, but we strongly believe that our young people need to understand that there is no recession on generosity, of giving and of compassion, again proof that they understood is the large number of applicants again.” says Nigel Mackey, coordinator of the Irish team .
The experience that the youth have in Romania isn’t limited building homes, as they also participate in other activities. As such, they’ll enjoy a traditional Romanian evening with a show of dance and folk songs from Bihor, they’ll taste dishes specific to the area and they’ll visit places of interest such as Baile Felix , 1 Mai , Oradea, the Bear’s Caves and the ‘Rusty Canyon’.
“The beneficiaries of the homes where these wonderful youth are contributing, range from youth who grew up in adoptive families to people who have been evacuated from nationalised housing, to single mothers or in the case in Sântandrei or a family which is taking care of 14 children!” said Mircea Jurcan, executive director, Habitat for Humanity Beius.
The volunteers are working on nearly all the different stages of raising a house, from the preparation and pouring of concrete for foundations to the insulating or covering the roof with tiles.
More photos can be seen on our Facebook page:
Album with volunteers from Wesley Colege, Ireland:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10153710739337334.1073741903.61575062333
Album with volunteers from Royal High School, Scotland:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.101537129208273341073741904.61575062333
Album with volunteers from Zurich International School, Switzerland:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10153718876482334.1073741905.61575062333
