Today on our Habitat for Humanity house build we started rendering the cement on the bamboo frames that we have been busily preparing over the previous days. The team allocated work quickly and got stuck into sifting the sand, mixing up the render, pinting the slurring(bonding agent) on the bamboo and then slapping on the render on the walls. We were quite pleased with our progress by lunch when we then went to the SOS Children village to learn from the local Community Development leaders Geeta, Babhita and Tara.

They told us about family selection for houses, education for water, sanitisation and health. They are all very passionate about what they do and they are the bridge between Habitat for Humanity and the local people. They are employed by SOS Children’s foundation in Nepal. They select families who are in desperate need of a house where especially the women and children will benefit from the hand up.

They talked about the major problems being health issues related to good access to water and sanitation. There are extraordinary figures attributed to deaths related to poor sanitation. Through our fundraising they have been able to install tube wells and toilet systems and along with this education on washing, cleaning, brushing teeth and using clean water. This absolutely life-saving activities that are going on.

After this we went to visit our 2011 Home partners. It was fantastic to see how Tara has thrived since we left. She has decorated her house and has extended it with corrugated iron out the back for a kitchen and storage. She was so proud to show us what she has done and what her children have achieved. Her eldest daughter is finishing school this year and wants to go on to become a nurse. Her dreams are still the same, to have a good house for her children to thrive and be educated. All her family looked so healthy and confident, it was great to see. Tara said that she had dreams that she would see us again and had worked extra hard so that she could have the day off and have the house all neat and tidy. She was proud to show us the photos from the first build, the photo of her deceased husband, her shrine to the Hindu gods and all her photos and belongings. A very House proud woman. The garden is looking terrific, with decorative flowers out the front and tomatoes growing out the back. Housing is going up around Tara’s house, it is great to see the prosperity in her neighbourhood. It was truly worth the visit just to see the change and impact a safe and decent house has had on Tara and her family.

I asked Anitha, the architect and urban development chief from habitat for Humanity, how many more we need. She said 73,000 houses per year need to be built. So it seems I might be back. J