The last couple of days of house building fly in. We’ve established great relationships with the locals and feel less out of place as “whities” in the middle of a dumpsite, it’s become a bizarrely friendly place to us, not all of the locals turn and point when we walk by, only some point and shout “Hello Joe”.

We have built 5 houses in the space of the two weeks with help from many of the local youths, church people and carpenters. Most of us have never built a house before, but there we have it, 5 new houses.

It’s an emotional day as we hand over the houses to the new families; it’s a proud moment for us. It’s not a lot, its 8ftx8ft squared, but they all love them and that makes me feel great. We take the time to go round each family and pray for them and officially hand over the house to them…no keys required. They are so grateful, it’s wonderful to see all their happy faces.

I would almost like to challenge myself and spend a night in one of the houses we’ve built. I think we should do that next time…


Saying goodbye to the children is especially hard, leaving them here. I hope we can come back and see them again. We’ve all had a life changing experience in the Philippines. We have met new friends, strengthened existing relationships and created unforgettable memories. We have laughed… a lot and cried… a lot. I can’t recommend doing something like this enough :o)