- Duct tape
- Mosquito nets
- Water purification tablets
- Needles and syringes (on the guidance of the travel clinic - not something I needed for a hidden drug habit!)
- All-important sheet sleeping bag (those of you who have traveled with me for work, understand how important that is for me!)
Unfortunately it took several days for my bag to finally show up - which meant a quick trip to the local store to buy some more appropriate work footwear, given that the main activity for our build was going to be laying the foundation for a new house and a lot of mixing and pouring concrete.
Meeting the team in Bucharest
After a bit of an initial hiccup - I was glad to meet up with the habitat team in Bucharest - everyone was very friendly and ready to work hard for the families we were there to support. Our first night was spent in Bucharest in the Ambassador hotel - perfectly located for access to local amenities - casino, sex shop, hookers, ínternet cafe... very much like the hotels I stay in for work really ;) I didn´t get to test out the full range of facilities, but it was good to note that the hotel offered both 2 and 3 star accommodations along with a non-stop restaurant, massage and body building!
From our first team dinner that night through to the end of the trip, I thoroughly enjoyed the company of my team mates - a truly great bunch of people. I was very happy to be paired up with my room-mate Christine - we had a blast - and a lot of late night laughter!
The Habitat Experience
As much fun as I had with the team, it was important to remember the reason we were in Romania. On the second day we travelled to Craiova, our home for the majority of the trip. There, our objective was to help move forward the construction of two two-bed houses for a couple of extremely deserving families. Romania as a whole is a country in transition - something that is going to take a lot more time. Currently many people are living in buildings designed and constructed under the communist regime, that are now in desperate need of modernization and repair. As part of the visit we were able to see the current conditions the habitat partner families live in - which was extremely moving. The 2 families (each 2 adults and 2 children) live in cramped (one room) and run down conditions - one of the families shares a bathroom with 8 other families and a kitchen with 16 other families.
Our work onsite was focused on building the foundations for the new homes - plenty of manual labor and use of pretty rudimentary tools. The main aspects of the work included mixing, moving and pouring a lot of concrete along with constructing the iron rebar. At the end of the trip, the team felt we had accomplished a significant amount, leaving the families now ready to starting building the walls of their new homes.
A couple of funnies that will stick with me include:
- Cipy the 17 year old brother of one of the partner families deliberately injuring his fingers each day so that Christine would administer first aid and the all important 'Hello Kitty' band-aids
- Jerry accidentally injuring his finger and saying 'I don't want one of those pussy band-aids!'
- Christine donning a workers mask and spraying the inside of it with sweet-smelling sun-screen so that she could venture in to the onsite bathroom (otherwise known as a hole in the ground)
- The looks of amazement on most of the partner family-men's faces when the women on the team lifted bags of cement, shovelled sand and wheeled barrows full of concrete without assistance!
A couple of new phrases I learnt:
Squeeze me - Romanian for "excuse me"
Attention Attenion - Romanian for "you're about to stand on a nail"
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