Despite popular belief, Transylvania is not a town or city, but one of several regions, occupying the northern center of Romania. Practically everyone’s heard of it from Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula in which Jonathan Harker stays at the castle of a Transylvanian nobleman, Count Dracula. Subsequently he discovers the Count a vampire. You already … Continue reading
This was the moment I’d been preparing for—meeting 11 volunteers in Cluj-Napoca to kick off our week of building with Fuller Center in Jucu de Sus, a bucolic village about 35 kilometers outside of Cluj. First, The Best Part Let me begin by saying, for me, and I believe for many volunteers, the best part … Continue reading
For those of us who love to travel the world helping families in need of decent homes, OH HOW WE HAVE MISSED IT! The pandemic has been hard on us all, but perhaps no one has felt its detrimental effects more acutely than the world’s hard-working poor. Thanks to the reopening of The Fuller Center … Continue reading
It had been 18 long months since I built houses overseas, and nearly as long since I had left the United States. WAY too long for me. I had been leading volunteer teams abroad to partner with families in need of decent shelter with Habitat for Humanity—two or three times a year! You can imagine … Continue reading
Lima is known for many things, perhaps best as the gastronomic capital city of South America. Given some advance warning, you can try to get reservations at some of the hottest foodie destinations anywhere. I flew into Lima just one day in advance of meeting my Global Builders team, 15 volunteers who would be building houses with me and The Fuller Center for Housing. Without a lot of time to get to know this enchanting seaside city, I could only check a few items off my list. Guess that means I’ll have to come again! Here are a few highlights that I highly recommend and the ones I would have done if I’d had more time. Continue reading
As I was, you may be wondering where in the world is Puerto Escondido? It’s a small surf town on the Pacific coast of the state of Oaxaca in southern Mexico. You’ve probably heard of Puerto Vallarta—keep heading southeast along the coast. Eventually you’ll hit another city you’ve probably heard of—Acapulco. Keep going and just … Continue reading
Day five. It’s Friday. Hard to believe our last day of work has arrived and the build is coming to a close. We, the team, are our own family now and grateful to have spent this week getting to know our partner family, Habitat staff in Puerto Escondido and a few members of the community. … Continue reading
Usually by the time Global Village teams get to day four, we are all feeling the effects of doing jobs that we are unaccustomed to. After the shorter workday on Wednesday and a break for some fun, Thursday tends to be the longest and often most difficult day of work. That should have been the … Continue reading
Day three often signals a midweek break, in that we usually end the work day a bit early to participate in a cultural activity, usually relating to the community. In our case we broke for lunch and Arlet and Hilda, another future homeowner in the group, showed us how to make tlayudas, which are basically … Continue reading
Day two and the same jobs continue: moving and laying bricks, sifting sand and mixing mortar and our newest task, cutting and bending rebar. The house will have a bathroom, kitchen, two bedrooms and a dining and living area inside, and a small front porch on the outside. In total about 50 square meters or … Continue reading
Global Staci 