Day Five: The Bigger Picture

Our house progressed today as we returned to the construction site to add the second half of the roof, a layer of white stucco and several rooms full of yellow insulation and drywall. After four days of work already, we are enjoying working in teams and learning new skills, taking instructions from our Romanian bosses and getting to know one another better. By the time we left in the afternoon, the house looked nearly complete on the outside, with even the gutters, windows and doors in place. Tomorrow, we'll return for half a day of work to finish most of the house before the dedication in the afternoon. What a marvelous way to celebrate Good Friday!

Working on the second half of the roof, the assembly line snakes up to Mr. Jay and Angela on the roof.

Fuat and Herr Kieffer, master house builders, send greetings to their children back home!

Daniel and Mr. Jay pose with their favorite roof tiles.

Cynthia helps to finish the roof!

BFA and AMS leave our names under the rooftop.

Work boots, Day Four. 

Michael, Christine and Fuat make sure the house is warm and dry, cutting plastic for the internal insulation.

Andrej is the king of the staple gun!

Cynthia, Adrian and Herr Kieffer work on Adrian's new house!

Miss D spreads plaster with delight, happy to be on the shady side of the house.

Towards the end of the day, the house gets a fresh white coat of stucco. 

Stucco doesn't come off of tools easily, as Camille, Fabienne and Laura H. quickly learn.

We were also given the privilege tonight to return to the Caminul Felix "village" tonight to learn more about this organization, which has been partnering with Habitat For Humanity to provide homes for young people and families who have grown up as orphans in Romania.  We had a barbecue with several of the children and families from the organization, then enjoyed a performance by the Caminul Felix choir, with children of all ages, from six or seven all the way through teenagers. 

The Caminul Felix bus, which takes the children to and from school each day.

Sunflower Design, a handicraft workshop where many of the young people work, including Marianna, who will live in one of the houses.

Part of the team, all clean and ready for a barbecue supper at Caminul Felix.

Michael, Joseph and Thomas discover that ukeleles (kid-sized guitars!) make them popular with kids.

Caminul Felix choir

Caminul Felix (which means "a happy home"), founded in 1992, has worked to provide homes for orphans and abandoned children in Romania. At Caminul Felix in Oradea, the children live in several large family houses, with up to fourteen children in each, cared for by two foster parents. We had the opportunity to visit one of the houses and hear from one of the fathers, and were struck by the joy and sense of peace in their home, which has nurtured so many children into adulthood. One of the young adults for whom we are building an apartment, Vali, has grown up in this house, and it was a blessing to see this family where she has been loved and taught, and hear from them their excitement for her first home "on her own."

All in all, we left the evening inspired and blessed, amazed to see the beauty and love that Caminul Felix and Habitat for Humanity are bringing about in this community.