|Day 1., Walking to the site. Look who's well prepared'

Romeo and Juliette

pADDY THE GREAT

We played football against the locals today and won. we did more building and visited a school which had a savage library there were loads of old books. building is coming on nicely although its really warm and i keep getting sun burnt. there is a deadly ouhouse because we need to go to the toilet lots because we have to drink lots of water. hello to everyone
PADDY THE GREAT

a great victory

Today the Saint Columba's All Stars took on Csurgo in a very competetive football match. Of course the All Stars from Ireland didn't let our country down and won 3/1. Though Paddy Owens and myself we secured a handsome victory. The dermination and teamwork was outstanding and it resembled how close the whole group is. We did a lot of work on the building site and on the football pitch so the whole group is pritty fatigued but on a whole i feel the future of construction is in very good hands.

james Crampton

Day 2 building.....

There are signs of blisters and I'm feeling muscles I didn't know I had, but my eye and hand co-ordination is improving and the nails are going in more quickly.
Miss Lawson and I have got some good team work going on and have built a few frames for doors and walls today! It is amazing how much is getting done and how satisfying it is to see the progress. I have great photos but managed to bring the wrong lead so hopefully I track down the right one pretty soon......
Miss B

Morning Building and then visiting school..

This morning we did some more work on the site which started at eight. we worked till 9.30 and the houses framework and walls are really starting to look good. we then stopped and went back to the hostel before walking down to the nearby high school. the school is mixed with about 300 people in it. it is a prebyterian school and people come from lots of neighbouring towns to go there as it is a very good school and has boarding houses. we we shown around the school and grounds and the library there is amazing with over 20,000 books and manuscripts some dating back to martin luther. some of the pupils also showed us around and took us around the grounds, were the boys all started to play very bad football and so the pupils at the school arranged a match tonight against us, i think they thought they will have an easy win.. come on the gwynn boys..( girls arent allowed play according to dave)
Emily

Head of English becomes Head of Poultry

on the way back from the site after 6 hours of hammering, we were dragging our sun burnt bodies and blistered hands back to the hostel, when mr fanagan stopped to admire some chickens..... he is now officially the head of poultry.
hal downer

The First Morning

The day started cool and grey, but by the time we broke for lunch, it was pretty hot. It was astonishing to see the wooden frames we were nailing going up and the rooms in the two houses taking shape. We were supervised by local man Peter and his new American assistant Chris, who arrived with us and is staying for six months. We're going back on site at two and finish at five.
I've found the first experience of this work quite interesting: it's quite fulfilling to hammer things together. Everyone is working happily.
JMF

READ THIS ONE....

WE WENT TO A CHURCH THANKS TO MR. FANAGAN, AND HAD A GOOD TIME, WE WILL WRITE MORE LATER WHEN WE ARE NOT BEING WATCHED BY UNWELCOME EYES.
SIGNED DAVE AND PADDY

Mr Fanagan shows us Buda

Before getting on the train to Csurgo Mr Fanagan showed us around Buda which is the one side of the river. The other side of the river is Pest Mr Fanagan said he'd show us the other Pest on our return.
Emily Plunket (Yes Emily, we can edit these so little people can't put the wrong name down!!!)

Day 2 in Hungary

We have just had our first meal in Csurgo and met our host and director of construction- Peter. Our work begins on site tomorrow morning at 8 am after an important safety brief and general introduction to the site that will set out aims for the coming days. SjL

The adventure begins: a post by the head of IT Hungary also head of English!

Greetings from Budapest where we arrived safely. We've just had dinner and are about to turn in. Tomorrow we'll do some sightseing before setting off for Csurgo late afternoon.
JMF
Everything has run smoothly and everybody has been great....apart from Mr Fanagan snoring on the plane.... he just called me a liar....he is now laughing.... even John has been great!!!!
PC head of nothing

The group depart Dublin Airport

As the group set off for the flight to Budapest, a final photo is taken of the group. The pupils are Celeste Guinness, Milano Izumimoto, Emily Plunket, Jane Quigley, Sarah Wilson, Paddy Owens, Ollie Smith, Allen Crampton, James Crampton, David Cooper, Johnnie Cooper, Mortiz Baring, Ross Gilmour, Hal Downer, Crispin Maenpaa and David Beresford.

Also travelling are four teachers, Mr. John Fanagan (Senior Master and Head of English - how will the school survive), Mr Paul Cron, Ms Sarah Jane Lawson and Ms. Jane Bustard (Our leader!!)

While the group are away, the Transition Year pupils are busy completing a day of Leadership Skills and tomorrow will begin the preparation for the Action Track Project.

A final good luck to all the group as they head off on the experience of a lifetime. Good luck and safe travelling!!!

Travelling Group are commissioned in Chapel

The Chaplain, Rev Heaney commissioned the 16 pupils and 4 teachers before they departed from Dublin Airport on the first leg of their trip to Budapest, before heading to Cursgo to begin building houses. The Chaplain congratulated the pupils for the excellent work in fundraising the €35,000 during the last year and for the entire school community for their support.He asked all those remaining at home to pray for the group as they undertake this excellent project.

What is Habitat for Humanity?

Habitat for Humanity is a non-denominational Christian Charity, which helps build houses for people who simply can't afford them.

Habitat works in partnership with families to build their own homes and other homes in their community. It is completely non-profit, with all funds used to build houses and create the structures in other countries to do the same.

Habitat for Humanity have built over 200,000 homes in more than 100 countries, including Ireland. Once built, Habitat supplies the family with an easy to pay loan. The family will help build their own house but also build other homes in their community.

Currently in Hungary 1,000,000 homes are overcrowded (1/4 of all homes), over 500,000 have no pumped water supply and over 900,000 do not have a flush toilet. St. Columba's College are delighted to be involved in this fantastic charity and we hope this will be the first of many such adventures.

Fundraising

Over the past year, the Transition Year pupils and the staff of St. Columba's College have been funraising heavily to raise the required €35000 for the trip.

Events included a golf classic, bag packing, busking, cookie sales, bake sales, no uniform days as well as some corporate sponsors (and much more).

Thanks to all who helped over the past number of months!!!

Hello There

Mr. Jones here. Welcome to the new Blog for the Habitat for Humanity Project. Everyone in the schools Transition Year Programme are all very excited about the trip to Hungary in a few weeks time and fundraising is still ongoing. This blog has been set up for the pupils and teachers that will be travelling to Hungary, hoping that they will post photos and a daily diary for the school comunity back home.

Anyway, bye for now and look out for further updates!