Epic house building in Chile

December 19th 2008

Three employees from e-learning company Epic have recently returned from a trip to Chile where they helped build new houses for impoverished families. James Rose, Drew Bristow and Kath Fleet were lucky enough to be the first names drawn out of the hat from a total of 80 staff who had asked to go. The team built 2 houses, one for a single mother and another for a family with 5 children in the Casablanca Valley, an area rich in beauty but with extremely poor living conditions.

The trip was arranged by Habitat for Humanity, an organisation dedicated to tackling poverty on a global scale. Epic funded the travel costs whilst the individuals undertook their own fundraising activities to help buy locally sourced building materials.

The trip has clearly left a strong impression. James comments, "Working with so many people on site meant that tasks which might take a DIY enthusiast a weekend usually got done in a few hours. We worked on something new everyday, from paneling walls, insulation, painting, to simply fitting a window."

Drew enjoyed the hard work - "It was back-breaking but great fun. Everyone pitched in and got on with it - even in 32 degrees! There was no automated way of doing anything - everything was manual labour. Even the cement mixer had to be turned by hand!"

"Looking back it's impossible to single out a highlight, but seeing the tears in Roxanne's eyes when she received the keys to the house was truly moving. The whole thing was an utter privilege", says Kath.

Jonathan Satchell, Epic's CEO, comments "Epic is immensely proud to be involved with such an important cause and one which makes a huge difference to the lives of so many people living in appalling conditions. We intend to work with Habitat for Humanity on a regular basis and are already planning the next trip".

To see a YouTube video of the trip click here.