Guatemala House Building Volunteers

On your first day you will have a full briefing from staff in Antigua, here you will have a brief overview of the project aims and objectives and a chance to meet the group you will be working alongside. You will also meet the master builders who be there to oversee the build, a brilliant team with a great sense of humour!

Each day we meet in the morning at the base in Antigua before piling into a truck and and driving to the village where you’re building, up to 40 minutes outside of Antigua town. The first day is spent digging and laying the foundations of the house in preparation for the building. The following 3 days you will be building the house block by block. Each house are made of concrete blocks, with cement floor, corrugated metal roof, with skylight, a metal door with lock, and a metal-framed window with glass. Once the house is built the next day is spent decorating. The family choose the colour of the house and each house is furnished with a bunkbed. At the end of the final day you will gather around and present the keys to the new family, a truely unforgettable experience!

Your working day finishes late afternoon, typically around 4pm or 5pm and the evenings are yours to explore Antigua’s night life. Weekends are also free to explore the surrounding area. Throughout your stay on the project you will live with a friendly local Guatemalan family not far from the centre of Antigua and close to the project base.
 

Volunteering in Guatemala and changing lives house by house – this trip gives you a superb opportunity to give some of the world's poorest families direct help. You’ll be building – or rebuilding – houses, making them strong, safe and affordable. Each house takes around five days from start to finish and that means you’ll see lots of projects through from start to finish. Don’t underestimate the power of the moment when you see a family take the keys of their new home.

Much of the housing in the area is extremely poor quality – often nothing more than cardboard or sugar cane walls with dirt floors. Simple equation – poor quality housing = health problems, family tension, lack of hope. Volunteering gives you the chance to help solve all these problems.

If you have any experience with building trades – great. But don’t worry if you haven’t – you’ll be working alongside people who know and you’ll be surprised how quickly you pick up the essentials.