Last full day of building today and the drive to complete is amazing. The boys from Royal Blue team were on site since 6.30am. Instead of the usual 7.30am for the rest of us. The buzz is amazing now as we need to get the clean up of the houses completed and as the boys and girls try to finish some of the big jobs such as roofs. I was painting today- a nice dainty job on windowsills. Still it is these finishing touches that turn these bricks and mortar into homes. I have to remember we are building homes and not just houses. My slabbing team of Eric, Eileen, Joe and Anto are all hands on deck painting today with the same dedication and enthusiasm they have done everything all week. And the craic is still mighty, singing Boyzone and Westlife to beat the band. The whole Royal Blue Team have been an amazing crew to work with.  We went for an educational session this afternoon and one of the posters struck me  "New Home leads to..."
- Improved Health
- Enhanced education
- Safer Neighborhoods
- Dignity
- Improved Self esteem
- Employment
- These basic changes should lead to the empowerment of this community to start to take full responsibility for building more homes.

I’d like to see that happen. The educational talk was about a landmark court case that gave a constitutional right to temporary settlements to have access to water and electricity. Again it struck me, what a young democracy this is and how far they have to go for real equality and how far the wheels of institutions have to turn. Hopefully it will mean homes will be supplied faster, because what we are working on is just a small drop in a very big ocean!