Non-profit organization Habitat for Humanity Romania celebrates the World Habitat Day with its biggest project this year, called Big Build. Within this event, some 200 volunteers from the US, North Ireland, Slovakia, and Romania will build eight houses in five days in Bacau, eastern Romania. Several local companies have joined this event as sponsors.

“We came up with Big Build, an impressive event of accelerated construction and volunteering, to draw attention to the over 5 million Romanians living in decaying, cold, and overcrowded houses,” said Mario DeMezzo, national director Habitat for Humanity Romania.

The eight houses are located in Izvoarele neighborhood in Bacau. Every house has two bedrooms, a kitchen, a living, and a bathroom. Those who want to live in one of these houses have to be in need of decent housing, they have to work a certain number of hours on the house and pay monthly installments to Habitat for Humanity over a period of 20 years. The organization doesn't charge interest and doesn't make a profit, but uses the money to finance other such projects.

World Habitat Day was established in 1985 by the United Nations General Assembly and was first celebrated in 1986. There is no fixed date for it, as it takes place each year in the first Monday of October.

Habitat for Humanity has also been working on 15 houses for families with low incomes in Jucu village, near Cluj-Napoca. In late-September, 33 employees from the top and middle management of Knauf Gips and Knauf Insulation in Romania, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Greece, and Bulgaria were volunteers for a day on the site in Jucu.

Mario DeMezzo splits time between building – and raising money for – social houses and the radio.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com

(Photo by Vlad Ilas)