Volunteer Build - Break Free Expeditions

17/06/2026

Exciting things happening on the build site in Vanuatu. The footings have been completed and the floor will be going down soon ready for our team who arrive in 2.5 weeks time! Little video of the first footings pour 😃.

15/06/2026

Woo hoo - 3 weeks today our team will be in Vanuatu to start the build of another double classroom! We've still got a few thousand left to raise to cover the $50,000 building cost. CAN YOU HELP by sponsoring a block or 10 or 100? Donations $5 and over get a NZ tax receipt which allows up to 33% rebate on your tax. Our 5 current classrooms are helping to keep kids in both primary and now secondary school, which dramatically improves their chances of better jobs and futures. Can you help us build better lives together by sponsoring a block? Thanks in advance for your support!

Help us build a double school classroom for local kids in Vanuatu by sponsoring a concrete block. 2,000 blocks at $5 each.

08/06/2026

08/06/2026

It's taken 3 years to get to this point converting this old farm workshop into 6 apartments for families in housing need. They are hoping to move in before the end of this year 🙏.

08/06/2026

And that's a wrap for 2026 Volunteer Build Portugal! Another amazing team!! Plastering, waterproofing, drywall, drilling thru 300 year old stones..cleaning stones and starting paving, to prep work for another kitchen, final paint coats. An amazing job helping to build for refugees. Way to go team!

04/06/2026

Drilling a hole through 300 year old stone for kitchen extraction (go Sandy); drywall, plastering, grinding, smashing old pipes and rocks for disposal with a sledgehammer, clearing the courtyard and spreading with sand, starting to lay the 300 year old stones we cleaned mon, tues plus a top coat of paint in one of the living rooms. Another day in Portugal. Go team 👏. Plus highlight of the day meeting one of the families we are building for. They are refugees from Syria who shared some of their story with us. Such a lovely 😍 family!! They were very excited to see the courtyard take shape!

03/06/2026

This is how you clean up 300 year old stones on Portugal to be repurposed into courtyard stones. Chip and grind off all old mortar and polish with a wire brush! Each stone weighs 15kg to 40 kg.

02/06/2026

Day 2 Portugal Build converting old farmhousr into 6 apartments. All the 300 year old blocks cleaned and old mortar removed with kanga drills, brick bolster, chisels, mallets and lots of muscle! Each weighed between 15 and 40kg each so karen and I did lots of deadlifts and squats!! 2nd bathroom grouted, 3rd bathroom prep for tiles, more drywall. Some pool time at the guesthouse before dinner was delivered. We are definitely not going to starve here 😆

02/06/2026

Day 1 done in Portugal. Grouting a bathroom, getting another bathroom plastered ready for water proofing, dry wall and kanga drilling 300 year cement off rocks to repurchase into paving a courtyard hopefully later this week. Then a 2 hour walking tour through Braga...home of 30 churches some 900 years old.

01/06/2026

Volunteer Build 2026 Portugal about to begin!!