THE FULLER CENTER FOR HOUSING - ROMANIA

May 2024

This was my first Fuller Center for Housing build and I volunteered for it because Habitat for Humanity Global Village had not yet resumed operations following the COVID shutdown.

The Fuller Center is a USA based non-profit organization  that seeks to eradicate poverty housing by promoting partnerships with individuals and community groups to build and rehabilitate homes for people in need. Since launching in 2005, The Fuller Center has covenant partners throughout the USA and in 20 other countries. All homeowners work hand-in-hand with volunteers to build their own homes, which are then sold to them on terms they can afford. For more information visit - The Fuller Center

This Fuller Center Romania Build team was originally started by Tammy Carter who was the Team Leader for six Habitat for Humanity Global Village builds that I have been on (She and her husband Brian have lead many Habitat GV Builds). Several other team members also signed up because of past Habitat GV adventures with Tammy. Unfortunately she had to drop out of the team because of family issues.

Nancy Slocum, who had lead a previous Fuller build stepped up as leader and looked after the final organizing, logistics and in country build activities. The final team consisted on 18 members – 11 from USA, 6 from Canada and 1 from Sweden.  See photos of the Team at work.

A quote from the Fuller guidebook on Romania

“Romania, a European Union member country, is a country torn between Western‑style upscale neighborhoods in its most developed cities and Soviet-era poverty housing in the rest of the country, including most of its rural areas. In fact, there is even a saying that there are “two Romanias”: one in which people go to shopping malls and enjoy broadband internet access, and one in which people live in unsound homes, or even without a flushable toilet.”

The Fuller Center for Housing of Cluj Romania (link), partnering with a Romanian charity, The PRIMA DATĂ ACASĂ  Association (ACASA), builds in Jucu de Sus, a village not far from Cluj-Napoca, on land leased by the Jucu Local Council. Photos of Jucu de Sus The site is called Britta Sofia and currently has 20 completed and occupied homes and 4 homes under construction. Habitat for Humanity Global Village was involved with this project but shut down their operations in Romania during the COVID pandemic. The Fuller Center became involved in 2022.

During the build we stayed in the city of Cluj-Napoca (with a metro population of a little more than 400,000). It is considered the unofficial “capital” of the historic region of Transylvania. Housing in Cluj is the most expensive anywhere in Romania which is why Fuller Center has chosen to operate in the region to serve the most vulnerable people who cannot afford bank loans for buying on the for‑profit real estate market. It is creating communities by engaging partner-families and volunteers in the building work.

The team did a number of different tasks including spreading gravel around the new workshop, building up the areas adjacent to two of the duplexes, removing dirt and clay to level an area behind the two duplexes, parging the exterior of the new workshop, building a jig for making roof trusses and generally cleaning up the worksite.

Photos of Day 1 at the Britta Sofia site show how things were on our arrival and the existing homes that are occupied.

Photos of Days 2, 3 and 4 show the different tasks we did and the progress made at the site during those days.

Photos of Day 5 show how things were when we had finished the weeks work.

In addition to the work at Britta Sofia, the Fuller Center staff arranged a number of tours for the team including a tour of the Turda Salt Mines, the historic downtown area of Cluj, a museum called the House of Religious Freedom and the Romulus Vuia Ethnographic Park. Photos of the Park

Salina Turda is a salt mine which was established sometime around the 11th–13th centuries and commercial mining activity ended in 1932. It reopened as a major tourist destination in 2010 and has a museum, displays of mining equipment and an amusement park and more. Photos of Salt Mine

On my first day in Cluj-Napoca I took a walk around some of the old town and a few days later the Team did a tour with a guide before finding a restaurant for dinner. Modern day Cluj-Napoca is home to several Universities, several museums, many good restaurants and landmarks and buildings dating from the Saxon and Hungarian rule. Photos of Cluj

Romulus Vuia Ethnographic Park displays traditional village homes, churches and workshops. The buildings are original and have been moved to the park from various parts of Romania.

Following the build 14 members of the team went on a five day walking tour in central Transylvania. To view the tour and the many places we visited check out Romania Hiking.