The story below was written by Helena Galloway about her time in Tanzania with one of our home-building teams.

In all honesty, my trip to Tanzania in September 2015 was one of the best experiences I've ever had. It's all about the people: the amazing friends I made from SSE, The Vine Trust, the Tanzanian volunteers and the wonderful families we were building new homes for. Anyone who has ever been to Tanzania will tell you about how incredible the people there are - constantly smiling, infectiously positive and always ready to welcome you with open arms and have a good old sing song!

The Vine Trust motto 'Connecting People to Change Lives' is the perfect slogan to describe the work being done in Tanzania. A large proportion of our time in Tanzania was spent on the three work sites building homes and building relationships. Aside from all of the digging, pick axing, throwing and other hard graft, there was plenty of opportunity to spend time with the many people on site to play games and generally have a great laugh.

The fun doesn't stop off site either. Our time in Tanzania was packed with great activities! An UNBELIEVABLE safari trip, an unexpected Masai wedding, karaoke night, Tanzanian dancing, trips to local schools and orphanages with the most adorable kids - the list could go on.

I have nothing but happy memories of my time in Tanzania, and the crazy thing is... although the families getting new homes will benefit from security, stability and a much better standard of living, I genuinely feel like I have gained an unbelievable amount from this whole experience too. Something which money just can't buy, and for that I am truly thankful.