Fedor van Kuyk returns to build homes, this time in South Africa

Fedor van Kuyk, 57, is due to leave Nuenen on 21 November with 14 volunteers to help build homes in South Africa, following a construction trip to Guatemala that he says left him deeply moved. The team hopes to contribute to at least six houses in Mulima, in the country’s north.

Van Kuyk travelled to Guatemala in March 2025 with Bouwteam Nuenen. Alongside students from the Latin American organisation TECHO, the group helped build six simple wooden homes. He recalls being struck by how families with little to spare shared what they had.

“Those people have nothing, and they share everything,” he said. He described the experience as a reset that made him look differently at his own life. At a group reflection after the building work, he struggled to speak when asked what had affected him most.

In Mulima, the volunteers are due to help local tradespeople build stone houses for families, some of whom live in vulnerable homes made from corrugated metal. HomePlan works with local partners who, according to Van Kuyk, identify families in need. The bricks are made locally, a project detail he says also supports employment in the area.

The volunteers pay their own travel and accommodation costs. The team raises building funds through donations, selling handmade bird boxes and charity events. Van Kuyk says he values meeting families and local builders as well as contributing to construction. He has promised to show donors photographs of how the money was used after the group returns.