Bermuda Overseas Missions (BOM) will send 20 volunteers to Cochamba, Bolivia, on July 23 to build houses as part of the Habitat for Humanity programme.

In their 14th overseas trip, BOM will join other volunteer groups from across the world to provide shelter for families in need.

They will work with a designated partner family to use honeycomb bricks to build what are described as “a simple, functional houses”.

Members of the Bermuda party will also get chance to experience Bolivian culture through cuisine and dancing and visit one of the largest markets in South America.

“This is an opportunity for the charity to take the youth overseas to less privileged parts of the world to see what real poverty looks like and to do something charitable,” said Mark Orchard of BOM. “We hope that they will come back and continue charity work.”

To support the trip, BOM have conducted fundraising activities including corporate denim days, selling rotis and marshalling a triathlon.

Their biggest fundraiser is their annual fish fry which will take place tomorrow at Christ Church, Warwick.

BOM president David Thompson thanked Validus, Catlin Bermuda, PartnerRe and CellOne for their support with the initiative.

The volunteers include students from Berkeley Institute, CedarBridge Academy and Warwick Academy, as well as youth representatives from the Sunshine League and Beyond Rugby. Eight adult volunteers will be made up mostly of people who have done similar trips with BOM before. BOM has in previous years gone to Zambia, India, Belize, and the Dominican Republic.