Twelve students and graduates of the University of Dundee's School of Architecture have just completed their first building project - on a construction site thousands of miles away.
The team, made up of two students and 10 newly qualified architects, spent three months in a remote region of western Kenya, helping the poverty-stricken population build family homes from corrugated iron and fired-clay bricks.
While the team overcame the culture shock of sleeping on rough concrete floors and dining on simple meals of the locally-produced Ugali (maize) their presence helped to dispel many local myths.
Team leader Fiona Mullen said, "The children had never seen a "mzungo", or white man, before, while fellow volunteer Jenny and I were of particularly amusement to the locals - women working on site is unheard of in the west of Kenya, unlike the Masaai tribe in the south where women build all dwellings while the men herd the cows and goats.
"The local chief, Andrew Nyaberi, who introduced the housing project to the region had to work hard to dispel the myth that the houses would be possessed by the devil, in a region where witches and devil worship are feared.
"But learning a little of the local dialect broke the ice and we had soon made many friends. In Kenyan culture you must acknowledge greeting someone by shaking their hands, which meant it took a long time to reach site every day, greeting people along the way who had come to watch the white people sweat."
The team were chosen by the charity Habitat for Humanity International for the architecture skills they could bring to the project. They were assisted by local homeowners who, as part payment for their new home, are required to contribute labour or "sweat equity" to building their house and the houses of others.
Nine months of fundraising leading up to the project saw them raise £20,000 which means six families who previously lived in sub-standard conditions without water or sanitation now have new homes.
For more information on the project, please contact Fiona Mullen on 078160 73632, or the Press & Publications Office.
By Jane Smernicki, Press Officer 01382 344768 j.m.smernicki@dundee.ac.uk