"I was amazed when I saw 'Just a Change' tackle a very big problem in Portugal." Rundown homes and their occupants are being given much needed tender loving care by the volunteer group which aims to actively involve beneficiaries with repairs and renovations.
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00:00 We have more than 400,000 people living in bad conditions in Portugal.
00:06 The conditions they have are zero to none.
00:10 I was amazed when I saw just a change.
00:14 "Taco de Problemas" people live in bad conditions
00:17 and this was the only organization in Portugal trying to help.
00:20 Painting, it's one of my favorite things in this volunteering
00:24 because you can see the change more and it's becoming more real.
00:29 I feel accomplished because you can really see the change in this family's lives.
00:35 I love the emotions impacting the life of a person.
00:40 You meet them in the start, you know their lives and you see where they live.
00:45 This person had bad conditions and now he can live with dignity
00:49 because in Just a Change we believe that the house is the first place to impact.
00:54 "Taco de Problemas"
01:00 I'm head of operations at Just a Change.
01:10 We are a non-profit organization that focuses on rebuilding people's homes
01:15 and through that we aim to rebuild people's lives.
01:18 It started with two friends going downtown Lisbon while they were in first year in university
01:22 and playing guitar and singing and gathering some money.
01:26 And at the end of the day they thought, "What are you going to do with this money?"
01:29 They were going down the street and they saw some homeless people
01:33 and they decided to gather them and have dinner with them.
01:37 They started doing this every month.
01:39 At some point they realized that we are not fixing structural issues.
01:44 Tomorrow they will be hungry again.
01:46 So they decided to make a step back, think about this problem
01:49 and they came to House Poverty.
01:52 The first houses that we made, we jokingly said that they were probably worse than before
02:00 because we had no experience, we just put our hands to it.
02:04 We started getting some experience, some more volunteers, some more financing
02:07 and with financing we could hire professional guys that would work with us and teach us.
02:12 So that's how it started.
02:15 So a few days after turning professional and 13 years after its foundation
02:19 we are now 19 people working full time in Just2Change
02:22 and we mobilized thousands of volunteers throughout the country.
02:27 I'm 24 years old, I'm still a college student.
02:42 I wanted to do volunteer work. Physically this is very exhaustive.
02:46 I enjoy the process.
02:48 In the first days it's about demolition, demolition the parts that we are going to rebuild.
02:53 Then build bricks, do the structure of a house, applying the tiles.
02:58 I enjoy seeing the house in the beginning that is completely in bad shape.
03:08 In the end everything is rebuilt.
03:12 I was born in this house. I've lived here my whole life.
03:27 My father, my mother, my grandmother and the last one is me.
03:37 I'm the daughter of Mr. António, who is one of the beneficiaries of this wonderful action.
03:42 His room was very humid, water ran through the walls.
03:47 It was horrible.
03:50 My father, to take a shower, had to heat water in a pot,
03:58 take it home, bathe, mix it and take a shower.
04:01 The roof was almost falling, the ceilings were here.
04:05 We need at least water pipes, a bathroom, a kitchen and a room as it should be.
04:12 I spoke to the president of the Ponte Rola board.
04:16 If he could help in terms of fixing the roof or improving a little more,
04:22 because I can't do it alone.
04:24 Now everything is improving.
04:27 The Ponte Rola board is a non-profit organization that supports the people in need.
04:31 These people who are helping are wonderful people.
04:39 They are always smiling, always wanting to help.
04:43 They are loved ones.
04:45 They are very dedicated people, hard workers and ready to help.
04:56 It's been a tiring day.
04:58 I like the work, the people themselves are wonderful.
05:09 It's a work of humanity.
05:13 I think anyone can do this, you just have to be willing to do it.
05:19 Everyone should try it at least once.
05:23 You can be any age, it doesn't matter, you can be any profession.
05:28 I think the sense you get in the end, you can't compare to anything else.
05:33 It's really fulfilling.
05:35 I'm giving so little of my time and I'm getting so much of someone's happiness.
05:43 You change a family's life.
05:46 The Ponte Rola Board is a non-profit organization that supports the people in need.
05:52 The Ponte Rola Board is a non-profit organization that supports the people in need.
05:57 you