A VOLUNTEER has returned from a trip to Sri Lanka transforming the lives of families of tsunami survivors by building them new homes.

Sixty-two-year-old Ken Allcock, of Lansdowne Terrace, Malvern, recently went to Sri Lanka with a team of volunteers on the Actionaid Habitat for Community Challenge.

He decided to get involved after reading about the initiative in a newsletter from the charity sent to his wife Eileen.

Mr Allcock, a receptionist and driver for South Worcestershire Primary Care Trust, raised about £3,000 to take part. His task during his two weeks there was to work as a team with local people to build houses for four homeless families in the village of Wenamulla.

Sixty-two people in the village lost their lives and almost all the houses were destroyed by the tsunami on Boxing Day 2004, which killed an

estimated 230,000.

The team was housed in a hotel in Hikkaduwa on the south-east coast during their stay. Their work included mixing and moving concrete by hand and putting up block-work to roof level.

Mr Allcock said: "It was very arduous because we were working in humid conditions and could only work for 15 minutes at a time with a 15-minute break and we had to have about four litres of water a day because of the exertion.

"It was inspirational, though, to see how they've recovered remarkably quickly in the past 15 months."

One of the women they were building for had lost her husband in the disaster and had been living in temporary accommodation.

"She had been in a distressed state because of the trauma of it all, but things were beginning to look up for her and she was always beaming and coming on to the site to give us tea and biscuits."

Mr Allcock, who also works for Childline and as a family mediator, would like to thank all those who sponsored him to be able to take part in the trip.