When Roberto Woisky moved from Brazil to Canada to be closer to his family, he thought he'd found a place to settle down. But shortly after the building contractor arrived in Quebec, World Vision asked him to make another move. Now he is in Afghanistan, building 10 new schools for underprivileged children. Woisky doesn't mind. In fact, he calls it a privilege to help Afghani children with the skills he learned building luxury residences and skyscraper heliports in Brazil.

Arriving in Afghanistan in January, Woisky spent up to three days at a time on horseback getting from one community to the next, to conduct pre-construction surveys. He would often sleep in the homes of community leaders keen to see new schools erected in their towns. Currently, classes are held in tents or under trees when the weather permits. Each of the 10 communities was chosen on the basis of need, the willingness to provide land for a new school, access to a well, and the desire to have World Vision train local teachers.

Woisky is supervising the local Afghani crews building the 430-square-metre schools. World Vision is supplying the materials. Nine of the primary schools are being built for male students. The tenth - in Char Taq village - is being built exclusively for girls, with funding from World Vision Canada.

The schools will have six classrooms (each class seating up to 50 students), along with an administrative room and six latrines. The schools are due to be finished by November.