I’m covered in a grimy mix of sweat and dirt using all my strength to cut through thick re-enforcing steel wondering why on earth I have chosen to do this over relaxing on a beach in Bali.

I’ve come to the little known island of North Sulawesi in Indonesia with about a dozen others from Australia to help build a home for refugees displaced by a bloody conflict on a neighbouring island about 15 years ago.

Normally desk-bound and having no experience building absolutely anything, I’m worried I’ll be more of a hindrance than a help.

But as we wind our way along dusty roads lined with palm trees and street stalls laden with tropical fruits I’m assured by one of the other volunteers who has been on several of these trips that everyone’s in the same boat.

An hour inland from our hotel in the capital city of Manado, we turn down a bumpy driveway and arrive at the small village of Klabat which is surrounded by dense rainforest.

Groups from Communities For Communities, the Sydney-based non-profit group I’m travelling with, have helped out in the village for several years and many of the children recognise the dust-covered vans and run over while their parents wave from open windows.

One little girl who has the biggest, most beautiful smile grabs my hand and pulls me towards the village.

About 220 homes for as many families have already been built here and we’re to begin work on the first of the final hundred or so which will house refugees who are squatting in a makeshift village about half an hour away.

A flat patch of dirt which sits on a razed hill with views of the village and a towering, majestic mountain is our building site.

The first day is gruelling; it’s 30 degrees, extremely humid and my muscles are protesting after being forced to heave the leaver of an old, worn piece of equipment towards the dirt to cut through steel.

As each day passes I go through a roller coaster of emotions; I’m ecstatic to be helping with such a project; I’m exhausted and wish I could go home and relax; I’m wiping dirty tears from my eyes after an intimate moment with one of the mothers from the village.

Each day of the week-long working bee there’s a different task: moving bricks, bending steel, turning cement, digging holes, cooking lunch, and most days you work alongside someone new.

There’s nothing like sitting in the dirt twisting small pieces of wire around re-enforcing steel under the hot sun for hours to really to get to know someone, whether you speak each other’s language or not.

I’m busy using all my strength to bend a short piece of steel into a square, which will form part of the walls of the home, when a lanky Indonesia man walks over with a huge grin. His name is Feri, he says, before settling in to his self-appointed role of quality control and assistant.

Later, through an interpreter, I learn Feri, who is in his 50s, fled the nearby island of North Maluku 15 years ago with his wife and two young children after being shot at by men armed with machine guns.

He lives alongside dozens of other families in the nearby village of Rotan and will next year move into one of the homes being built at Klabat as part of the third and final part of the project.

After squatting with dozens of others in a paddock for more than a decade he moved to Rotan where he lives in a flimsy one bedroom home made from a patchwork of tin, plywood and tarp with his wife and two children

“I’m really happy about doing this week working with wonderful people,” he tells me through an interpreter.

“We laugh together, we enjoy together, we smile and I feel blessing for this moment.”

When asked what it will mean to soon own his own home (each family will pay off a portion of the cost of the home over about 10 years) he is lost for words.

“He can’t find the words, the meaning is too deep, the interpreter says. For his family its incredible.”

Most of those who already live at Klabat or who are preparing to move from Rotan have similar stories – they’re Christians who were told they only had two options – convert to Islam or risk death.

They instead escaped to North Maluku, but many others were not so lucky.

One afternoon I wander through the small streets of Klabat and admire the small brick homes that have been built with the help of donations raised by CFC volunteers.

Some families have added extra rooms and terraces to the basic but sturdy one bedroom houses. Others have been painted bright colours.

Several shops, including a jeweller’s, have opened and children run through the streets into each other’s yards laughing; it’s a happy, bustling place, where parents walk out of their homes to say hello and share their stories while the kids plead for me to film them dancing as loud Zumba music blasts from speakers.

On our final day at the building site I look out across all the friendly faces I’ve worked alongside – the mothers who I have helped cook lunch, the stern-faced site manager, a Sydney-based lawyer who I’d enjoyed chatting to and the men from Rotan who were helping with the build.

I would be heading home far more relaxed had I visited Bali instead, but I’d be without a great sense of achievement, an incredible insight into the Indonesia culture and lasting friendships.

The dry patch of dirt where we began working has been transformed into the makings of a home as the first batch of cement begins to dry around the re-enforcing steel I’d helped cut earlier in the week.

There were tears when I imagined Feri and his family walking through the front door of the finished home.

I pictured them embracing each other with proud and relieved smiles knowing that after so many years they finally had a place to call their own.

*The reporter travelled as a guest of Communities For Communities.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

– To book an immersion trip visit www.communitiesforcommunities.com.au

– Expenses are paid by volunteers, although CFC organises accommodation and most meals.

– You don’t need to have any prior building experience.

– CFC also has volunteer opportunities within Australia.

– Garuda Airlines, Singapore Airlines and SilkAir fly to Manado, although there are no direct flights from Australia.

– Flights typically stopover in Jakarta, Denpasar (Bali) and Singapore and cost $1200-$1500 return.

WHAT ELSE YOU CAN EXPECT

– Volunteers stay at a resort in North Sulawesi’s bustling capital of Manado.

– You’ll visit different restaurants in and around the city each evening where you’ll feast on local BBQ fish and steamed vegetables.

– Time is set aside to relax your muscles poolside each night.

– A local tour guide will give you a run down of the history of Manado and its tropical surrounds.

– The tour includes a trip to the Tomohon Meat Market where dog, snake, rat and bat meat is on sale.

– Volunteers spend the final day snorkelling through the beautiful, clean coral reefs off Bunaken Island which many consider to be one of the best dive spots in the world.