House dedication, Day #5

HOMEOWNER STORY:

Srey Sopha is a vegetable seller and well acquainted with the discipline of savings as she has been saving with an informal group at the local market where she sells vegetables. Since a year ago, Sopha has been saving US$30 a month with the group. Members can borrow from the kitty at no interest for immediate needs. For the past year, Sopha, her husband Nob Phirum and their three sons have been living in a house which they rent for US$35/month. They pay another $5 for water and electricity. Her husband works as a driver, bringing home about another $100 a month.

She first heard of Habitat for Humanity from her neighbor in the Stoeung Meanchey commune in Phnom Penh. Sopha said, "I do not have money to rent a house, but when I am repaying Habitat, it is for a house which I will eventually own."

Sopha has already saved $550 as an initial deposit for her Habitat house. She said, "I am happy to save on rent because I can now save for my children's education."

She is looking forward to working with the volunteers,

"I want to learn skills from anyone who is willing to teach me."

RIBBON CUTTING CEREMONY, SOHPA AND PHIRUM

A HAPPY AND WONDERFUL FAMILY

IN FRONT OF OUR HOUSE, THE COMPLETE TEAM

Information about the house

Dimensions of the house interior are 22' by 14' or about 308 square feet. Bathroom, attached at the rear is another 5' by 6'. Cooking area is set up on concrete patio attached to the rear of the house. Here are photos and details about brick making:

BRICK MUD IN THE FORMS....PHOTO BY JIM VARGO

This is considered "green" building as construction is with adobe bricks and more kind to the environment than cinder blocks. No burning of wood to fire the bricks. Therefore, no greenhouse gasses, no deforestation for burning fuel. Locally sourced materials and no transportation costs.

The mix for making the bricks consists of 14 parts soil, 1 part sand plus one bag of concrete. No easy jobs.  Dry weight of each brick is about 22 pounds with 2500 needed per house. We made 746 blocks for the day's production.  Tough work ... making the mixture, feeding into the mixers, filling forms with the mud or moving previous day's blocks to curing area where they remain to cure for 4 weeks.

FIRST STEP IS TO ACCUMULATE SOIL AND SAND
IN A PILE, THEN ADD THE CONCRETE.
THESE ARE 5 GALLON PAILS THAT JIM IS DUMPING.
THEY ARE VERY HEAVY!

IT IS A DUSTY JOB AND MICHAEL WEARS MASK
WHILE MIXING

Scenes around the worksite

Winner of the longest name and with the most vowels: 22!

From Samoa and pictured at left above with Jim Vargo.

We call him by his nickname, Lou, easier to say
than his name which is:
LUAMANU NIKOLAO MAEATA'A NOA LEITITI TULUU

The 19th of November was World Toilet Day.

Did you know that 2.4 billion people in the world don't have a flush toilet?

Could you squat for one full minute if you did not have a toilet to sit on?

Every day the children are out "enmass" with their trays of bracelets.

"Buy one from me"  "Only one dolla"

"Need money for school"

"I remember you"

Sale in progress.

Kiwi Glenn Kehoe, left, our construction leader in Nepal,
on now site in Cambodia as block leader, with Nancy.

TYPICAL BAMBOO HAT IN CAMBODIA

Day #4

DIANE GRABS SOME WATER FOR THE TEAM
FROM THE LUNCH TENT.

It is all the home stretch now. Are we used to the heat? Barely, and we continue to consume water distributed by our team and the staff. Lots of full water bottles.




It is "full press" on to finish most of this house today and clean up the area. While some are working on brick laying, others are moving excess bricks by wheelbarrow to the storage area.

LINDA AND DAVID MOVING THE BRICKS.

Skilled Cambodian guys installed the roof trusses and then the tin roof. It was amazing to see them, high on the slippery roof in bare feet, as they worked handing up material, and then drilling and screwing it together. By day's end, most of it was in place.

JAN FINISHING MORTAR ON TOP OF BRICK WALL.

OH YES, WINDOW SHUTTERS PAINTED GREEN
BY MICHAEL.

REMEMBER, IT IS HOT?
NANCY STAYS COOL WITH WET TOWEL ON TOP.

SOME OF THE TEAM IN FRONT OF HOUSE
EARLY FRIDAY MORNING.

FINISH WORK ON EXTERIOR WINDOW FRAME:
BERNHARD (L) AND CHUCK (R)

NEIGHBOR HOMEOWNER DAUGHTER,
A SYMBOL OF HOPE FOR CHILDREN'S FUTURE.

Building with Habitat is about giving hope and a future to families in need of clean air and safe homes. It is the children whose future will have new opportunities. Giving them hope and a chance for a better life. Schooling and self esteem. It works.

Day #3

SITE OVERVIEW AS IT LOOKED BEGINNING OF DAY #3

Every morning begins with a meeting. Team leader, Bob, informs us of the plan for the day. Today, we have to finish the bricks to row 22. That's from yesterday's finish at row 17. It sounds possible. Also will do some touch-up of the bricks where the mortar has overlapped.

LEADER BOB

Site working was again very hot. Everyone is directed to drink and drink and drink. Electrolyte powder is distributed to add to our liquids and wet towels are given to help cool down the volunteers. The house construction is meeting the timeline, and by day's end we reached our Thursday goal. Also, set in the braces for the roof to be installed on Friday.

THE PERSON STIRRING THE MORTAR AND KEEPING
IT READY IS KEY. HERE IT IS "SUPER" JIM.

NANCY ON THE SCAFFOLDING.
HARD HATS ARE MANDATORY.

HOMEOWNER SOPHA HAS 3 SONS.
HER HUSBAND IS TAXI DRIVER AND NOT ON SITE.

Day #2, The Harvest of this Habitat Build

The bus leaves the hotel at 7:30 and it is 1-1/2 hour ride to the Habitat site. Interesting scenery enroute, but now we see it everyday. the bus accommodates our team and a group of Cambodian translators who stay close to us during the day.

L to R:
FRONT ROW, JEREMY, MICHELLE, JIM
SECOND ROW, MONIQUE AND MELISSA

Today: down on the farm. Everyday, two or three of the volunteers are sent to the farm. Jim and Nancy were selected today.

FARMLAND PROPERTY UNDER THE SHADOW OF
OUDONG BUDDHIST TEMPLE HIGH ON THE HILL
IN FAR DISTANCE.

Morning: Habitat in partnership with Australia's International Child Cares program is in charge of managing the farm. Residents are trained in planting and raising vegetables, trained to raise fish in the property's lake and will be trained for chicken farming. What did we do there? A little of everything.

OXEN ARE INTREGAL TO THE FARM.

DISC RAKING WITH SPIKE TOOTH RAKE

LEARNING TO PLOW. TOUGH WORK.

FISHING BY NET ON STOCKED FARM POND.

OX CART FOR TRANSPORTATION

Habitat Build Day #1

The site is a long bus ride from the city....at least 1 1/4 hours or more, depending on traffic. It is hard to imagine driving our big bus of 40 plus volunteers with all the motorbikes and tuk tuks flooding the streets and darting around, but the driver did great. Even getting the bus around corners of narrow intersections. Arrival scene:

When we arrived in Oudong at 8:30 after leaving our hotel at 7 a.m., a great welcome was in store. School children lined the long walkway, girls on left and the boys on the right, all holding flags and singing and cheerful. It was easy to be overwhelmed by the appreciation they had for us.

JOHN, NEIL AND MARCY
SHOW OFF THE NECKLACE
 GIVEN BY OUR GREETERS.

Local women along the greeting line placed handmade necklaces on each of us. Then, a orientation meeting followed after which, we walked with our homeowner to house #22. Our team was divided between two houses with 15 at this house the six others working on #17 with volunteers from other teams. Three team members went to work on the farm, plowing the earth behind an oxen and planting young seedlings. And one more, to the community center where he worked splitting bamboo and setting up.

STACKED BRICKS WAITING TO BE A WALL.

HOMEOWNER SOPHA
PLACES THE FIRST BRICK OF THE BUILD

MANY HANDS, MANY BRICKS, MAKE A WALL.

GARY SETS THE FIRST OF THREE WINDOWS

A concrete foundation and floor plus the first two rows of brick were already laid. Our goal was to complete a total of 10 rows including putting the three windows in place. Temps were in the high 90s but we managed to finish the assigned work and headed back to our home hotel at 5:00.

 Long day.

Satisfying start to the Build.

Welcome Reception

As is usual, we were treated to a fine welcome dinner accompanied with a traditional Cambodian dancing performance. Greetings were given by Habitat Cambodia staff folks and also one of the country's government officials. I lost count of the countries represented here: New Zealand, U.S., Canada, Mexico, Belgium, Australia, Korea, Germany and many others. It is an international group of volunteers.

The setting sun presented a perfect glow to the event.

The reception was held on a large patio overlooking the river. It was a clear night with a gentle breeze blowing. Tables of ten and a homeowner joining the volunteers at every table. A lovely mother of two young children at our table. The building work begins tomorrow morning, Tuesday.

L TO R: NANCY, HOMEOWNER, MARCY AND STAN

In and around Phnom Penh

Many beautiful sights to visit in this capital city. At the entrance to the Cambodiana hotel, a Habitat banner welcomes the teams.

Here are some views of the highlight spots in the city:

WAT PHNOM

NATIONAL MUSEUM COMPLEX
CONTAINS IMPORTANT ANGKOR ARTIFACTS

NATIONAL MUSEUM COURTYARD AND BUDDHA

PAVILLION IN THE ROYAL PALACE GROUNDS

LOGO OF THE KING, ON A DOOR DECORATION
IN THE THRONE BUILDING

And from a sad time in the country's history, photos of the Toul Sleng Genocide Museum, the famous S-21. It had been a school and the classrooms were converted to a prison during the Pol Pot years 1975-79. Now a museum and a testament to the madness of the Khmer Rouge regime.

PHOTOGRAPHS FROM EXTENSIVE RECORDS SHOWING
THOUSANDS OF PRISONERS WHO BECAME THE
 ULTIMATE VICTIMS OF THE EXECUTIONS
 AT THE NEARBY "KILLING FIELDS".

Many of the thousands of Cambodians who perished under the Khmer Regime were dumped in mass graves scattered around the country. Prior to 1975, Choeung Ek ws an orchard, but under Pol Pot this particular killing field was the site of brutal executions of nearly 17,000, most of whom had suffered torture at S-21. A memorial stupa now stands in memory of those buried here.

CHOEUNG EK MEMORIAL,
PHOTO BY VOLUNTEER CHARLES ZWICK.