Fifteen people. No experience. The hot Cambodian sun beating down on us. It was a week of hard labor for Habitat for Humanity, and an amazing amount of fun for all of us. We were in Oudong, a small town outside of Phnom Penh known for the ancient temple on the mountain and the pagoda at the base which is a training site for the local monks. It is a beautiful place, and the small house that we built has beautiful views on every side – rice paddies one way, the peaks of the temple on the mountain on the other.
We were building this house as a sort of test run for Habitat; the program is relatively new in our country, and while they work up in Siem Riep, they are currently preparing for a big project that will take place in November. The Jimmy Carter Work Project will be a massive build all across SE Asia, with Habitat building 21 houses in Cambodia, Laos, Ch
ina, Vietnam, and 80-something houses in Thailand (in celebration of the King’s upcoming birthday). And so, in preparation, Habitat tested out the build to try to judge how many volunteers, materials, skilled workers, and so on that they would need for their upcoming week long project (Yes, they are building a community of 21 houses in one week’s time…)
So – our work! We came onto the build site, moved some big cement blocks, and ended up becoming masons for a week as we laid the bricks neatly with mortar around the already constructed foundation. We had some help; skilled Khmer laborers were working alongside us, helping us, fixing our few mistakes, and getting to know us through our Khmer exchanges. They were all local, and some of them were more excited about the prospect of helping the white folk learn their trade than others. Ev
en still, we all had a blast slowly layering the blocks to create what would soon be a community center. Habitat is creating this community of 21 houses for a certain population of people; a community recently displaced from their homes near a dump site closer to Phnom Penh. They are hoping that it will be the new “place to be” for the locals – and it is a very nice place.
So slowly we built, a few rows a day, with lots of breaks for some water and shade… And somehow, at the end of the week, even with some rain breaks, we had a house! But, even better, at the end of the week, some of the members of the community came over for a de
dication ceremony and a bit of a party. All of the children wanted to play, and we danced in a circle to Khmer songs. It is why I joined Peace Corps… to see that joy and feel as welcome in a community as I did. It was incredible, and the presentation of the ‘key to the house’ was very heart-warming and beautiful. If only I could get that kind of feedback every week!
http://www.habitat.org/newsroom/2009archive/05_01_2009_JRCWP_Peace_Corps.aspx#P1_12
We were building this house as a sort of test run for Habitat; the program is relatively new in our country, and while they work up in Siem Riep, they are currently preparing for a big project that will take place in November. The Jimmy Carter Work Project will be a massive build all across SE Asia, with Habitat building 21 houses in Cambodia, Laos, Ch
ina, Vietnam, and 80-something houses in Thailand (in celebration of the King’s upcoming birthday). And so, in preparation, Habitat tested out the build to try to judge how many volunteers, materials, skilled workers, and so on that they would need for their upcoming week long project (Yes, they are building a community of 21 houses in one week’s time…)So – our work! We came onto the build site, moved some big cement blocks, and ended up becoming masons for a week as we laid the bricks neatly with mortar around the already constructed foundation. We had some help; skilled Khmer laborers were working alongside us, helping us, fixing our few mistakes, and getting to know us through our Khmer exchanges. They were all local, and some of them were more excited about the prospect of helping the white folk learn their trade than others. Ev
en still, we all had a blast slowly layering the blocks to create what would soon be a community center. Habitat is creating this community of 21 houses for a certain population of people; a community recently displaced from their homes near a dump site closer to Phnom Penh. They are hoping that it will be the new “place to be” for the locals – and it is a very nice place.So slowly we built, a few rows a day, with lots of breaks for some water and shade… And somehow, at the end of the week, even with some rain breaks, we had a house! But, even better, at the end of the week, some of the members of the community came over for a de
dication ceremony and a bit of a party. All of the children wanted to play, and we danced in a circle to Khmer songs. It is why I joined Peace Corps… to see that joy and feel as welcome in a community as I did. It was incredible, and the presentation of the ‘key to the house’ was very heart-warming and beautiful. If only I could get that kind of feedback every week!
http://www.habitat.org/newsroom/2009archive/05_01_2009_JRCWP_Peace_Corps.aspx#P1_12
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