Day Three

By Erin Pratt

There was a buzz of excitement that went around the breakfast table this morning as the team got ready to head out at 7:30am to build 11 houses with the Tabitha Foundation. The 2 hour bus trip was filled with chatter about what today would bring. 

We travelled to a rural village known as Anlong Slat, in the province of Kandal. There we were introduced to 11 families whose houses we had the honor of helping to finish. These families had between 4 and 6 people living in the one house, which was really a single room, raised above the ground. 

After seeing the houses in which the families were living, which were run down, the size of our kitchens, they looked unsteady, they had mud as the floor and leaves as the roof, it gave use great joy to be able to help the families in this way. We were able to help give them a house with a  floor that wasn’t mud, raised off the ground for when it floods, and one with walls and a solid roof.

The team arrived at the site to be greeted by families and jumped straight into work in 6 groups to smash it out. Groups started off with nailing the bamboo flooring. This was a slow process to start off with as we began to the hang of using a hammer and not hitting our thumbs. With a bit of help and laughter from the locals, however, it became much easier.

The next step was to add the corrugated tin walls to the houses to finish them off. At this point, students couldn’t really help so we spent time getting to know and bond with the locals. Some groups had a dance party with the elders of the family, others taught the children hand games such as slim yuck yuck and still other groups read books with the children. There were also some inventive uses for the empty water bottles with students using them to play 3 pin bowling, catch and bottle flip. The smiles of the families brought the groups so much joy and happiness.

Once all the groups had finished their first house, it was time for lunch and then back to work to build each group’s second house. After walking along the road looking for houses to continue to build, a lot of students had fallen in love with many of the dogs and chickens that were running around the village. We exercised caution, but grew quite fond of the animals around us.

The second house was much faster to put up although we did drop many nails through the floor. One group was touched to be shown by one of the women her old house, which was clearly falling apart. The smile she had on her face was contagious as she pointed to the house we were working on to indicate that it would be her new home. She was so appreciative of the work we were doing to build her a new house.

Once all the groups had finished building the house, they moved down to a central area to partake in a blanket ceremony and the hand-over of the completed houses. This was such a wonderful experience to see how thankful the families were for what we had done for them. We all took many photos with the families and had our last dances with the elders. Then, we waved goodbye to the families and headed back on the bus home.

We all went back to the hotel for a quick shower before going out to dinner where we were able to enjoy a bit of comfort food from home. We had a short walk from the hotel to dinner. We all bonded over the stories of the day and fun memories that they had experienced. “Lightening” A.K.A Ben Conoulty got the award for the best hammer skills.

After dinner we went back to the hotel for a quick debrief before bed.

Tomorrow we are off to the Sunshine Centre to play with the children and then off to the airport to fly to Siem Reap. After the experience of today, we are all very excited to see what tomorrow brings.