I have kept the house building blog separate to the "fun" blog, was these trips are absolutely work hard and play hard, we leave at 7am and work to 4pm both build days, and believe me it is hard. But when you get back to Phnom Penh seriously the first thing you need is a beer, and chat through the days experience, then a massage, then dinner, then more beers and enjoyment. Why have I done this you may ask? I want to ensure that those that have given see what their money is used for in this blog, materials, contractors helping, van transfers to and from village, and much much more for Tabitha. The fun part, the travel to and from Cambodia, the hotels, the food etc. are all funded by the volunteers so I wanted to keep that separate albeit it is indeed an intrinsic part of the experience. I hope you understand!
Well done team Kennett, that's us on the steps of one of the completed houses. Yes I had the honour this year of being a team leader as Mary and I are "experienced", and the other chaps and chapess's were "virgins". But have to say what a great team, who should be proud of the work they did and quality work at that too. You have built 4 houses for the families we met, that will make their lives more sustainable and quality, a quality I think we'll all agree is untenable for us Westerners but the smiles on the faces give away how happy they are with what you achieved for them.
We were all battered, bruised and cut. Day 1 was, well, just hell. We were all so so tired I think emotionally and physically. Day 2 definitely easier as we had "our eye in" for the hammering and finished two houses before lunch time, with Day 1 taking all day until the 1630 finish. SO SO SO SO HOT this year too, I really don't remember last year being as warm. Bending over to nail the floors down you literally had sweat pouring off the end of your nose. I must have drank litres of water and not one drop of wee passed out of my body during the day as sweating so much (sorry about that one, but it had to be said).
You'll see a couple of snaps of sometimes how hard it is to reach the villages, the buses nearly didn't make it off the road to the dirt track to the village. In fact the dirt track was in better condition that the road itself.
This trip we were about an hour and a half from Phnom Penh in what turned out to be much larger and developed village than last year including a couple of concrete houses, a shop, a toilet, OMG (mind you having heard what Susan said of the experience of the toilet I'm kind of glad I didn't go). Near a lake, with guys fishing
We had some lovely families we were building for this year, they didn't really pitch in though, and this year that included the contractors for Tabitha (apart from one day when the girls had 3 helping with the flooring), and one day when the kids of the family sat in the house and were handing nails to Mary and Rachael, bless them!
Some lovely shots of the kids again, just beautiful. Tried again to photo shop some of these, but you don't need to. Just let those faces shine untouched. Happy little ones. Again hopefully my kids will read this one day and realise that they are so lucky with what they have compared to these poor little mites. They really have nothing but are happy with life, again the single ballon/single lollipop experience and children face light up was enjoyed, especially by some of the new to Tabitha experience.
The handover is always the thing that brings all to perspective. What did we achieve, why do you do this, you're building a shack on stilts basically - well look at the village line up, look at the faces, look how happy they are with what has been achieved for them. Yep that's why we do it. The warmth you feel, the fact that you have taken time out to help others financially and of course physically.
Here I must say a massive thank you to those that raised monies and donated monies as without you this does not happen. We raised a monster 33k this year which enabled 24 house materials, purchase of Tabitha gifts for fund raising next year and lot's of other good. Special mention in dispatches to Ged and Susan Totton who raised over 2/3 of this total alone with the charity auction/curry night - just AMAZING you two.
I'll close by sharing a poem by a Cambodian lady which sums up the journey experience we have daily getting to & fro the village, well an excerpt of one of her poems. The lady is called Ammie Oy. No matter how tired you are on the way home I love looking from the van windows as you move from village, to town, to larger town back to city Phnom Penh, from countryside to city.
"onwards, past naked children playing by
the roadside, gawping shameless at the van, following,
running, barang, barang
causing elders’ heads to twist in hammocks swinging
low in the shade of the stilted houses,
mothers turn from harvest, arms raised
rice stalks clasped high in strong sinewy hands."
the roadside, gawping shameless at the van, following,
running, barang, barang
causing elders’ heads to twist in hammocks swinging
low in the shade of the stilted houses,
mothers turn from harvest, arms raised
rice stalks clasped high in strong sinewy hands."
