Habitat for Humanity workers in action on the Cambodia build. Contributed photo.
Published January 04, 2012,
By: Crystal Dey
The Alexandria Echo Press
Seven Habitat for Humanity of Douglas County (HFHDC) volunteers from the Alexandria area ventured to Cambodia in November.
Their mission: Build a house in five days for a Cambodian family that was living in a municipal dumpsite in Phnom Penh.
Greg and Deb Pouliot, Tom Schabel, Bob Seward, Gordon and Debbie VanderHelm and Sara VanderHelm were part of a global initiative to build 22 homes in five days. They participated in the Khmer Harvest Build in Oudong, Kandal, Cambodia that took place November 15 through 19.
Funds that support building the homes are gathered through tithes. Since 1997, the HFHDC tithe has helped build 33 Habitat Homes abroad and 30 in Douglas County.
THE BUILD
Volunteers were driven to the dumpsite in Phnom Penh to see where their Habitat family was living.
“I was prepared to go out and see the dump. What I wasn’t prepared for was that you never really got away from it,” Seward said. Trash and shanties lined the streets interspersed with towering mansions.
HFHDC volunteers went through a safety and brick laying orientation prior to beginning construction. Tasks were assigned to volunteers each day. When they finished one task, they would find another.
Sifting sand and lifting bricks occupied most of their time. Twenty-pound bricks were dunked in water and stacked to form the walls.
“It was rigorous, hard work,” Debbie said. “There was tons of energy, it was really fun.”
The Khmer build is a continuation of a Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter Work Project started in 2009 in which 21 homes were built.
The homes built in Oudong have sanitation facilities, safe water, rain collection tanks and a solar energy panel. Seward said that 70 percent of Cambodians have no access to toilets, including no access to outhouses.
“It changed my perspective on needs,” he said.
Volunteers observed a sense of pride in the Cambodian people. It was apparent when they saw them scrubbing the floors in preparation to move into their new homes. One family divided their one room house into two rooms with a decorative drapery.
There was no furniture, Debbie said, the entire family sleeps on a raised mat. Some homes hung hammocks.
“Houses there could fit in the living room of houses we build here,” Gordon added.
Close proximity to a central farm developed in partnership with International Children’s Care Australia gives families living in the homes a chance to make a living without working in, and scavenging through, the dump.
Although the families have new homes to live in, they face financial difficulties in affording their homes. The father of the family intended to live in the HFHDC home is a construction worker who has to commute more than an hour into town for work. The dump was closer. Some of the families from the 2009 build returned to the dump because it was what they knew.
Many of the houses built in 2009 are not rented because people could not afford to live in them, Debbie shared. She also has concerns for the children’s ability to stay in school.
“We just have to hope that they will be able to maintain the homes and pay their mortgages,” she said.
THE FARM
HFHDC volunteers did not know what to expect when visiting the farm. It had been established eight months before their arrival. When they arrived, they saw it was in more of an experimental phase.
Volunteers were given the chance to use fishnets while on the farm. When they caught a few little fish in the net, a Cambodian woman started gathering them. A director on the farm, who provides guidance to the Cambodians, had to inform her the fish must be let go to grow bigger before they can be kept for food.
Corn was doing really well until heavy rains brought on flooding. Although the farm is not in a floodplain, the crop was washed out.
Chickens appeared to be successful, some had been raised and sold already. The goal was to attain a reputation of having quality chickens to be sold at restaurants, Debbie said.
THE CULTURE
A tuk-tuk driver invited Seward to an orphanage where he donated time teaching the children English. A lot of children do not have parents because of an existing problem with HIV and AIDS.
On the way to the orphanage, they stopped to pick up some rice from what looked like an open silo alongside the street.
Seward purchased a 30-kilo bag of rice for $40, which is twice what the cost usually is because of the flooding. That bag would feed 100 children for one day.
Seward described the orphanage’s kitchen as a slightly enclosed hearth under a roof overhang. One little girl was dicing up a 6-inch fish.
“That was the protein that was going to be put in the pot of rice,” Seward recalled.
Words like street, kitchen and toilet have a different visual definition in Cambodia than in the U.S., Greg clarified.
“The language barrier was a challenge,” Gordon said. “It was hard enough just to communicate where to place a brick.”
Translators were present on the build, but were not completely fluent in English.
Motor scooters seemed to be the preferred mode of transportation in Cambodia. An entire family would pile on one scooter and trailers were hitched onto the back of some for hauling, Gordon said. The only person required to wear a helmet is the driver, he added.
“They don’t have a middle class,” Gordon said. “If you see someone driving a car, they’re rich.”
The first night HFHDC volunteers were in Cambodia, a welcome dinner was held. An observation Debbie made was the size difference between Americans and Cambodians, “The people there are so little,” she said.
The Pouliots went to the national museum during their visit. While sitting in the shady building with the luxury of a fan circulating air, they watched a video contrasting Cambodia of the 13th century with Cambodia now.
“There was hardly any difference,” Deb said. “Instead of metal or plastic, there was more grass. In the cities, change is more apparent but for most people, much hasn’t changed.”
“It was very humbling to be among all those people working so hard, and to see how grateful they were for what we did,” Debbie said. “To come back home and experience what our reality is, is kind of overwhelming.”
The group described the people in Cambodia as happy, proud people who don’t have a lot of material possessions.
“How do we as a spoiled, frivolous society help [Cambodians] with basic needs without bringing all of our garbage with us?” Seward questioned. The entire HFHDC group echoed his sentiment.
In addition to the Cambodian culture, the volunteers met a group from New Zealand. The New Zealanders were very committed and forward thinking, Gordon recalled.
“They challenged Americans from Los Angeles and Texas with a haka,” he said. A haka is an ancestral New Zealand war dance. The Americans responded by doing the Cotton Eye Joe, a performance that made the HFHDC volunteers proud.
MEANT TO BE
Debbie told a story about Greg getting sick during the build.
She was helping hold him up when he was feeling ill and a volunteer from the only Christian home in the community happened to come by and began to pray in Khmer. Every now and then, Debbie would hear “Jesus.”
The man praying, named Paul, was a skilled worker and translator who became friends with Sara. However, communication with the people in that area of Cambodia is sporadic because of limited Internet and computer access.
HFHDC volunteers were also discouraged from exchanging e-mail addresses with the families they helped.
The VanderHelms believe their journey to Cambodia was destined. Sara had done a lot of research on the area and fortunately was granted a place with the Douglas County team. She currently lives in New York.
“There were a lot of amazing things that happened while we were there,” Debbie said.
The first morning they were there she and Gordon met a couple from New Zealand who had a son who was moving to a little town in Minnesota. That little town is Alexandria.
“There was just this thread of connection,” Debbie said.
To learn more about the Cambodia build and upcoming Habitat for Humanity opportunities, visit www.hfhdouglascounty.org.
COST TO BUILD A HABITAT HOME
$230,000 in New Zealand
$115,000 in United States
$3,000 in Cambodia
$1,500 in Bangladesh
$45 in Nepal (built out of bamboo)
Approximate costs provided by Gordon VanderHelm.
SHOCKING STATISTICS
· The average Cambodian makes $600 a year.
· 70 percent of rural Cambodians have no access to toilets.
· A cement floor, rather than dirt, reduces a Cambodian’s chance of contracting dysentery by 45 percent.
Provided by Bob Seward and Gordon VanderHelm.
Seven Habitat for Humanity of Douglas County (HFHDC) volunteers from the Alexandria area ventured to Cambodia in November.
Their mission: Build a house in five days for a Cambodian family that was living in a municipal dumpsite in Phnom Penh.
Greg and Deb Pouliot, Tom Schabel, Bob Seward, Gordon and Debbie VanderHelm and Sara VanderHelm were part of a global initiative to build 22 homes in five days. They participated in the Khmer Harvest Build in Oudong, Kandal, Cambodia that took place November 15 through 19.
Funds that support building the homes are gathered through tithes. Since 1997, the HFHDC tithe has helped build 33 Habitat Homes abroad and 30 in Douglas County.
THE BUILD
Volunteers were driven to the dumpsite in Phnom Penh to see where their Habitat family was living.
“I was prepared to go out and see the dump. What I wasn’t prepared for was that you never really got away from it,” Seward said. Trash and shanties lined the streets interspersed with towering mansions.
HFHDC volunteers went through a safety and brick laying orientation prior to beginning construction. Tasks were assigned to volunteers each day. When they finished one task, they would find another.
Sifting sand and lifting bricks occupied most of their time. Twenty-pound bricks were dunked in water and stacked to form the walls.
“It was rigorous, hard work,” Debbie said. “There was tons of energy, it was really fun.”
The Khmer build is a continuation of a Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter Work Project started in 2009 in which 21 homes were built.
The homes built in Oudong have sanitation facilities, safe water, rain collection tanks and a solar energy panel. Seward said that 70 percent of Cambodians have no access to toilets, including no access to outhouses.
“It changed my perspective on needs,” he said.
Volunteers observed a sense of pride in the Cambodian people. It was apparent when they saw them scrubbing the floors in preparation to move into their new homes. One family divided their one room house into two rooms with a decorative drapery.
There was no furniture, Debbie said, the entire family sleeps on a raised mat. Some homes hung hammocks.
“Houses there could fit in the living room of houses we build here,” Gordon added.
Close proximity to a central farm developed in partnership with International Children’s Care Australia gives families living in the homes a chance to make a living without working in, and scavenging through, the dump.
Although the families have new homes to live in, they face financial difficulties in affording their homes. The father of the family intended to live in the HFHDC home is a construction worker who has to commute more than an hour into town for work. The dump was closer. Some of the families from the 2009 build returned to the dump because it was what they knew.
Many of the houses built in 2009 are not rented because people could not afford to live in them, Debbie shared. She also has concerns for the children’s ability to stay in school.
“We just have to hope that they will be able to maintain the homes and pay their mortgages,” she said.
THE FARM
HFHDC volunteers did not know what to expect when visiting the farm. It had been established eight months before their arrival. When they arrived, they saw it was in more of an experimental phase.
Volunteers were given the chance to use fishnets while on the farm. When they caught a few little fish in the net, a Cambodian woman started gathering them. A director on the farm, who provides guidance to the Cambodians, had to inform her the fish must be let go to grow bigger before they can be kept for food.
Corn was doing really well until heavy rains brought on flooding. Although the farm is not in a floodplain, the crop was washed out.
Chickens appeared to be successful, some had been raised and sold already. The goal was to attain a reputation of having quality chickens to be sold at restaurants, Debbie said.
THE CULTURE
A tuk-tuk driver invited Seward to an orphanage where he donated time teaching the children English. A lot of children do not have parents because of an existing problem with HIV and AIDS.
On the way to the orphanage, they stopped to pick up some rice from what looked like an open silo alongside the street.
Seward purchased a 30-kilo bag of rice for $40, which is twice what the cost usually is because of the flooding. That bag would feed 100 children for one day.
Seward described the orphanage’s kitchen as a slightly enclosed hearth under a roof overhang. One little girl was dicing up a 6-inch fish.
“That was the protein that was going to be put in the pot of rice,” Seward recalled.
Words like street, kitchen and toilet have a different visual definition in Cambodia than in the U.S., Greg clarified.
“The language barrier was a challenge,” Gordon said. “It was hard enough just to communicate where to place a brick.”
Translators were present on the build, but were not completely fluent in English.
Motor scooters seemed to be the preferred mode of transportation in Cambodia. An entire family would pile on one scooter and trailers were hitched onto the back of some for hauling, Gordon said. The only person required to wear a helmet is the driver, he added.
“They don’t have a middle class,” Gordon said. “If you see someone driving a car, they’re rich.”
The first night HFHDC volunteers were in Cambodia, a welcome dinner was held. An observation Debbie made was the size difference between Americans and Cambodians, “The people there are so little,” she said.
The Pouliots went to the national museum during their visit. While sitting in the shady building with the luxury of a fan circulating air, they watched a video contrasting Cambodia of the 13th century with Cambodia now.
“There was hardly any difference,” Deb said. “Instead of metal or plastic, there was more grass. In the cities, change is more apparent but for most people, much hasn’t changed.”
“It was very humbling to be among all those people working so hard, and to see how grateful they were for what we did,” Debbie said. “To come back home and experience what our reality is, is kind of overwhelming.”
The group described the people in Cambodia as happy, proud people who don’t have a lot of material possessions.
“How do we as a spoiled, frivolous society help [Cambodians] with basic needs without bringing all of our garbage with us?” Seward questioned. The entire HFHDC group echoed his sentiment.
In addition to the Cambodian culture, the volunteers met a group from New Zealand. The New Zealanders were very committed and forward thinking, Gordon recalled.
“They challenged Americans from Los Angeles and Texas with a haka,” he said. A haka is an ancestral New Zealand war dance. The Americans responded by doing the Cotton Eye Joe, a performance that made the HFHDC volunteers proud.
MEANT TO BE
Debbie told a story about Greg getting sick during the build.
She was helping hold him up when he was feeling ill and a volunteer from the only Christian home in the community happened to come by and began to pray in Khmer. Every now and then, Debbie would hear “Jesus.”
The man praying, named Paul, was a skilled worker and translator who became friends with Sara. However, communication with the people in that area of Cambodia is sporadic because of limited Internet and computer access.
HFHDC volunteers were also discouraged from exchanging e-mail addresses with the families they helped.
The VanderHelms believe their journey to Cambodia was destined. Sara had done a lot of research on the area and fortunately was granted a place with the Douglas County team. She currently lives in New York.
“There were a lot of amazing things that happened while we were there,” Debbie said.
The first morning they were there she and Gordon met a couple from New Zealand who had a son who was moving to a little town in Minnesota. That little town is Alexandria.
“There was just this thread of connection,” Debbie said.
To learn more about the Cambodia build and upcoming Habitat for Humanity opportunities, visit www.hfhdouglascounty.org.
COST TO BUILD A HABITAT HOME
$230,000 in New Zealand
$115,000 in United States
$3,000 in Cambodia
$1,500 in Bangladesh
$45 in Nepal (built out of bamboo)
Approximate costs provided by Gordon VanderHelm.
SHOCKING STATISTICS
· The average Cambodian makes $600 a year.
· 70 percent of rural Cambodians have no access to toilets.
· A cement floor, rather than dirt, reduces a Cambodian’s chance of contracting dysentery by 45 percent.
Provided by Bob Seward and Gordon VanderHelm.
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