A team of 10 intrepid volunteers travelled from the UK in October 2004 to build four houses for poor families in Cambodia. The team raised a total of £2000 to pay for the building materials, and then spent two days hammering and sawing in the countryside outside of Siem Reap. The houses are simple, but sturdy, and will have a huge impact on the lives of the four families who received them.
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Our first challenge was getting to the building site!
The house has been framed, roofed, and now ready for us to lay the floor and erect the walls.
The sound of hammering carries far and wide as work begins on the flooor.
Lilian, a 3rd year student in Architecture at the University of Edinburgh, raised £500 for a house. She took a week out of her placement in Singapore to join us.
Floors are made of bamboo strips, carefully lined up and nailed to the joists.
Jacob and Chris working together makes flooring faster and more fun.
Frequent water breaks help to keep the builders from overheating. Water is supplied to pour over your head at least every half hour.
Plenty of water bottles are stocked in our cooler.
Walls are made of green corrugated tin. It's the toughest job, nailing into wood that's very hard, while precariously perched on a ladder. The corrugated will last 20 years, compared to the 3 to 4 years thatch walls last, which were used in the past.
The children in the family are fascinated by all the activity.
The two building teams reconvene for lunch. Peanut butter and jam sandwiches and fruit were our staple.
Our first house is finished, and we pose with the family who can't wait to move in. The new house is high off the ground. The corrupgated roof and tin walls will keep the family dry even during the worst of the rainy season.
After a successful first day, the team relaxes over dinner at the Taj Mahal in Siem Reap.
Team work works!
The easiest way to work on the flooring is to sit on the bamboo strips and joists.
The neighbours look on.
Dan goes from being a solicitor to a self proclaimed green tin siding expert. He positively beams at the sight of tin sheeting.
House Number 3 is completed.
Tabitha Staff handle the formal handover.
The fourth and final family to get a new house.
We stop to admire other Tabitha Houses built in this community. This particular month, October 2004, a staggering 34 houses will be built in Siem Reap province, 60 in the whole of Cambodia, to celebrate Tabitha's 10 anniversary.
The house across the road awaits the other half of the building team. Bamboo strips for the flooring are waiting to be nailed down. Each house is 4 metres x 5 metres, and we didn't dare count how many strips we nailed down.
Obstacles on the road made travelling back and forth between the two houses rather interesting at times.
House building can be a family affair...Nancy, Ethan and Dan work together on the floor.
Mike works on the tin siding under the supervision of Kol, who is responsible for all Tabitha house building projects in Siem Reap Province.
The other team also poses at the end of their build with the family who get house number 2.
The next morning we arrive ready to start on house number 3. As the two houses we are building today are 7km apart, the whole team will build the first house, and then move to the second after lunch.
House number 4. We are tired and hot, and just one house to go.
Ethan gets into hammering bamboo strips.
