Hey Folks:

I’m terribly behind on my postings so will try and fill you in on my experiences on the build.

Twenty two homes were constructed on this HFH project. The house I worked on was a part of the row housing section. Each row house consisted of 1 single room of about 10×10 in size. Not large at all and hard to imagine that a family of 4 would be sleeping and living in that space. A small bathroom was in the back as well as an small kitchen area outside. A concrete cistern to catch rainwater off of the roof was also built in the back. Aside from toilet plumbing, there was no running water installed in the home.

When we arrived on Day 1 of the build, the only the foundation and three rows of bricks were laid. On this day, the goal for all houses was to get to row 10 of laid bricks. On Day two, the goal was to lay bricks to row 17.

As mentioned in a previous post, I dropped like a fly and was a vomitous mess in the afternoon of Day 1. It left me with a “praying to God and crying for my mama” experience.

I was given the option by my team leader Hugh to remain in Phnom Penh to rest up during Day 2. I struggled with it for a moment, but went with the team. On a super build, the work is intense and projects are only one vs. two weeks in length, so missing a day would have been huge for me. The thought of doing this left me teary and with support of team members (thanks to Dr. Rikkhi, Sis, Nekane & Sarah for tending to me!) I went in. It was a great decision despite some morning queasiness.

On Day 2, I did not lay a lot of bricks. I took it easy in the morning and by the afternoon, i was up and at it. I hauled a lot bricks and buckets of cement to those who were up on scaffolds laying bricks. I am sure that my arms are buffed up from all of the hauling. Each brick was about 20-30 pounds. At one point when I was hauling 2 buckets of cement, a couple of Cambodian workers made some gestures to me that I interpreted as comments on my heartiness. I stopped, dropped the buckets to show them my biceps and they laughed. Cambodian people are quite small in stature. I feel like a giantess in their presence. I have to chuckle because I think that the Cambodian craftsmen were impressed by the women on my team. We were a team of 7 women, 2 men and our team leader Hugh.

On day 2, scaffolding went up and there were 4 team members up there in the brutal heat. I am surprised that there weren’t more who got heat stroke. Needless to say, the team met the goal of getting to row 17.

Day 3 – on the build, there was an opportunity for each of us to visit the farm and make bricks. I had that opportunity to do that. I spent the morning on the farm and afternoon on the brick task.

The farm was awesome! On the last build in this area (the Jimmy and Roslyn Carter Build), the farm did not exist. My understanding was that they decided to create the farm for people in the area to be more self-sufficient. The farm creates jobs and products sold create revenue for the community.

So what did La Contadina Cambodiana do? I did ploughed the dirt with an ancient tool (think Little House on the Prairie) with a team of Brahman cows, went over it with another team – the device that I had to stand on while leading the cows looked like a giant metal toothbrush. I fished Cambodian style with the giant nets, rode in the back of an ox cart, shoveled manure and planted cabbage. It was delightful. It was also an opportunity to think about all of the labour that goes into farming, how farming in Canada used to be, and how the creation of super farming machines has resulted in the demise of farming. Here it keeps many people employed – it might not be efficient, but it offers something.

I spent the afternoon in the brick making area. This was not easy work. In fact if any one shows up thinking that there easy tasks on a HFH build, they will be shaken into reality quickly. Working in this area, the cement mix concrete, sand and something else) for the bricks had to be made, delivered in wheel barrows and poured into molds. For the mold part, there is a whole set of steps to take. Once in the molds, they sit for a day and are then moved to a sunny area where they are cured (or baked) in the sun for 2 weeks.

I worked primarily on the molding and hauling of bricks to the curing area. I worked with two Kiwi’s – Peter and Nigel, who was about 70 years old. Nigel was a machine. We had to load up carts of bricks which weighed about 700 pounds. With Nigel at the helm of the cart, he was literally running with the filled cart to the curing area. Peter and I were behind trotting along and sweating profusely. After 2 trips with bricks, Peter had to say to Nigel ‘you have to slow down man’.

On the entire build I don’t think I have sweat so much in my life. I was a melty, sweaty mess the entire time. And I loved it – the satisfaction of the hard work and knowing it was for a needy, impoverished family. Having a home will allow them to move forward in their life from scavenging at a dump.

I apologize that there are no photos of any of this. A couple of days ago I had the distressing experience of having my iPhone completely wiped out when I went to get it unlocked. This was despite assurances that this would not happen. I was lied to over money and 800 photos/videos were lost. Photos showing the progression of the build are lost. Hopefully I will add them as friends upload them to Picassa for me to beg, borrow and steal. Thus, the reason for a longer narrative. I hope I haven’t bored you with the descriptions.

Stay tuned for Day 4 of the Khmer Harvest Build.