Donate

Cambodia in October 2024 October 2, 2024

Posted in on October 2, 2024

Progress on house frame construction Cambodia

Day one, bus then  boat to the site.

Ready to go, drills, hammers, spanners to hand.

It’s really hot, don’t forget to drink  lots of water, (35deg c).

Lots of nailing, then drilling, then bolts.

Lunch time a welcome relief.

It’s time to go now.

Night time swim.

Good food good night.


Day 2

First the planks get planed.

Luckily machinery is operated by local craftsmen.

Over to our team to sand the edges off the boards and; Organise them into place on the joists.

Flower Cambodia

Ready to be fixed in place.

Banging in nails.

Over and over again.

And then hammer some more nails.

Really satisfying work to see a floor:-

Develop.

Success!


Day 3

Following on from getting to floor level yesterday we;

Raised building to roof level today.

Applying paint to exterior timbers.

Making roofing nails that will be watertight.

Everybody wet.

An hour and a half of heavy rain.

Nothing much we can do.

Dry (or not) we just kept on going without power tools.

Rain finally stopped at lunchtime.

Afternoon was spent:-

Installing stud work for walls and roof trusses.

National holiday tomorrow so beer, python and duck to celebrate end of day.


Day 5

Final day of week one.

Lots still to do!

Organising the barrels.

And painting timber.

Tacking final wall sheets.

In preparation for house launch.

New home owner helping.

Grid that supported knocked out.

Heaving the home into the water.

Owner and family happy.

Made a home.

Emotions high.


Volunteers posing in front of partially finished floating home project Cambodia

Day 6

Happy first day for team two

And everyone got stuck right in

Many smiley faces

Melting in the heat

Exceptional lunch

Racing on the boats home

Insects crawling everywhere

Night time swims together

Good nights rest


Day 7

Painting fascias, posts, beams and covering pieces.

All blue and sticky odorous.

Initially just us.

Next loads of village children helping.

Touching paint with their hands then being told off by parents.

Installing newly painted beams.

Nearly finished painting, ran out of paint.

Going out for cooking class tonight.


Day 8

Volunteers fastening support beams together with a drill cambodia

Driving to site with half the bus asleep

Ready for another day of hard work

Ice cold water to keep us refreshed

Laughter from the local kids keeping us smiling

Lovely lunch chilling in the breeze

I believe we’re doing well

Nearly finished all the floor boards

Good days work now back to the pool

Soon we will hand the houses over

And it’s all hands on deck

Working together to get it done

Inside of the houses the walls are forming

Now all that’s left is the roof

Goodbyes are getting close

Finishing the build was tough

Including knowing it was our last time there

Nobody was ready to say goodbye

All the finishing touches were added

Leaving a new life changing house standing

Cambodian family sitting on porch of finished floating home project Cambodia

Drills and tools packed away we were ready to give the houses to the new owners

And tears were shed

Yet none were tears of sadness


Posted in on October 2, 2024