RHAC Service Trip 2013

Wednesday, 3 July 2013

Photos from House Building Day

One of the completed houses

Some of the villagers around one of their new houses

Tegan and Emma-Jane presenting a gift (quilt) to the family who will receive one of the houses their team built. The quilts are made by Tabitha Industries, and are covered by the funds we provide for each of the houses.

Mikelah and Shalea presenting their gift to the family who live in one of the houses they built.

Serena and Alannah presenting their quilt to another family

Big smiles at the end of a constructive day (pun intended)

Photos from Tuesday in Phnom Penh

Mr Conoulty telling the parable of the lost sheep (cow)

Owen, pretending to be the lost "sheep"

Mrs Pond leading the singing

Mrs Pond doing activities with the children

New friends, with Emma-Jane

Mackenzie and Mikelah having fun with the children, as they learn the song 'Heads, shoulders, knees and toes'

More new friends, with Sam

House Building Day

Today's blog is brought to you by Mr Fowler and all of the students.

An early breakfast was enjoyed before undertaking final packing before setting off for house building. After our devotion with Mr Conoulty, we were met by Tari from Tabitha Foundation and our drivers. We were also joined by Rob, a supporter of Tabitha who joined us for the day. We were grateful for the extra hands as we were down two staff members (Miss Clarksmith and Ms Hetherington).

We entered our two mini buses that we had for the day and set off through the morning traffic for our destination, approximately one hours drive away. As we were driving up a narrow dirt road, we noticed a group of locals standing in anticipation of our arrival. They gave us a very warm welcome and we found the platform where we were to leave our items that we had brought before being assigned to houses. We split into three groups and quickly got started with hammering the bamboo to the floors of the houses. The knee pads and mats were very handy to provide a bit of comfort to our knees, which got a heavy workout through the day. We followed the instruction of drinking lots of water and we also took advantage of the scarves that had been given to us the previous day, by dipping them into cold water and then placing around our necks. Everyone was amazed at how much sweat our bodies produced as we worked.

By the time we had our lunch break at 12 noon, we were already on our final buildings. The students performed so well in the heat, without a single complaint, even if the occasional thumb was knocked by a hammer. They were brilliant! It was not long after lunch that the final nail was hammered. Following this, we took part in a hand over ceremony, where each family was presented with a quilt from our students. We then participated in a group photo.

As we were driving back, we decided that each student would provide a brief reflection for today's blog and also identify three highlights of the overall trip. Here they are:

Jacob - today I learnt the limitations on how much I can sweat and how amazing and rewarding it was to personally see the smiles of the house recipients.

Three highlights - Angkor Wat Temple, elephant rides, house building

Jack - today was fun. The people helped us to build their houses. My wrist hurts though - too many nails!

Three highlights - Angkor Wat temple, elephant ride, house building

James - it was great to actually help these people and to see directly and first hand what a difference the houses made to their lives.

Three highlights - Twin Towers KL, Malacca tour, Angkor Wat and elephant ride

Emma-Jane - I enjoyed building the houses today. The sweat and tears made it all worthwhile knowing that we gave a never ending gift to a family. A day ending in smiles, waves and broken communication makes me wonder how much more we can do.

Three highlights - Sunshine Centre (I love the children and their smiles), zoo in Malaysia, house building

Shalea - I enjoyed building the houses today because it gave the people hope and courage.

Three highlights - Sunshine Centre (seeing all the children laugh and smile), building houses, shopping

Alannah - building the houses was awesome and very rewarding seeing the effect we were having on the Cambodian community.

Three highlights - elephant ride, serving through Sunshine and house building, getting to know others over fun dinners

Zoe - Today was the house building which has to be one of the best experiences of my life. It made me realise how lucky we are to live in Australia and proved you don't need lots of things to be happy.

Three highlights - getting to meet many different people (kids at Sunshine, people at house building and people at markets), getting to ride on an elephant and on a tuk tuk, falling in the pool in clothes instead of swimmers!

Tegan - today after building the houses the families who were going to receive the houses were so happy. Some of the family members even helped us.

Three highlights - going to shopping centres and markets in Malaysia, riding the elephant and going in the tuk tuk, building the houses and meeting the people there and at the Sunshine Centre.

Mackenzie - today was great! House building was amazing and it was good to put a smile on people's faces.

Three highlights - Sunshine Centre, elephant rides, house building

Claudia - today was very hot, but it was worth it to see how happy everyone was.

Three highlights - elephant ride, house building, making new friends

Mikelah - today was so rewarding, seeing the family's faces after the handover ceremony made all the hard work seem like nothing.

Three highlights - playing with the kids at the Sunshine Centre, building the houses and seeing the families so happy, all the shopping

Kirrily - it was funny to see the contrast between the two types of people. We drenched ourselves with water, ate our lunch and were extremely tired while the villagers did none of this and didn't even begin to look worn out.

Three highlights - pressure plated escalators, socialising with the people in my room, getting to know some people I would otherwise never have met.

Sam - building the huts was hard work, but also great fun.

Three highlights - building houses, Sunshine Centre, swimming

Owen - today I enjoyed making the houses as it is always nice to put a smile on people's faces.

Three highlights - Night Markets, Sunshine Centre, house building

Serena - building those houses today was amazing and seeing the faces of the families that are going to live in them made it so rewarding. It was an awesome experience and I would definitely do it again.

Three highlights - elephant ride (never experienced anything like it), Sunshine Centre (it was so much fun playing with them), house building (very rewarding).

Tuesday, 2 July 2013

Tuesday in Phnom Phen

This blog has been brought to you by Mr Fowler, with the assistance of Mikelah, Shalea, Emma-Jane and Mrs Pond.

Following an appetising breakfast, featuring outstanding omlettes, the group met for our daily devotion before proceeding to our bus, to go to the Tabitha Centre. At the Centre, we were warmly greeted by Janne Ritkses, the founder of the Tabitha Foundation. We proceeded to the rooftop where we participated in an orientation session alongside a group from Alfred Deakin High School ACT, where Janne provided us with a riveting snapshot history lesson on Cambodia. The students were horrified to hear some of the accounts that she shared of the atrocities of the genocide that occurred during the reign of Pol Pot. Janne also told us about what we would be doing during our house building days and provided us with a list of rules that we must abide by while visiting the village. Some of the rules included not holding babies under the age of two otherwise parents would think that you want to take the child as payment for the houses, don't take their money or eat their food, leave your belongings on the platform provided for the group and they will not be touched by the locals - anywhere else, it is considered community property, don't react to any injuries but seek very quiet attention from an adult of the same sex, boys should not touch girls and vice versa as only people who are married touch people of the opposite sex, etc. Following our briefing session, we perused the impressive collection of silk items that had been produced at Tabitha and a number of purchases were made.

We then alighted the bus to brave the traffic as we made our way to Toul Sleng S21 Museum, a former high school that was converted to a secret prison to detain those who were thought to be traitors of Pol Pot. 22,000 people were executed at this prison. The High School was closed because Pol Pot insisted that education cease. The Khmer people needed to undertake physical work and this did not require education. We were able to view rooms where prisoners were kept and row after row of the photos of people who were detained and executed. There were signs around the buildings that you are not to smile or laugh while visiting the museum. There were also a number of information panels on the current trials taking place under the international war crimes act, where four former Khmer Rouge leaders are facing trial. This was a very sombre occasion for our group, but gave an important link to the state of poverty that still exists for so many in Cambodia.

Time for lunch and today we visited the FCC, Foreign Correspondents Club, on the riverside. This was a restaurant and meeting place for journalists during the lengthy periods of unrest in Cambodia and still operates today as a public cafe. We were able to sample a range of items from their menu.

The highlight of our day was, without a doubt, our visit to the Sunshine Centre. Our College has been supporting Sunshine Cambodia for many years now and our visit to Phnom Penh provided an opportunity for students and staff to see first hand the operation and wonderful work of the centre. As we were arriving, the rain started to bucket down. It was so heavy, that it was not possible to talk to the children, who were sitting in straight lines in their main meeting area. The rain was not going to let up, so the staff found a PA system to set up. Mr Conoulty led a short devotion on the lost sheep (adapted for the local audience by changing the animal to a lost cow). Our students played the role of cows and Owen became our lost cow. We then sang songs with the children and played some games with music. Following this, we then presented the gifts that we had brought them from our Service Week program along with the ample supply of skipping ropes and extensive stationery supplies. They were delighted with these gifts which will be put to great use. Our team greatly enjoyed the opportunity to play games and dance with the children. It was certainly a wonderful opportunity for them to think about how they can bring happiness to the lives of other people.

Due to the downpour, some roads were a bit flooded as we were leaving Sunshine, and we had to jump a number of very large puddles. From there, we visited a supermarket to buy some lunch and snack supplies for our house building day. Back to the hotel and then off to another restaurant for dinner. This time, we we dined at the Tamarind restaurant which served a combination of middle eastern and local cuisines. We also had a table on the rooftop of the restaurant and were joined by Ms Hetherington as Mrs Pond had tag-teamed with her at the hospital.

A speedy return to the hotel with our very friendly tuk tuk drivers brought the evening to a close. All ready for an early start for our house building day.