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).