Getting a new house is always a thrill no matter where in the world you live.
A component of the outreach programme of New Hope Cambodia is to help families in dire need into basic housing.
These houses comprise a dirt floor at ground level and one of split bamboo for the first floor. The walls consist of leaves fastened to a frame and the frames are then overlapped like tiles on the sides of the house.
No Hammer… an axe will do
The basic building is usually undertaken by members of the family and neighbours – the frames are nailed together but not always with hammers - whatever is heavy enough to do the job is put to good use.
In the situation I photographed, volunteers had the job of making the panels which will form the walls of the house. The British school girls and their teacher I watched made up for their lack of carpentry knowledge and skill with boundless enthusiasm for the task at hand - at times evidenced by bandages on fingers which had a close encounter with the hammer.
Creating the roofing fastening system is ingenious. Old bike tyres are sliced and nails pushed through at regular intervals. When these are used to nail the iron onto the roof the old tyre helps ensure that the nail holes are waterproof. One of those who worked diligently on this task was a young blind girl - she could not see what she was doing but when working by feel alone was significantly faster and more accurate than her sighted fellow workers.
One of the major improvements for families receiving these new houses was that each came with a water filter. While basic, simply having access to filtered water ensures that those living in the home are far less likely to suffer from illnesses caused by the lack of access to safe drinking water.
The well and water filter which would provide those living in the house with safe drinking water.
The new owners providing the volunteers supervision
Children who were going to inhabit the new house supervised with diligence.
They stayed close and watched all the volunteers and their fellow villagers construct the house – for them it would be so much more than the sum of its parts, it would become a home – where previously they had nothing to call home.
“The British school girls and their teacher I watched made up for their lack of carpentry knowledge and skill with boundless enthusiasm for the task at hand”