Building Again: Cambodia

I'm in Cambodia for my seventh Habitat for Humanity 'build'. Before this came New Zealand, Portugal, Ireland, Samoa, Montana and Cameroon. We're staying in Phnom Penh, Cambodia's largest city, and commuting one hour-plus each way to a rural area where people are being relocated from a former trash dump site. In addition to becoming homeowners for the first time in their lives, they will also be taken away from unhealthful conditions. You can see that the former living conditions were substandard, to say the least. I love the optimism and hope of Habitat, as seen on this banner hung on a completed section of the new 50-home complex, with its message 'Good Home, Good Health, Glorious Future'.

We're building for a retired couple and their two adult children, a son and a daughter. The four of them will live in their new 15-foot by 20-foot rowhouse structure, which is very small. It's about the size of a one-car garage. With our team of 15 working within this space, things do get crowded!

Bricks used in building are made on-site, using local red soil, sand, water and cement. They're shaped in metal forms, and then baked in the sun for 21 days before use. Current production is 500 bricks a day, and this operation will remain after the homes are complete, providing employment for the former dump workers. There are young children on the worksite every day, and most everywhere else we go. Cambodia has a very young population, with a median age of just 21.

Before the work began, we had a free day in Phnom Penh. The capital city has French-designed leafy boulevards, beautiful temple complexes and monuments, and a steady stream of motorcycle and scooter traffic. We see every kind of transport imaginable on our daily commute; I'll have photos of that and more for you to see if you'll return here in a few days . . .