We're getting ready….. apprehensive…… and excited!

It's nearly started…

We're locked and loaded.  There's no getting out of it now.  We fly on Jan 24.  That's the beginning.  It sounds brilliant before the event, doesn't it?  Gosh…..

Many of you have donated generous amounts and purchased various parts of the new homes that we will be building. Below I've included a couple of bits from the Foundation's website.  They give an outline of what they're trying to achieve, and what we'll be aspiring to.

The aim of the blogging game is to keep you in touch with what's happening as it goes along.  We will be going through an orientation which includes a visit to the Killing Fields just south of Phnom Penh.  We'll also listen to some explanations of the cultural environment that we'll be experiencing and the more local issues around why this work is needed.

We'll also be swinging some hammers and building some houses for people.  That's where your help came in - to help finance the materials.  The house in the top photo is an example of the kind of thing the new owners will be looking forward to.

I'm excited about the trip and the huge learning curve that it will bring.  I think we may be learning a thing or two…

Both Dermot & Rory have access to the blog, so you might just hear from them too - you never know!

Thankyou to those who have donated - others, of course, are welcome, and we thoroughly appreciate your support in making all of this happen.  10 houses, here we come!

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PURPOSES OF VOLUNTEER HOUSEBUILDING:

1.To provide an in depth and meaningful experience for foreigners visiting Cambodia. The team members will experience not only the tourist attractions but will come to understand and befriend Cambodians - both the poorest and the middle class.

2.To educate volunteers about poverty and the issues involved - it is an education in the causes of poverty, the results of poverty and solutions to poverty.

3.To become partners with Tabitha-Cambodia in our outreach - team members become volunteer sales people as well as fund raise for various projects.

4.To give Cambodians the opportunity to teach foreigners the skills of house building - rather than being taught by the foreigners - develops a deep sense of pride.

5.The families chosen represent the very poorest in their communities as well as being role models for their courage and faith in their own ability to overcome seemingly insurmountable odds.

PROCESSES OF SELECTING FAMILIES:

Community elders and Tabitha staff select the neediest families, who are to receive a house, from within the participant’s of the savings program in a community. Each family selected will contribute $25 USD towards the materials of their home – the team pays the rest. Families that are receiving a home must own the land where the house will be built.



Many families participating in the “Community Development Through Family Savings Program” are able to save enough money to buy land and the materials to build a house. However, some very poor families cannot save all the money required for land and a house – for example, widows, single mothers, landmine victims, children orphaned as a result of AIDS, etc.


Tabitha Cambodia invites international volunteer building teams to Cambodia to finance the materials for the houses and these teams then work, under the direction of Khmer builders, to complete the simple houses.