Sihanoukville, Cambodia

The team headed over to the Tabitha Foundation for an orientation with Janne Ritskes, the founder of the organization. She's an inspiring woman, and a powerful storyteller. We received a really great overview of Cambodian history, including some moving personal stories of Janne's staff.
She ran down the rules of the build, it's a lot to take in for first-timers, but well worth it. We're going to a very rural area with extreme poverty, and we must be respectful of the people and their culture.
There was an opportunity to do some shopping in the Tabitha silk shop, where everything is handmade and all proceeds go to the Foundation.
Three vans are full of 21 team members...we're now off to Sihanoukville!

For the past two days we did the build. 21 of us sided and floored 25 houses for 25 amazing Cambodian families in an extremely remote area. Just to give you an idea, we received a visit from some police who were accompanying a national geographic photographer doing research on the endangered sunbear.

The families were amazingly beautiful people. Very friendly and extremely appreciative. The team worked very hard and it was a great experience. I was one of the ladder climbers on the siding team, Rosie was queen of the floors. We're now both discussing each others random aches, sunburns, my sore feet and her blisters. We made sure not to let the locals see any discomfort though, they already think we're soft enough already. With good reason (witness my soft cocoa butter hands).

The people were wonderful. The first house I sided I was assisted (I was probably assisting him) by a really nice, agile dude who I started calling my buddy.
We seemed to get along as well as two guys could given the language and culture barriers. Rosie also hit it off with a local lady and was also fond of an enthusiastic young girl. It was very strange at the end of the build-when we presented each family with a customary blanket. My buddy, Rosie's friend and the little girl were husband, wife and daughter. We got a pretty good kick out of that.

Overall, it was one of the greatest experiences of my life and I only hope that they are happy and I did a good enough job in helping with the build.

This having been my second build, I thought I would ease into things quite easily, but I felt pretty rusty when I started. After a two hour drive with some off road rocky bumps, we arrived at a very rural site, with very little farming or infrastructure. I was really struggling to understand how this village popped up in such a remote area...
With the swing of my first nail, I was sort of embarrassed. I had the eyes of several villagers on me and I'm sure they doubted my ability. I tried to laugh off how horribly I swung at the first few nails, and just kept at it. My ability and determination increased throughout the day, and I was feeling useful by midday. No matter how many bottles were drank, the sweat kept on coming...hydration was essential in the blistering heat.
On the first day, it began to pour in the afternoon. We were a little behind due to a late start and everyone finding their bearings, so stopping was not an option. In the pouring rain, I spotted Corey's ladder as he continued on the siding. I felt like I had never been rained on so much in my life, and I felt uncomfortable, but at the same time it was welcome as I thought I was falling into heat stroke before the rain. We finished the first day with 13 houses, and even through being dirty, muddy, covered in blisters, and soaked, I was so happy to have done the best I could for that village.

We woke up on day two of the build with some very sore muscles, and I'm sure other people were feeling it too! The rain didn't come down like it did the day before, but things were definitely still muddy out at the site and our shoes had not dried at all.
We had 12 houses to finish, and everything ran a lot smoother than day one as people had a better feel for what they were doing. One of the best parts of the build for me is interacting with the kids, and I got to hang out with them in front of their school for a bit at the end of the day.
All in all, 25 sturdy dry homes were built for more than 130 deserving villagers, as well as a new school which is in progress. I once again feel honoured to be working with this Tabitha team, and I look forward to helping out more in the future. :)

Saturday was a free day for everyone to explore the town a bit. We went out with our new tuk tuk driver friend named Vampire (seriously. His name is Vampire) to take some pictures and visit a couple places. We ended up at a bar called DD Canada, ran by a quirky Québécois man, and had a couple rounds of beer and played pool with Vampire. Total cost: 6 bucks. Beer is so cheap.
For lunch we went to a crazy restaurant called The Snake House. It was literally a zoo-full of poisonous snakes (caged of course), tropical birds, and crocodiles. The food sucked, but it was pretty cool having lunch with a parrot.
After lunch we went for a long tuk tuk ride to see some of Sihanoukville's many beaches. We ended up settling down on Otres Beach, it was beautiful and our first swim in the crystal clear water.
In the evening we headed to Chez Claude up on Victory Hill with some of the group. A fun time in a beautiful setting. We loved the rules of the house, which were:
"No.1- We will provide our best"
"No.2- No assholes"