The 2016 Fenwick Foundation
Cambodia Build
The Team
FENWICK FOUNDATION CAMBODIA BUILD 2016
On the 29th of February 2016, The Fenwick Foundation embarked on a charity build to Cambodia. Eleven ordinary people gave up their time to travel abroad and build a house for Sim aged 36 and her daughter Sreynit aged 5. Sadly, Sim’s husband died from HIV in 2012. After her husband had died, Sim decided to get her blood tested and discovered she also had contracted HIV, however her daughter, Sreynit, was fortunately safe. After Sim was married in 2007 her mother provided a plot of land for her family which Sim and her husband had hoped one day to build on. Unfortunately with the passing of Sim’s husband, the house was never built and even with Sim working hard at a garment factory, she struggled to make enough money to support herself and her daughter.
Day 1
The team arrived at the job site in the Kandal Province and began with a safety talk and general introduction to the contractors and also to Sim and her family. Shortly after the formalities were over, the team were quick to action and headed straight over to begin building. Day 1 saw a lot of cement mixing for the corner pillars (shown in the picture above) and also preparing the foundation of the house where the slab was to be poured later in the week.
Day 2
The second day required a lot of mortar to be mixed and a large number of bricks to be laid. A 2m deep hole also had to be dug, to bury the cistern which was to be connected to the bathroom at the back of the house. Thanks to some hard work, by the end of day 2 the team was well ahead of schedule after getting through more work than the building contractor had anticipated.
Day 3
Luckily the build was ahead of schedule as day three saw the first half of the day laying bricks for the walls followed by the second half spent on Koh Rumdual (island) in the Kandal province. This was where Fen had originally built on his trip and also where the Foundation had previously contributed, notably the community and vocational centres on the island.
Once at Koh Rumdual, the team were lucky to have been greeted by Tommy from the Family Care Foundation who moved to Phnom Penh in 1996 with his wife Sarena. Both have been working on the island ever since. They built a school on the island which all children are able to attend as they believe education is the key to breaking the poverty cycle.
The house in the middle photo above was the home Fen helped build in 2011 as part of his UTS subject “Building in Developing Communities”.
Day 4
There was still a lot of work to be done on the fourth day including brick laying, rendering and pouring of the concrete slab floor. This didn’t worry the team though as they were quick to self-assign themselves to any task that needed doing and as a result by the end of the 4th day the house was taking shape and nearly complete.
The local contractors and the team worked well together even when there was a language barrier, evidently displayed mainly through the close relationship the entire team had with the skilled labourer “Saruron” (pictured standing with Greta San Miguel in photo above) who become a crowd favourite through his humour and friendly banter.
Day 5
The last day of the build was full of mixed emotions with a great sense of achievement but at the same time a sadness that the week was over. Some finishing touches were completed in the morning, followed by a ceremony in the afternoon to welcome Sim and Sreynit to their new home. The team also decided to buy Sim and Syrenit some house warming gifts to further help their new start in life, including a new bike for Syrenit pictured below.
Although the build had come to end, it was evident that the experience from the week would have a lasting impact on the eleven team members who gave up their time to help a mother have a better life and her daughter to have a future. The Fenwick Foundation would like to thank the team and all the people who sponsored and supported them including Habitat for Humanity for their help with organising the week.