where cider meets condensed milk: Building and Sangkheum Center

where cider meets condensed milk

Friday, May 12, 2006

Building and Sangkheum Center

After 4 days in Phnom Penh, we flew to Siem Reap to start our building project with Sangkheum Center. Thank you so much to everyone that donated to help this project happen! We covered the full costs of 2 houses that we built ourselves, plus funding for a third as well as additional funds for the center. To clarify about the organization we were supporting: Sangkheum Center is a children's home in Siem Reap that provides housing, education, and job training for abandoned or orphaned children. It was founded by a man (above) named Sunsoley, who decided to start an orphanage while he was in a refugee camp during the Khmer Rouge period. The center was initially funded by an Italian NGO, and is correlated with a Siem Reap guesthouse run by a small group of Norwegians that provides volunteers on a regular basis. The current goals for the center are centered around expansion and sustainability. The houses we built are a few kilometers farther out into the countryside from the center, and will be for kids who turn 18, and must move out of the orphanage, but have nowhere else to go. On the site, we also helped to build a large animal pen and drainage pond, which is for the organic farm. The kids will live here for a year or two while learning how to farm and raise animals. They will thus have a safe home, transitional housing before they move out on their own as adults, job skills, and a chance to generate income to support the center.

Joss and the architect, Rithy. He was really funny and told us dirty jokes in Khmer and helped out with anything we needed. He and Sunsoley both attended university, which puts them in the top 1% of the population in terms of education. ("The Architect" does sound like the villain from a Batman film.)

Mia and I helping to put the roof on the first house. The fact that these houses had concrete foundations and a wood frame makes them nicer than most houses in the area, which are only made of thatch.

Glam and Eimi-chan carrying dirt the Cambodian (translation: "inefficient") way. We were there to assist, not take jobs away from workers, but that sometimes meant there were too many of us and not enough jobs we were capable of doing. Hammering and bolting everything was tons of fun, but my favorite was thatching banana leaves onto bamboo frames because that is how most houses are made in the area, so it is a useful skill. It was like going back in time to only have hand tools for building, nothing electric or battery powered. It was horridly hot and humid the entire time we were there (ranging from 30-40C), as this was the peak of the hot season, which will soon give way to torrential-downpour season.

The animal pens-- we put up fences and thatching, and laid lots of bricks for the drainage ponds behind and for troughs in each pen.

The Sangkheum Center: it means "hope" in Khmer, and is a beautiful facility with wonderful teachers and caregivers. There is no electricity, though they do have a few computers that can be used with a generator. We went there most days after building, and spent a morning there playing with the younger kids and watching English classes. They also do agriculture and sewing training with the older kids, and have a metalworking center.

The children are grouped into "family" units of 6, and live in a cabin with one caregiver. There is a separate bedroom for the teacher, and one room where all 6 children sleep together on the floor.

Dinnertime! It was a little disturbing to see flies swarming everywhere in the kitchen and dining area, but it didn't bother the children or teachers. Typical Khmer food is rice, vegetables, and fish, and sometimes meat. Fish amok is the most famous dish, which is like a non-spicy curry, and is delicious. My favorite Khmer dish was pumpkin and coconut milk soup.

posted by Raychaa @ 8:07 PM

2 comments:

At 1:03 PM, Anonymous said…

I love reading your entries about your trip! WOW! What an experience you had! *b*
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