Day 4

Today we were woken up at 6:30am to start off another massive day on site. Firstly, some members of the group went to buy stationery and others visited the market to purchase things for the family such as pots and pans, rugs and mosquito nets as house-warming gifts. We then made our way to our building site, where we headed straight back into work. Today’s jobs consisted of; finishing the floor boards, the internal and external walls, sawing and filling the ground level with soil. Of course there was plenty of time to spend playing with the village children. We played hand games, jump over the rope and tickle chasey. At the end of our building time, we gathered all our gifts together with the village and presented them to the family. They then proceeded to perform a ceremony where they walked with the gifts around the outside of the house 3 times as they burned incense and clapped and sang along. The ceremony concluded with a presentation of our donation plaque and photos with the villagers. After that, we made our way to a nearby school  where we were privileged to sit in on an English Lesson and donate stationery to each of the children at the school. It was incredible to see how we could make such a big difference to these children's lives with such simple things that we, at home, take for granted. After a quick stop at another school where we donated even more books and games and stationary, we headed for a refreshing swim. After dinner, we walked to the Siem Reap night market to bargain and buy lots of fake stuff and things we think are really awesome at the time, but never use again! Overall, it was a fantastic end to Siem Reap and we are really looking forward to visiting Phnom Penh next.

Rachel, Timmi and Maya

The heat and humidity of the day did little to stifle the enthusiasm of the kids, many of whom had to be dragged away from hammering to have a drink.  It’s amazing that in two and a half short days, the kids developed a beautiful connection to the adults and the children of the village, to the point that during the hand-over ceremony, there were very few dry eyes amongst all of us.  We are all so privileged to have taken part in this life changing experience.