Habitat News

A Bumper Harvest
November’s Khmer Harvest
in Cambodia saw a bumper number of Kiwis take part in this Special
Global Village Build Event. 153 of them in all! They, together with
some 200 international volunteers, successfully completed the
challenge of building 22 homes, a community hall and working farm
in the Oudong Province in just five days. This achievement
has provided families with a safe, decent and affordable place to
live and work, away from Phnom Penh’s infamous Stoeung
Meanchey Dumpsite. Habitat NZ CEO Pete North was delighted to see
retiring Affiliate Chairs Julian Shields (17 years Nelson Chair)
and Dave Reyburn (17 years Northland Chair) taking part.
“Julian is a regular attender of GV trips and for Dave it was
his first overseas GV build,” Pete says.
Dave highly recommends to anyone who has not yet experienced this.
“This GV trip enabled me to appreciate the wider work of
Habitat,” he says, “and realise how good we have it
here. The living conditions of families prior to the build were
really substandard and I was amazed at how little it cost to house
one family compared to a New Zealand family. The new home owners
were really appreciative of the opportunity to enjoy a better way
of life and it was such a buzz to work with people from so many
cultures in making it happen.”
31 year old Chea Sreymom used to share an 18m2 room at Stoeung
Meanchey with eight other relatives. Sreymom is now able to live
under the roof of her own house with pride and a great sense of
ownership. She works at the new farm nearby earning US$3 daily and
also works part-time as a manicurist to help save for her new home.
Her mother, Bun Sophurn, who at 60 years of age was living beside
busy railway tracks, has also moved in.
“I am very happy and grateful to all the national and
international volunteers that came to build my house,”
Sreymom says, “I will never disappoint the people who helped
me.”
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