Humbled by Home Building

Humbling. Eye-opening. Community. Inspiring. Challenging. Welcoming. These are just a few words that come to mind when reflecting upon my time building a house in a village outside Kampot.

A family of 9 lived in a small one-room hut. We were helping to build a larger dwelling for them to live in. I grew up in a much larger house with a family of 6. I had my own bedroom, something I rarely thought of as a luxury before.

The whole village came together to work on the house; everyone was eagerly willing to lend a hand. I was so inspired by this strong sense of community. It was amazing to find out that a portion of our trip tuition contributes to the materials needed to build these houses.

The challenge of communicating with the local people in spite of a significant language barrier made our successful interactions far more fulfilling and, meaningful. When our guide left us alone, it was up to us to find a way to converse with the community whom we worked alongside.

At previous homestays, the kids were more used to western visitors, and because of this, were far more willing to play with us. The kids at the house building project were initially terrified of us, keeping a safe distance at all times. By the third day, though, they were more willing to play. It was an amazing to see that we had finally won their trust. It was also cool to see how self-sufficient the children of the village were. All of the adults had to focus the majority of their time on building the house, so the kids had to entertain and take care of themselves. Watching this, we realized how coddled we had been for our entire lives.

It was humbling to contribute money, time, and energy to a project that will positively impact this family for years to come. People love to claim that the work they do while traveling abroad is important and is directly benefiting communities in need, but we learned that this is very rarely the case. After learning a lot about the concept of social business these past few weeks, it's been very moving to play a small roll in helping expand the organizations that are actually making a real difference.

The people of the village were unbelievably kind as they invited us into their home and delighted us with coconuts and an amazing meal. I was taken aback by the hospitality that they shared with us: they went out of their way to give us so much. They were friendly and kind in a way that I will never take for granted again.

It was crazy to observe how quickly we tore down the family's house - a house that they had lived in for 8 years. We thought of our own childhood homes and how attached we were to them. We realized how we had taken for granted the ability to make this type of attachment.

I was shocked that the family allowed us to  build something as important as their floor. We were humbled by the amount of trust they placed in our ability to complete this task. I was nervous to walk on the section of the floor we finished, doubting its ability to hold me up.

Overall, it was incredibly fulfilling to work for a cause that was making a positive, long-lasting contribution to a generous community that clearly needed and deserved a helping hand.