Every year, PSE carries out a construction project aimed at repairing or rebuilding houses in the most remote or poor areas around Phnom Penh. Different volunteers come to work for a week at a time – a week away from their initial sub-programme – and help Cambodian families have one of the most basic human needs: a roof over their head. Although, like other sub-programmes, the ultimate goal is to help the families and their children to have a better life, the running, structure and outcome of this camp is completely different from the rest.
Whom are we helping?
One of the boys after moving into his new house!
“If we weren’t here right now, they really would have nothing! Our presence here is changing lives” Solène, monitor in the construction sub-programme
Every year, the village of Veal Sbov was home to a PSE summer continuity programme. After the land owner decided to sell the land, the villagers lost their houses and were moved to an area close by, near Kean Svay Krau Pagoda in Kandal Province, where this year’s construction project takes place. The aim? Housing the ones who have just lost their home.
One of the houses during the first stage of construction! The wooden foundation is being placed.
A beautiful, green, landscape surrounds this ancient pagoda and whilst driving to the construction site, you can catch a quick glance of the families living around this area. Small wooden sheds are home to families with no means, living in absolute poverty but nonetheless welcoming your arrival with a big grin whilst the children run behind the tuktuk, waving frantically as they see you come from PSE.
The same warm goodbye is given as monitors leave this construction village to go back to the PSE centre!
Some of these children attend this makeshift day camp but live around the area, whilst others are living directly in the houses on the building site, waiting to have a proper roof to sleep under since losing their home in Veal Sbov.
Day to Day
This open air camp is bound to get messy, but the kids and the monitors love the freedom of this shelter and this space!
This programme is divided into 2 parts: the construction project, and the summer camp. Over the course of 3 weeks, monitors from other sub- programmes will dedicate a week of their experience to build houses for the families and play with the kids. The only permanent team here consists of 4 European monitors: 2 in construction and 2 in the camp. Nacho, the coordinator, will also remain here for the entirety of the project.
Solène, monitor with Nacho, coordinator of this camp who has been coming here for years with PSE. His knowledge and familiarity with the families and the area makes the atmosphere here very comfortable.
“Every week, the new teamsget along very well. During construction, there isn’t really time for playing and games, but the hard work really bring everyone together” Nacho, coordinator
One of the houses built by the PSE Construction team on week 1.
Building starts at 7h30 sharp until 12h, with a quick snack break in the middle. Nacho explains how the teams get very close because they’re working so hard under the burning heat but are feeling very fulfilled at the same time, especially when working alongside Khmer families. When one shares hard effort with not only people from the same country as you, but a completely different culture as well, a great sense of unity and equality takes shape. This programme is very special in that regard.
Getting out of your comfort zone
The construction summer camp during an improvised fashion show! Solène, crouched down, is taking pictures of kids as they do a catwalk.
All PSE summer sub-programmes are tough. They demand a lot of energy from the coordinators and monitors; getting up at dawn to spend a day taking care of children and giving your all until 5pm. The construction project however, demands a different kind of energy: one where you have to improvise and adapt to sudden obstacles and find quick solutions.
“Its not like a real camp so you have to make sure the kids dont get bored and go work, that’s not what we want”
Solène, permanent monitor
The children jumping in the river before lunch! A river they use for drinking water and washing!
“The kids here are pretty wild because they have so little education. There’s a lot of charm that comes from that though” Solène
This programme’s only clear guideline is to built as many houses as possible in the three weeks and accommodate the children from the area so that “they don’t get bored and go work on the building site” Solène explains.
Lunch break at construction camp consists of sitting on these colorful matts!
A charming, makeshift summer camp
The kids loved the catwalk activity! Everyone stayed to watch, but only a few participated..
A little play area provides shade and comfort to the children living in and around Kean Svay. Although Nacho coordinates the whole programme, Solène is in charge of the day camp for the children, and besides guiding the temporary monitors who will come to help each week, she will take care of the same 30 or so children every day, “getting to know them so well”, she says.
“There are only 30 kids or something so you get so much closer to them and can really get to know who they are and what thet like” Andreas, permanent monitor
Happy smiles for a happy home!
Hand in hand with the community
A women moments before glueing the bamboo sticks together to make a floorboard.
The day is organized around different activities. The work is done hand in hand with the community: “If a father has 3 sons, they will help”, says Nacho, coordinator of the Construction project.
“If there is a father with three sons, the sons will help. Everyone works very hard, but the families even more as they continue in the evening when we go back to PSE” Nacho, coordinator
Every day, the community of Kean Svay, men and women continue to build their home.
Families living here play the biggest part in the development of this project, working night and day to build the foundations of the house and the walls, whilst PSE monitors help with the floorboards and insulation. Nothing would be possible without their vital contribution!
The construction monitors bonding with the kids!
“You’re really useful as you’re so close to the families you’re building the houses for. It’s incredible” Françoise, temporary monitor in Construction
On a day to day basis you get increasingly closer to the villagers, spending the day in their home, buying coffee from their small shop and playing with their kids: a community more than a village!
The houses built and the community living here
A finished product.
So far, more than 10 houses have been built, and more than 10 families now have a decent home! Many of them used to work in the same recycling job, earning very little money. Others have a different job, perhaps one with a bigger salary, affecting the type of material used for the house. More money means more insulation and a more robust structure!
Luis, volunteering on week 2!Javier, a permanent monitor here is assuring that the bamboo floorboards will be smooth.
“It’s a rare experience because we’re spending all day with a community and helping the families!” Andreas, permanent monitor
Most houses are made from recycled wood found in the old town or bamboo, a material used frequently in Cambodia. Francoise, one of the temporary monitors explains that “the girls prepare the bamboo so that the sides are soft, which are then used as the floorboards of the house”.
The village from afar! Nearly all tin houses are made from PSE monitors!
A unique camp altogether! The construction project is different every year, and takes care of immediate needs and problems. In Kean Svay, you get a sense of trust and strength between the community and the monitors, a feeling unique to this programme. The kids are spirited, the scenery is wild and the atmosphere feels so free and limitless! As Solène says: “this camp is a mess but I love it”
