Housebuilding
We evolved from 15 years of hands-on work in Cambodia and finance micro-enterprise cycles, silk weaving , community infrastructure like clean drinking water, and the Pig Connection. Our primary partner is Tabitha-Cambodia, a charitable trust founded and directed by Janne Ritskes. Pillows for Peace imports cottage industry products, like hand woven silk purses, bedding, sterling silver ornaments and jewelry. There are no paid positions; everyone volunteers their time and resources, including all administrative overhead costs. Hence, all profits are churned back 100% into reaching out to more families desirous of working themselves out of poverty and human trafficking.
Every year, we lead a team of volunteers for ten days to various Cambodian provinces and teach “by doing” how to eliminate poverty through economic self reliance. For two days, the team builds houses side by side with the families in our community development program. The teams raise the money for the building materials ($860) per house while the families we build for previously earned the money to purchase the building lot.
We are presently forming the 2009 building team. Please contact margret@pillowsforpeace.org for details. Team members book their own flights to Phnom Penh, arriving no later than August 2, 2009. You are picked up at the airport and brought to the hotel were the team meets at 18:00 in the lobby of the Golden Gate Hotel for their first group meeting and dinner
Our team members have ranged from age twelve to eighty with varying degrees of fitness. Don’t worry if swinging a hammer is not your forte. There is much to learn and contribute within the parameters of our program beyond house building. You will be richly edified during an unforgettable week learning what you can do to help people willing to work themselves out of poverty. Read about Pat Olsen’s experience on http://web.mac.com/patolsen . If you wish to join the team, please go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pfpcd and follow the links to be admitted.
We hope you will join us for an incredible adventure that teaches values of self sufficiency, self worth and community responsibility for both sides.
Please join Team 2009 for an unforgettable adventure! For more information, contact margret@pillowsforpeace.org
FAQ’s
1. Purpose for Housebuilding
We are often asked why we build houses when our programs depend on strengthening families through economic self reliance. In truth, the house building experience is more of a benefit for us than for the families on the ground. It is you – who will receive an in depth and meaningful experience which cannot be obtained through tourism or academic study. You will have an opportunity like none other to understand and meet Cambodians, both of the poorest as well as the middle class. You will be educated about poverty and the issues involved.It is an education in the causes of poverty, the results of poverty and solutions to poverty. Often time, team members become grass roots partners with Tabitha Cambodia in outreach and lifelong volunteers in a variety of capacities. Remember, it is through the efforts of people like you, that Tabitha Cambodia has been able to permanently bring over a quarter million people out of poverty and into a stable, middle class economic existence.
You might think you are building a house. Actually, you are building self esteem in the Cambodian people. By giving them the opportunity to teach foreigners you develop a sense of self worth and pride, rather than a dependency cycle on foreign aid. Teaching YOU the skills of house building- rather than BEING TAUGHT by foreigners- acknowledges your belief in their abilities and a sense of equality that can never be communicated through words.
The families chosen by the village elders to receive a home with our help have been selected carefully. They have been role models in their village of courage and faith in their own ability – to overcome seemingly insurmountable odds. Many have taken in AIDS orphans to protect them from being sold or being placed into gruesome orphanages. We believe the best orphanage is NO orphanage. By strengthening families and giving a hands up to let them provide for their own, we have succeeded in keeping almost ten thousand orphans safely in their familiar, local environment. You might think all you are doing is building a few huts. In fact, you are preventing an orphanage from needing to be built.
2. Can I get to know the other members of the building team prior to landing in Cambodia and find out on which routes they travel and what preparations they take ?
We have a yahoo group specifically set up for building team members to exchange information on cost of travel, what to pack and to expect. Once accepted into the group, you can access the Blog , Files, Messages, Calendar and Photos. Go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pfpcd and follow the instructions to join this group.
3. Has anyone published experiences from previous years?
Go to http://web.mac.com/patolsen and look what Pat Olsen wrote.
