More than 600 youth volunteers ranging from famous celebrities, NGOs, corporations, schools, from both local and international com-munities joined together to support the com-munity work in Prey Veng Village, Kom Reang district, Phnom for the success of Habitat Cam-bodia’s first ever Habitat Youth Build Program. Volunteers built the sewage system, fixed the road and planted trees for the Smile Village project on April 27, 2013. HFH Cambodia received support from famous singer and endorser Ms. Aok SokunKanha who’s popularly regarded in Cambodia as the Star of Hope for the many social development support she extends to worthy causes such as the Habiat Youth Build. The returning Mr. Chhorn Sovannareach, another popular singer who supported the first Mekong Big Build in Cambodia said, “It is not my first time to join

HFH Cambodia. I was once involved in a vol-unteer project in 2009, and it was a great ex-perience. Over the years, I can now see a huge, positive change in Cambodian youth! They are now more socially active and they extend heart-felt help and contribution. The volunteers today are amazingly energetic and very eager to work. I am very excited for the next project that I will surely support.”

“This is such a touching project for me and for the rest of the volunteers in Cambodia, and I’m so proud to be a part to help my community, I’m also pleasantly surprised that many Cambodian youth have come together. This is my first time to get involved in a project where I am able to re-ally interact with the families that we are helping and with my fellow volunteers, but I am certain it will not be my last. Sooner, this place will turn into a real community,” Ms. Aok Sokhunkanha

I ssue 51 | 1 | May 2013

First Habitat Youth Build in Cambodia, a Big Success

said in a message that she shared amongst the volunteers during the opening where she also thoroughly talked about housing issues in Cam-bodia and the need to work together to help in any way possible to serve more families with ad-equate housing.

Except for a few, majority of the participants were first time builders. The heat and the work-load did challenge many but everyone was mo-tivated. There was an overwhelming amount of excitement and youthful spirit throughout the day. Breaks provided an avenue for everyone to enjoy each other’s company through great music and dancing. Volunteers and supporters also expressed their hopes for a better Cambodia and sealed their Commitments in serving their fel-low Cambodians in the commitment wall.

Chout Kiriadarasy a student from Pannassastra

Post-build photo of some of the participants’ gesturing “YES” to adequate housing, Habitat Youth Build Cambodia 2013

University in Cambodia shared about his expe-rience, “I am glad that I am a part of this event. It is my first time to get involved in a build and in a very important project for our community. I had fun while working and met a lot of new friends. I will definitely join once again for the next year and my friends and I are looking for-ward to launching small fundraising projects in order for us to join the Fundraising Challenge.”

Habitat for Humanity Cambodia launched the Fundraising Challenge to promote year-round continuation of the youth activities in Cambo-dia. The challenge encourages the youth par-

ticipants to launch fundraising efforts in order to raise windows, doors and various implements that will be contributed to the housing develop-ment for the Smile Village.

HFH Cambodia will continue to raise aware-ness on the need to say ‘NO’ to inadequate hous-ing amongst and through the 2013 HYB par-ticipants. The Habitat Youth Build was the first building activity that was held in the 2-hectare village, which will house 290 low-income fami-lies living in and around the Stoeng Meachchey dumpsite to have a decent place to live. Smile Village Project is a partnership between Pour

I ssue 51 | 2 | May 2013

un Sourier l’Enfants and Habitat for Humanity Cambodia.

This is the second Habitat Youth Build in Asia with 8 different countries including China, In-dia, Indonesia, Japan, Nepal, Philippines, Thai-land and Cambodia engaging youth in various advocacy and building activities. The nearly 14,000 young volunteers built homes in seven Asian countries, signaling their commitment to tackling the poverty-housing situation in the region. The harmonized event set a record for Habitat for Humanity for its largest ever youth volunteer build event in Asia.

I ssue 51 | 3 | May 2013

Highlights

May Cultural Celebrations: Visak Bochea, Royal Plowing Day

Visak Bochea or Buddhist day is one among the other important holidays in Cambodia that marks the birth, enlightenment and death of Sedetha Goutama. Traditionally, Vi-sak Bochea always falls on the 15th day of the waxing moon in the 6th lunar month, and usually falls in May. On that day, Cambodi-ans, especially seniors, usually visit temples in the early morning to offer food and sweets to the monks and listen to them preach. In some families, the sons would take this op-portunity to commence their devotion to monkhood for a certain period of time in gratitude to their parents who gave birth to them here on earth.

The Royal Plowing Day is another traditional ceremony practiced since the early Khmer era. This ceremony is a welcoming sign to

the growing season as well as to predict the harvest products they will receive within the year. The ceremony is always held right in front of the National Museum on the land plot called “Veal Man”. The plowing starts in the morning time and usually led by high-ranking officials. After three rounds of plowing, a small herd of ox is led to seven trays that contain rice, beans, corn, grass, sesame, alcohol and water.

Then, the chief astrologist presents the fate of Cambodian harvest based on what the ox chose to eat. The plowing ceremony encour-ages the farmers in Cambodia with better harvests, and through this ceremony, Cam-bodians prepare to pick crops based on the predictions for the year.

532 Community Members Receive PHAST and Hygiene

training

A four-day Participatory Hygiene and Sani-tation Transformation (PHAST) and Hy-giene training was conducted from 8 to 12 April in four communes - Cha Chhouk, Ta Soam, Kouk Doung and Norkor Pheas in Angkor Chum district, Siem Reap. The 532 villagers comprising of men, women and children attended the classes.

The training was meant to educate the com-munity members about the significance of using clean water and proper toilets, the types of illness that could be contracted through the use of unclean water and how to prevent them, and to also encourage behav-ior change to lead to sustained improvement in sanitation through the PHAST methods.The participants actively joined the group discussions, Q&A and group presentations showing the proper use of Water and Sani-tation facilities. Facilitators used pictures and illustrations for better understanding amongst the participants.

13 years old Chan Chakriya, a 6 grader shared, “I like being involved in this hygiene class. Teachers explained very clearly about how important hygiene is in our daily liv-ing. I was able to understand better because of the pictures they used. I will share what I have learned with my family so I can help teach and remind them to use clean water and toilet always”

HIV/AIDS Prevention and Care Training

17 PLWHA home partners from one of Hab-itat Cambodia’s Shelter-based projects en-hancing HIV-OVC programs called Building Homes, Building Positive Lives participated in a one-day training focused on HIV/AIDS Prevention and Care facilitated by HFH Cambodia Community Organizer in Trapa-ing Anhchanh Community, Phnom Penh.

After the training, villagers were expected to have improved knowledge on how to prevent other family members from being infect-ed by HIV/AIDS, and how to continually look after their health properly within their homes and within their community.

“Even if many Cambodians know about HIV, some people especially those who are affected or living with an infected family member, still have limited knowledge about the disease. I noticed that the participants asked many questions, which I know will really help them and their family in better managing the effects of HIV/AiDS ” said Phoung Roda, Community Organizer of HFH Cambodia.

GloBAl VIllAGe TeAMS

Issue 51 | 4 | May 2013

Viva Volunteers

Global Village Wrap Up

March 23 to 31: A big group of 23 international students from International Secondary School Japan formed a Global Village team. During the 3 weeks of hard work, the team was able to complete the construction of one brick house and a wooden house located in Trapaing An-hchanh community, Phnom Penh. The team also took the opportunity for the sightseeing tour around Phnom Penh city such as Toul Tom Pong Market, Genocide Museum and Royal Palace. On the celebration day, the team invited skilled workers and home partners for lunch and finished with fun dancing.

March 23 to April 05: An eleven-member team, called Close Friend from Australia, came together to build houses for two families living in Bati District, Takeo Province. Two brick houses were completed on their 2-week build. During the weekend, Close Friend team spared their available time to visit the Zoo in Tamao Mountain, and saw different kinds of Cambodian animals. With joy and appre-ciation for their accomplishment, the team, skilled workers and home partners celebrated with lots of singing and dancing on their fare-well dinner within the calm and peaceful sur-roundings of Takeo.

April 27 to May 06: Volunteer builders from Japan assembled their own team to complete the foundation, some parts of the house walls for two brick houses. They also enjoyed a city tour, a special visit at the Krang Thnong Pri-mary School and Japanese school where they played games and shared their culture with the Cambodian children. The Japanese team was comprised of 15 volunteers.

April 29 to May 04: A Global Village Volunteer team from Telstra Company, the biggest Tele-communication company in Australia formed a team of 19 members and moved together to support families in Takmao Distict, Kandal Province, Cambodia. Over the week of solid building, the team was able to complete one wooden house and another wooden house’s columns and core structure were finished. On the last building day, the team was invited by

Viva Volunteers

Volunteers’ Voice

the home partners, villagers and skilled work-ers to dance with and sing Cambodian songs. The Australian team in returned invited them for a farewell lunch. The Telstra team’s build was part of their company’s HR program in-tended to reward their model employees.

May 19 to 25: Another group of Global Vil-lage volunteers from Australia gave a hand to work with HFH Cambodia in Kandal Prov-ince. The team consisted of 10 members who together completed one wooden house. The team took the chance to visit some significant places in Cambodia during their break from the build. The house dedication was followed by a delicious spread of Cambodian dishes on the farewell lunch.

MAKE A DIFFERENCE

Volunteer with Habitat for Humanity Cambodia.

Be part of a Global Village volunteer team. Visit this site for more information:

http://www.habitat.org/gv/

I ssue 51 | 5 | May 2013

Glimmer of Hope

Issue 51 | 6 | May 2013

Mekong Big Build

Joun Sophal’s family is made up of 9 mem-bers. Sophal’s wife, Khong Joe and his 7 chil-dren aged 3 to 20 years old. Fortunately, five of his children are able to go to school with the support from PSE. The other two have not reached schooling age. 43 year-old Joun Sophal is a rubbish collector.

Sophal begins his day at 3:30 in the morn-ing. He brings along with him his rubbish cart and lunch as he heads to the new dump-site at Cheng Erk, which is about 10km from where they live. Everyday, he walks around 1 and a half to 2 hours to reach his destiny and is able to start picking waste at 5:30am, he takes a short break for lunch and again continues digging and picking until 4pm. He then walks back for home until around 5:30pm. Joe, on the other hand, takes charge of housework. Once the children have eaten and left for school, she starts to sew jute sack at home to earn extra and normally finishes at 9:00pm. Sophal is able to earn around $6.5 a day from scavenging, while Joe earns about $4.5 a day from selling sack.

Their meager combined earnings are just enough to pay for their food and house rent-al in Steung Meanchey, where they found

themselves years back just to be closer to the dumpsite, which was closed down in 2009. All 9 of them manage to fit in 4m by 5m di-lapidated house with materials made out of rotting wooden frames, pieces of plywood callously nailed as patched walls. Their roof is made of old zinc. “We have been liv-ing here for the longest time and I cannot remember a single day that we did not face any problems in our surroundings. Flooding has become a casual thing during the rainy season. We have been used to the smell and buzz of the mosquitoes but we also try to be careful in the best way we know just so our children will be free from diseases. It is hard to avoid diseases though in a place like this,” said Sophal.

“Apart from our daily expenses such as food, transportation and utilities, we try to keep some small amount for medicines,” he adds.

Sanitation is another concern for Sophal and many other families around the com-munity. Among the 100 families around the area, there are only 4 communal toilets pro-vided by PSE for their use; the landlord do not agree to build more than this number on their property. With very limited sanitation

facilities, most of the families, specifically children always go around the village to def-ecate. “I have no choice but to sometimes bring my children to the field, because 4 toi-lets are not enough for all the people here. I hope that when we live in the new place, we can experience some good changes. By that time, I hope my children will be able to live healthily and can concentrate well on their studies without being ill anymore,” added Joe.

Sophal’s family has visited the Smile Village site and was explained about the plan of the area they are going to move into in the near future. There are excited about the new loca-tion due to its closeness to the new dump-site. The thought of not needing to wake-up at 3:30 and walking for almost 2 hours gave Sophal encouragement.

Sophal and Joe also look forward to the new skills they will learn from the livelihood training that will be provided to them in Smile Village. The prospect of gaining new skills and new livelihood opportunities give them a glimmer of hope.

Joun Sophal, Khong Joe and their children in front of their rented house in Steaung Meanchey

I ssue 51 | 7 | May 2013

Special Feature

Hope Springs

Hope indeed springs.

We, and eighty-eight others saw transformed lives, after long years of waiting, through the North Build in Battambang City, Battambang province in April.

Many families waited years and years just to feel their strong sense of hope turn into reality, and out of the 245 families, 4 of them – Prak Ya, Won Yann, Chen Yom and Ley Sina - were extra fortunate to share their new found security and peace on a five-day special build with volunteers from New Zealand, China and Canada. The team also built one community center in O’kcheay Community and another in Chamkar Russey Community was further improved.

Special Feature

The five days was packed. It began with an opening dinner where members from the Battambang government such as H. E. Uy Ry, Battambang Deputy Provincial Governor, H.E Seing Suthang, Advisor of H.E Sar Kheng, Deputy Prime Minister and Former BTB Deputy Provincial Governor of Battambang and Provincial/Municipal Land Use and Allocation Committee chief, Mr. Sieng Em Wounzy, Deputy Governor of Battambang Municipality and Chief Maritime Transport Working Group, other partners in government and NGOs came to give our volunteers a warm welcome.

Before everyone started building on the first day, volunteers were formally introduced to the home partners, skilled workers and the community people in a brief but meaningful opening ceremony. The rest of the week brought different people from differ-ent walks of life together. Many made new friends; some rekindled their friendships and everyone made new memorable stories that they were excited to share with their loved ones back home.

Amidst the humidity and heat, one thing that kept the volunteers going throughout the week is the thought that they were contributing to the fulfillment of 2 communities’ dream of having a decent place for their gatherings and 4 families’ dreams of owning a secure land and safe, decent shelter. The presence of the 80 volunteers also helped Habitat for Humanity Cambodia to gain the full approval and official endorse-ment of the Battambang Government to manage the development of 41 more SLC plots, which will serve 82 more families in need of secure land and decent shelter. This was celebrated during the North Build with an inauguration of the 41 plots where representatives from the teams joined the Battambang Deputy Provincial Governor H. E. Uy Ry in cutting the inaugural ribbon right after the house dedications and closing program. So yes, hope indeed springs.

“Your presence here is also a celebration of our bigger hope – that from this single project’s success of delivering secure land tenure, more and more families would come to enjoy their rights for secure living,” said HFH Cambodia’s Country Director Bernadette Bolo-Duthy in her Welcome Remarks during the opening night.

The contribution of the volunteers made the families’ celebration of years of hope even more meaningful for them, and as the week grew, each volunteer found a new and stronger appreciation of HOPE.

Following the start of the Battambang government’s distribution of land tenure certificates in December 2012 through the Social Land Concession project on Strengthening Civil Society-Government Partnership for the Delivery of Secure Land Tenure, HFH Cambodia’s Battambang site began to open Battambang to volunteer builds in January 2013 which further led to this first ever Special Build purely intended to contribute to the expansion of the project.

North Build was a collaboration between Habitat for Humanity New Zealand and Habitat for Humanity Cambodia.

I ssue 51 | 8 | May 2013

Special Feature

Upcoming events and

legal Holidays

19 – 31 JuneeHoPHHS and CCT Final Project evalua-tion

24 May – 02 Junelivelihood and Business Training for BHBPl Project in Phnom Penh

01 JuneInternational Children’s Day

05 – 06 JuneConstruction Technical Training to TPA loan Assistants at HFH Cambodia

07 – 16 JuneGlobal Village Team from USA in Siem Reap

10 – 15 JuneSun T6 Taining at HFH Cambodia

18 JuneQueen Norodom Monineath Sihanouk’s Birthday

Special Feature

HFH Cambodia welcomes Chhim Samon, the new Project Officer for Building Homes Building Hope Project in Phnom Penh. Samon brings with him years of experience working with local and international NGOs

Please contact Chhim Samon at chhim_samon@habitat-cambodia.org

New Faces and Congratulations

Please join HFH Cambodia in welcoming Hourn Kimhour our newest Construction Supervisor for Building Homes Building Hope Project (BHBPL). Kimhour brings with him years of working experience in construc-tion with private companies.

Please contact Hourn Kimhour at hourn_khour@habitatcambodia.org

or Kun!

Join HFH Cambodia’s Social Media Network! Become a Fan on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/habitat.for.humanity.cambodia

Follow Habitat Cambodia Tweets https://twitter.com/HabitatCambodiaVisit our website http://www.habitatcambodia.org

HFH Cambodia address: #35Bis, St. 478, Phsar Duem Tkov Commune, Chamkar Mon District, Phnom Penh City, P.o Box: 2452 Phnom Penh 3Tel/Fax: (855) 23 997 840

e-mail: info@habitatcambodia.org

Habitat for Humanity AUSTRAlIA

Habitat for Humanity GReAT BRITAIN

Habitat for Humanity NeW ZeAlAND

Habitat for Humanity CANADA

SAN GABRIel VAlleY Habitat for Humanity

Habitat for Humanity MAlAYSIA

UNIVeRSITY oF PITTSBURG Habitat for Humanity

Habitat for Humanity of ST VRAIN VAlleY

WeSTMINSTeR ColleGe Habitat for Humanity

Habitat for Humanity GeRMANY

HoNolUlU Habitat for Humanity

Habitat for Humanity SeATTle-KING CoUNTY

CeNTRAl DelAWARe Habitat for Humanity

Habitat for Humanity ANCHoRAGe

SAN DIeGo Habitat for Humanity

Habitat for Humanity International - USA Global Village Volunteers

Habitat for Humanity CHINA (Hong Kong)

Habitat for Humanity NoRTH CeNTRAl GeoRGIA

Habitat for Humanity HARDIN CoUNTY, Inc.

Habitat for Humanity Cambodia says thank you to our corporate

and international partners and our affiliate tithe donors.

Together, we will continue improving lives and building communities in Cambodia.

The Charitable Foundation, elton John AIDS Foundation,

International Children’s Care Australia, World Bank,

Japan Social Development Fund, Asian Development Bank, Paul and

Aileen Munn, World Vision Cambodia, and

Guernsey overseas Aid Commission

Pannasastra University of Cambodia, Royal University Phnom Penh, Uni-

versity of Cambodia, Bridgeton School, Northbridge International School,

Mekong University, Fulbright and Undergraduate State Alumni Associa-

tion of Cambodia, Tayama Business School, International and Foreign

language, Mekong University, University of Health and Science, Sovanna

Phumi School, logos International school, Build Bright University

U N I V e R S I T I e S A N D S C H o o l P A R T N e R S :

A F F I l I A T e D o N o R S :

I N T e R N A T I o N A l P A R T N e R S :

C o R P o R A T e P A R T N e R S : ANZ Royal Bank, Hotel Cambodiana, Korea Cadastral Survey Corporation,

BUNGe, SC Johnson, Korea Securities Depository, Cambodian Business

Integrated in Rural Development organization, Hang Meas, Freshy Juice,

Tous le Jours, RGB

Habitat for Humanity GReATeR loS ANGeleS

Habitat for Humanity GReATeR loWell

Habitat for Humanity GReATeR BoSToN

Habitat for Humanity eAGle & lAKe CoUNTIeS

Habitat for Humanity INlAND VAlleY

Habitat for Humanity DeSeRT FooTHIllS

Habitat for Humanity NoRTH WIllAMeTTe VAlleY

Habitat for Humanity DoUGlAS CoUNTY

Habitat for Humanity MeTRo DeNVeR

Habitat for Humanity MeTRo WeST / GReATeR WoRCeSTeR

Habitat for Humanity WeST HAWAII

Habitat for Humanity oAKlAND CoUNTY, MI

WeST PASCo Habitat for Humanity

ST. JoSePH Habitat for Humanity, Mo

Habitat for Humanity GReATeR BIRMINGHAM

Habitat for Humanity GUAM

Daimler Financial Services, GeRMANY

Habitat for Humanity CINCINNATI

Habitat for Humanity of SeATTle-KING CoUNTY

l o C A l P A R T N e R S : Khemara, Maryknoll, Sharing experience for Adapted experience, Siha-

nouk Hospital Center of Hope, Save the Children, Collaborative Studio