Global Village Cambodia: Day 1

Guest Blog by Missy Staples Thompson, 
Global Village Volunteer

After long journeys and pre-build adventures, the Twin Cities Habitat Cambodia Big Build Team arrived in city of Battambang, excited and ready to go. We’re joined by over 200 volunteers from all over the world. Our team will be building two homes this week, and the entire Big Build will provide 23 homes.

You could feel the excitement this morning at breakfast! Volunteers were laughing, swapping stories, and grabbing a last bottle of needed water before jumping on buses to head to the Build site. Once there, we were greeted warmly by the families, local leaders, lots of music and the official opening of the build. We couldn’t wait to get started!

We quickly broke into our two house teams at our site and spent the very (!) hot morning getting the hang of building with bricks. We have patient teachers, so by lunchtime had a great start and were feeling pretty good.

After lunch, we jumped again into our building, but soon the skies opened up and it began to pour and pour and pour. We valiantly tried to work on, but it soon became clear that we needed to stop for the day. We, and the houses, were totally drenched. But, while disappointed, we all felt really good about what we’d learned and what we have already accomplished. We can’t wait for tomorrow!