Our first real day in Cambodia kicked off with breakfast at the hotel after a well needed rest from traveling.
We had a short briefing in the morning about the day and then we were off in our 3 minivans.

With tools in the back, we headed out to the river barge. We drive onto the barge and put across the Mekong river while we head to the top deck to take in the experience.

We were met out in the small village by Pastor Kunty. We got a tour of the SALT school which has been started by teams before us and has been under construction for a lot of last year. The team had a chance to see the students at their existing “school” (which is not really conducive to learning).

From there we went about a Km up the dusty road to a bunch of houses built by previous teams. Our mini project here was to finish a house for a man in the village who is currently working for RAWimpact as the agricultural manager for the village.
The sad story behind his situation is that his mother was an alcoholic who died of alcohol poisoning then some time after his father remarried he committed suicide. His brother has learning difficulties and has subsequently dropped out of school. This man found it difficult fitting in and currently lives with his aunty. Having his own room will be a huge benefit to him and will allow him to establish himself better.

The team worked amazingly together to get things started and learning how to use power tools and what’s involved in building a house in Cambodia.

Lunch was an amazing array of food put on by locals. Everyone had more than enough to eat, and had time to play with some of the children after.

After lunch we put in a few more hours work before heading back across the river back to Phnom Penh.

Some of the team relaxed in the pool and others ventured out to the Russian markets to check it out before we headed up the road for dinner.

Awesome first day, and I think a few people will sleep well again tonight.

Goodnight…