St Stephen’s School and the parents of our students should be very proud at how this team of young people have performed and made such an impact in a family’s life in Cambodia.
Not just this, but what this team has experienced, learnt, felt and done together as a group is not something that can be taught in a classroom.

The house our team built is undoubtably the single best house in the village of Ko Ki (not just bias) and the workmanship and effort that went into this project shone through in the result.

Unfortunately the family moving into their new home weren’t able to be there at the time we finished it. The father is sick and in hospital in Phnom Penh and it is possible that he may not get to return if his condition deteriorates. The mother is with him and the children are with another family in the village.

This family is the poorest family in an already poor village. Their previous house (below) are the remnants of what they used to live in which collapsed on them one day.

In providing this family a house, it doesn’t just give them a roof over their head. This is where the family can feel safe, and where the children can grow up and create memories.

In a situation such as this where the parents have no money and cannot survive, as we were educated at SHE Rescue, it puts the children at high risk of trafficking and exploitation. For the boy, he could be trafficked to work in another village or somewhere completely away from home and for the girl, unfortunately child sex trafficking is a huge business here and in situations like this, a mother may have no choice but to give up her daughter into the hands of who knows what…just to keep her family alive. This is the unfortunate dark reality here where something so unthinkable could be done, though can you imagine what sort of a situation someone would be in to choose to sell their own child?

The team did such an amazing job in finishing the house in such a short time that we had extra time to put in a huge swing off the side of the house. This is the only swing in the entire village and will be a bunch of fun for the children to play in the safety of their home. In addition, we were able to source some more materials to put a large kitchen area under the house (where most families cook in Cambodia). This had a huge bench area which looked great when it was finished.

Window and door latches were some other small intricacies which we were able to get installed too, along with some shelving inside the house

Our amazingly hard working team were able to complete all this, including having half the team off over two respective half days to go for an unscheduled kayak down the Mekong river!

Even though the family wasn’t present, as a team we took a moment to reflect on the work, take a step back and absorb the difference this would make to this family.
The comments from the team were a mixture of accomplishment, amazement in their own ability and happiness for the family.
As a team we prayed over the house that the God we serve would take care of the family and that it would be a house of love and laughter.

It’s been a humbling experience to be able to do something for someone which we may never meet on this earth, and an experience nobody will be able to take away from any of us.

This trip has enabled an opportunity for the students to live out St Stephen’s School motto of “Serve God, Serve One Another” all in their own time and achieved by the fundraising they have done throughout the year.

“You can not live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you.” -John Wooden