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Final Student Debrief next Tuesday

Hi everyone

We hope you have settled back into life back home, enjoyed the Ball and are now getting stuck into your Year 12 Studies!

We would like to hold our final De-brief ( including afternoon tea) next Tuesday 12/2  in Cousins Hall at Duncraig at 4pm.

It would be great to see all of you there. Parents are welcome to join us at 4.45pm if they would like to come along.

We are excited to have everyone back together again for one final debrief  & catch-up😊

Mrs Libbis, Mr Biddle & Miss Glacken

On the way home!

Good morning all

What a great trip we have had! Unfortunately all good things come to an end and we head home shortly. I am sure you can’t wait to hear all the stories and see your gorgeous child, they have all been amazing.

Flight details:

SQ 215 Singapore Airlines 11.55pm tonight

Kind regards

Sue, Charles & Eleanor

 

 

 

Our day in Siem Reap

Today was an early start, checking out of our hotel at seven in the morning. We loaded up the vans and made the six hour ride to Siem Reap. It was a long and scenic ride through the depths of the Cambodian provinces. We entertained ourselves by playing cards and made the time pass by having restful sleeps (part of the time – due to disturbances e.g getting a recorder inserted into your mouth). We arrived at Siem Reap, unpacked and headed straight to Pub Street. Once there we were given twenty dollars to spend on dinner and lunch for the next day. While at Pub street we met some interesting characters such as a little girl with a tarantula, Nepi the scorpion seller and backpackers from around the globe. Our time was well spent eating delicious food including burgers and ice cream, bartering with shop owners to claim small souvenirs and dodging traffic as well as we could. Overall this day was a tiring one but definitely one to remember.

Jordan and Hilton.

Bamboo Planting

Day 1: After a 45 minute drive from our hotel in Kratie we arrived in the isolated bamboo farm in Ko Ki. As we looked at the already planted trees we realised that this would be the hardest work we were going to do on the trip. Digging holes, filling it with manure and planting trees in the scorching sun left us all tired after a half day’s work. After a day in the bamboo farm we headed back to Kratie for some fun in the markets, buying the most useful, biggest, most traditional or the most products with the one dollar we were given.

Day 2: The now familiar drive, pumped with some music, meant we arrived at the farm in no time at all. We started off by weeding some of the older bamboo. After a delicious lunch we dug some more holes and planted more trees. In total we planted a total of 120 over the two days. Many hands made light work and it was a fantastic effort by all to finish off our days of service.

Sleep-out

On Thursday night, after a long day of working at EMP, we came back to I block where we would be staying the night with our Khmer family. We were divided into groups of 4 and given $2 to purchase food for dinner at the local markets. We all had fun negotiating and communicating with the Khmer people. After the markets, each group was given the responsibility of either setting up the bedding for the night, which included mozzie nets and blankets, or helping the family prepare dinner. Some surprises along the way included glow sticks and fireworks from the Raw crew to celebrate the completion of the house and Olivia’s birthday, which the kids all loved eating her cake, a rare treat for them. Overall, the sleep out was an amazing and unique experience as we got to see first hand how the Khmer people live on a day to day basis.

 

Ash and Sascha.

Credit to Callum Smith for the amazing photography skills!

 

Final Day of Building and handover

Finally decent Wifi!

Thursday 10 jan
Last day of building

Got to EPM (the site for the build) at about 9 and had a quick Pete Pep Talk to motivate us for the last day on site. Everyone got back to their jobs from the past few days and smashed out their work. My group was on stairs so we really tried to have the poles finished so we could do the slats after lunch. After a few hours of hard and focused work we stopped for lunch at i-block where Liv got a cake for her birthday 🙂
When it came to the end of the day, we hadn’t quite finished off the house – just had to put the roof on. It was so nice to see everyone encouraging each other to finish and do just a bit more. We finished off the stairs in record time, using the nail gun to hold the bamboo slats in. We all stood in front of the house for some photos and admired the work everyone had done. Pete told us that our St Stephen’s team has done the most work in 4 days than any other team which was impressive! It brings RAW closer to their goal of completely finishing a house in 4 days for a family in need.
We gathered in a circle so the family was able to thank us and tell us about what the house meant for them. The mother said that her youngest son previously owned no clothes and now he had some for 4 days, because of our work on the house. It’s amazing what we accomplished considering at home we would probably just be watching Netflix and sleeping. After we had said goodbye and good luck, we drove to i-block to begin our sleep out adventure.

Well done everyone for the effort you put in, we’ve now helped a family have a new start to their life.

Written by Demi
Edited by Lauren

Kratie Province

Arrived safely in Kratie Province after a long day on the bus- limited wifi but we are all well and ready for work on the bamboo plantation tomorrow. More details to come soon!

Day 3

As the sun rose on Day 3, the rooster crow across the street already has most up at 4. After a delicious breakfast and the familiar, bumpy ride across river and road to get to EPM, the SSS Ninjas were ready to get stuck in. First order of business – the floor was lifted onto the supports. Everyone lent a hand (tallest member to shortest) and the floor was secure in no time. With walls and floors done, groups began work on the daybeds, shades and stairs. With the skeleton on the roof in place, tin sheets began to cover it (a shiny, slippery, sweaty job) and the toliet block was bricked to past the head of “short people” (Abi and Faye). We travelled to Iblock where we had another delicious lunch made by the locals and we all had a lot of fun playing with the kids. We love each other’s company and it’s getting harder and harder to say Li Hi (goodbye) each day! Day 3 was sweaty work but time went fast due to music pumping throughout the site! We were also accompanied by another tour group building House #12, so EPM felt busier than ever.  With our last of four days at site tomorrow, we are all extremely motivated to finish the house.

 

We also caught a glipse of a slippery friend on our way home!

Abi K & Sophie

 

Day 2 and lots of progress!

Another day on the EPM site and a lot of progress was made. Every group continued with their individual jobs as soon as we arrived.  The roof team almost completely finished the skeleton and will be ready to to put the tin on tomorrow and it will then get lifted into place. The wall team almost finished all of the walls and the floor is done! The main four poles were put in place. Tomorrow we are set to start putting everything together and then it will start to look like a real house. We have begun to get used to the heat even though it wasn’t as hot today. Everyone worked really hard, including Sascha, even though she caught up on some sleep in the afternoon! We are really looking forward to tomorrow when the house starts to come together.

 

Abi and Faye 🙂

Photo credit to Munish 🙂

(Except for Sascha’s photo that credit goes to her friends….)

 

Hitting the ground running!

The first day of construction was a blur of power tools, sweat, dirt and dust. We hit the ground running with Pete and his Khmer crew giving us crash courses on angle grinders, drop saws, circular saws, sander, drills along with many other tools. So far we have completed all four stilts, half the walls, all the shades and are working our way through the bathroom and roof. We stopped at noon for lunch made by local Cambodian ladies which consisted of plenty of rice, curry, noodles, fried vegetables and fruit! We enjoyed our food  and also got time to spend playing with all the kids. We met the family that we are building the home for and the gratefulness they had for us was heart-warming. The dad is a fisherman while the mum takes care of their 6 small children at home. A hard day of work but extremely rewarding.

Analiese and Lauren

NB: No-one has lost any fingers yet!