4
Wednesday, December 6, 2017 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Sisters Habitat for Humanity builds in Cambodia
By Carol Pedersen Moorehead
Correspondent
It’s hot and humid in
Cambodia, the sun intense
on this November day. Sweat
is pouring onto my mortar
bucket. Heat emanates from
the blocks I am setting as we
construct an exterior wall.
Water from last night’s rain
puddles on the dirt road we
tread to reach the construc-
tion site.
Most of us do not per-
form manual labor on a reg-
ular basis, certainly not in
these tropical conditions. If
we visit the tropics, we play
in the ocean and imbibe in
fancy drinks with miniature
paper umbrellas. Yet, here
we are day after day hauling
sand, cement and water to
make mortar, filling our mor-
tar buckets, laying blocks and
climbing scaffolding as our
exterior walls grow beyond
our reach. Moreover, we paid
our own airfare and a stipend
for the privilege of doing this
work in the enduring heat.
Most of us will stay on for a
week afterwards to tour more
of this kingdom or make a
visit to nearby countries.
The families for which
we build have become “our”
families.
A family representative
was present each day at the
build site and would assist in
small ways. In the case of our
family, Pin Chhoeu did not
really meet his wife until they
were married, not because of
custom, but because the bru-
tal Khmer Rouge regime that
took over the country in the
1970s forced marriages to
assure another generation of
soldiers. Although the Khmer
Rouge was driven out of
Cambodia in 1979, this cou-
ple is still together, and with
their four younger children
relish the opportunity to have
a home free of flooding, with
a flush toilet.
We take care when apply-
ing mortar and leveling the
blocks to assure a secure
structure. After we leave
the build site around 4 p.m.,
some of the local paid con-
struction workers continue
the work and in the morn-
ing, we inspect it, find fault
with the way the blocks now
slope or fail to match up. We
“own” this work and want
our sweaty efforts to pay
dividends for our families for
years and years to come.
A team of 15 representing
Sisters Habitat for Humanity
flew to Cambodia recently to
help build 23 homes under
the guidance of Habitat for
Humanity International
G l o b a l Vi l l a g e . T h i s
Cambodia Big Build attracted
253 international participants
with teams of participants
from Australia, New Zealand,
Canada, Great Britain, Hong
Kong and the USA.
Our Sisters team worked
on two different houses, both
made of compressed-earth
blocks. The blocks are faster
to make than classic fired
brick and manufactured at
a nearby site. There, work-
ers scoop shovels full of soil
onto a large screen where it
is hand-sifted until a very
fine product piles up below
and is ready to combine with
clay, cement and water then
molded and compressed
into blocks. The compressed
PHOTO BY GARY MILLER
A joyous celebration of a house built with love. A house now made a home
for a Cambodian family.
blocks are set in the sun to
dry. Two days later, they will
be stacked and kept watered
for one to two weeks before
they are building-ready.
Five tools were indis-
pensable for our project: the
bricky tool — a gauge to lie
upon the blocks as a frame
for our mortar layer, a trowel
to apply the mortar, a level to
assure a flat surface, a rubber
mallet for leveling the blocks
and buckets to carry sand for
mortar mixing and mixed
mortar for application.
A cement foundation and
framework completed before
See CAMBODIA on page 6
Let Us Help You
Get Through
Winter!
549-9388
SISTERS
Wood Fuel Pellets
& Delivery
Insulated Faucet Covers
Foam Vent Plugs
Pipe Insulation
Ice-melt and More!
G I V E T H E G I F T O F A RT
SMALLWONDERARTSHOWTHROUGHDECEMBER
ONTHECORNEROFPINEST &W HOODAVE
Interchangeable
3-way Earrings
The BEST
way to spread
CHRISTMAS cheer
is singing LOUD
for all to HEAR.
H
Hours:
M-F
M F 8 to 5
5, S
Sat. 8 to 4
4:30,
30 Cl
Closed
dS
Sundays
d
440 N. Pine St. • 541-549-8141 • www.hoyts.net
— Buddy the Elf
ave
We H ing
k
Stoc rs!
e
Stuff
Tim & Ronnica Westcott
Jenny Duey
541-588-6611
541
588 6611
220 W. Cascade Ave.
SAGE ROOM
SPRD is the new place to come and enjoy new
friends, activities, exercise classes, excursions,
Ping Pong, or just a quiet cup of tea with friends!
Open 5 days a week, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
View SPRD activities & classes, and register
online at www.SistersRecreation.com
1750 W. Mckinney Butte Rd. | 541-549-2091
SNO CAP
MINI STORAGE
Sisters Industrial Park
157 Sisters Park Dr. • 541-549-3575
www.SistersStorage.com
• State-of-the-art
Security Technology
• Sizes from 5x5 to 12x40
• Individual Gate Codes
• Long-term Discounts
• On-site Manager
