A look into our Cambodia Building Blocks Adventure

Check out the following blog from Program Director Rhyle for some great insight into what you can expect from our Cambodia Building Blocks Adventure.

Our latest group of Volunteers for the month of July is done and dusted! A huge shout out to Yenara, Abbey Ellyse, Ryan, Liam, Kate, Poppy & Larissa for joining us on our latest Adventure. The group worked hard to fundraise over $3000 USD between them.

July was also one of our most successful & productive months at the project site to date. On top of the donation raised by the July group we also had a leftover donation that was raised by the group in January. They raised over $12,000!

With such a generous sum of money donated by our volunteers we had to get cracking on delivering much-needed housing, clean water & sanitation facilities.

We set out to build three houses, two water wells and a toilet in just two weeks! But not before a visit to the long lost ancient civilization that is the Angkor Archeological Park.

The group did a fantastic job building the first house. When the locals let us that is. Sometimes it’s their way or the highway and they often don’t like sharing the workload. But with a few funny looks and a couple wayward hammer swings the group began work on the construction site. Some of the girls got their hands dirty sawing bamboo, whilst the others inadvertently found themselves running a popup kindergarten. By the end of the first-day word had gotten out and there were over 30 children descending on the project site like it was Christmas.

Day two had the boys digging a hole for the toilet, also being donated to the family with the house. Toilets are important as they help divert human waste away from sources of water & agriculture. This prevents sickness & disease.

At night the group ate out in some of the best local restaurants in town, trawled through the endless array of night markets, experienced the epic PHARE Cambodian Circus (No Animals) and a gone but never forgotten drag queen show that ended with me getting a little more than I bargained for!

Every day the group diligently got up and slugged it out in the scorching heat for a great cause. The first house was up and ready by day four and the Volunteers took the weekend off to have a celebratory night out in town, visit the floating village and have a well-earned rest by the pool.

Week two had the group testing their teaching abilities at one of Siem Reaps most important Children Centres. As usual this proved more fun than work as the group spent the next five days teaching English games, singing songs, doing arts & crafts, and playing football.

During this time the local MyGapYear staff were busy back at the project site building the final two houses & water well. Working very hard in the hot sun to meet the two-week deadline. We got there in the end with two very happy families the reward for all those involved.

With construction complete & time at the Children’s centre coming to a close it was time for the group to spend the last few days getting some serious R&R. Including a visit to always magical Kulen Mountain & sacred waterfall, and one last night out in town to finish with a bang.

Thanks Dabbers,

Rhyle Simcock
Program Director

MyGapYear Travel

If you’re interested in coming on one of these epic trips drop us a line here. We still have places available for our December Adventure so get in quick to avoid serious travel envy. You can find more detailed information about the Cambodia Building Block Adventure HERE.