URBAN DOMAIN 2024

Temples Day 5 Community Project Final Day

November 13, 2015

Today was the last day of our build.

After all of our sweaty, hot and dirty efforts, we have finally come to the end of Community Project House Build.

On the way to the village we stopped to buy school supplies, food, specifically rice and other necessary items. We bought them as gifts from our fundraising money to help them through times when food is scarce.

When we showed up, we started to realize the enormity of what we have contributed to and created. Not only giving them a new home, but a new leash of life.

But there was still plenty of work to do!

With the money we raised these people will benefit from the house many different ways. Their health will improve dramatically because the high stilts will protect them from the monsoon weather and the destruction and disease it brings. It also allows their money to be focused on educating their children and not health issues and generally make them happier and their lives more enjoyable. A few of us tore down the old house. The house where a family of 6 lives, yet it is smaller than our bathroom! Pulling down the final walls of their old lives, we realised the poverty that we are lifting them away from.

Afterwards they gifted us with a ceremony full of singing and dancing while we circled their new home three times. The smiles on their faces made all the pain and effort worthwhile. We then took our final steps up to their new home to celebrate their new life. Lucinda began to speak, but couldn’t hold back the tears knowing how much it means to the family to have this amazing opportunity. Felix ended the speech beautifully with the family smiling uncontrollably. They then gave us some heartfelt words in Khmer that our local Cambodian Guide translated for us. I think we could all agree the best bit was the laughter and happiness that took over us all when the gifts were given to the village people and children!

By Lucy Callahan and Jack Skelly

P.S. To all the Families we are having the best time!

Vietnam Yellow: Day 5, Mai Chau

November 13, 2015

By Prue Schwarz

After day 2 of our community project the house is progressing well.

5 days into the experience of a life time and I am feeling excited but also a bit exhausted. The sound of the crickets at night and the bells of the running cows ( check Nicole’s post ) during the day really makes you know that you are in Vietnam. The adorable puppies roaming the streets makes you want to take one home and resisting patting them is a struggle. My favourite part of this trip so far has been the opportunity to be able to give a very poor family a roof above their heads and provide them with a good living space for the rest of their lives.

P.S. Mum, Dad and Sara hope you’re all well

Sofie

I am overjoyed that I have had the opportunity to visit beautiful Vietnam. Although it is quite hot and humid, compared to unpredictable Melbourne, I am enjoying every aspect of Vietnam, soaking in every opportunity that I receive. My favourite activity that Vietnam Yellow has participated in was building the house. Although it was incredibly tiring, it was worth the feeling of goodwill.

-Meghna

The Big Experience is the opportunity of a lifetime. It’s only day five and we have already nearly finished building a house, experienced the tastes of Vietnamese food, watched an extravagant show of water puppetry and visited an Australian embassy. My favourite part so far was watching part of the water puppetry and building a house for those who are homeless.

-Tal

Vietnam is very different to Australia – and I am enjoying experiencing the different culture and meeting the local people. The most heartwarming experience so far was when we met the family and their son who we are building the house for. Building the house has been hard work, but worth it. The puppies that have been roaming round are so cute, and we are buying piglets and a cow for the family and they are also very cute. I have enjoyed every moment of this trip, and I am looking forward to sharing many stories.

P.S Hi Mum, Dad, Sarah and Harry

-Anna

It’s only 5 days into the Big Experience and we have done so many amazing things which I will remember forever. Yesterday we met the family who we are building a house for and it was a really heart-warming experience. We finished the roof today and the Vietnamese tradies kept laughing at us when we were dropping the fronds as we were passing them to the roof. There have been so many funny moments but the cows were the best (check Nicole’s post). We’re having so much fun and can’t wait for the rest of the trip and experiences to come.

P.S. Hey Mum, Dad, Josh & Sam

-Faye

Along with the incredible experience of building a home for such a deserving family, the little things that happen along the way have made the beginning of our trip so amazing. For example, Sofie, Faye and I had the memorable experience of sharing a narrow road flanked by crop fields with a herd of cows while carrying palm fronds. Faye was pushing the wheelbarrow, which took up the majority of the path, and all was well – until we heard the clanging bells of cattle ringing down the road, followed by Magnus the shepherd. In fear for our lives, the wheelbarrow was discarded, and we raced into the rice fields. The cows thundered past, but not without colliding with our precious cargo. With our hearts thumping in our chests, we laughed almost until we cried, and it will be a story we remember forever.

P.S Hi Mum, Dad, James and Charlie, hope you’re well! Xx

Nicole

We are now in Mai Chau building a house for a deserving family. I never fully realised all that building a house encompasses- discipline, hard work, bucket loads of sweat, and an immense satisfaction that makes this all completely bearable, and somewhat enjoyable. Yes, we may have had to get used to the sounds of laughter from the Vietnamese people whenever they get a glimpse of our lack of coordination, but meeting the family we will be building this house for is so eye opening. It really gives us so much happiness to be helping this family and creating a better and stable life for them. I’ve been getting so close with everyone- Your Chau has become Mai Chau.

PS. hi mum, dad, Stephanie and Laura!! Missing you all heaps xx

-Elise

On day 5 of our Vietnam trip we have already seen and experienced many things. I liked walking through and shopping in the streets of Hanoi. The food is really nice and there is heaps of variety. The house build has been fun but very tiring. I’m having a blast.

Hi mum, dad, will, Harry and Tim.

-James Cowie

On the 5th day of our big experience some heinous roosters woke us up in the morning. We then enjoyed a ripper brekkie, followed by heading off to the cracker village to do some groovy construction. The beaut of a house is coming along nicely and will be almost complete with another day of strenuous work. Big E is grouse.

Pat

On day 5 of our Big Experience, we were woken by the roosters which is incredibly annoying. What I love about the early morning wake ups is taking three steps down our stairs and looking across to the vast view of the misty mountains. Heading to the building site everyone is already sweaty and after the first few hours you feel like you have just come out of a sauna. The house is coming on a treat and I cant wait to put the finishing touches on tomorrow!

Harry

We arrived in Mai Chau a few days ago after two nights in Hanoi. We visited places that I remember visiting before from my last trip. The loud horns and lack of road rules has all come back to me. We have nearly completed the build for a family in a village in Mai Chau only needing to completes was and touch ups. It has been interesting learning about techniques and materials used by the villages to create these huts. Big E has been a sick experience that has reached my expectations.

-Connor

We came to Mai Chau on the 3rd day of the Big Experience. We are staying in a house on stilts under mosquito nets. One of the most interesting things that I have found in Vietnam is the lack of road rules. Even crossing the road is quite a challenge; as it is possible that a motorbike will just come blazing around the corner. One of the hardest part about this trip is building the house. It is very taxing moving the supplies from place to place. It is like living in a oven here, with the high humidity and hot temperatures. The house is almost done and I can’t wait till it is finished.

P.s. Hi mum, dad and Charlotte.

Tom T

5th day and I’ve already lost my wallet too many times to count (dw mum and dad, I found it). I don’t know if it’s really hit me yet but it’s been good. The first hotel had a nice tv, good coffee. Everything here is made of wood. There are some pretty cute dogs here but none as great as my Bella, I miss her most of all (jk).

C u guys soon

James S-J

We are on our 5th day of our Big Experience, When we arrived in Vietnam we stayed stayed at Hanoi for a few days, to experience what it is like to be in Vietnam as well as going to see Ho Chi Minh and the Australian embassy. We then travelled by bus to Mai Chau via bus for four hours (boring!!) Once we arrived we were quickly greeted by the locals and taken to our home stay. We are staying in a house on stilts, with prepared meals and reasonably nice accommodation. Each morning we are woken up by the most annoying roosters. We met that family who the house is for and have enjoyed constructing the house each day. So far Vietnam has been great and I have loved the trip so far.

Love and miss you all, mum, dad, Katie and Charlie!

-James Reid

After a few amazing days in Hanoi trying out the different foods, we travelled by bus to Mai Chau. Within a few hours we had gone from a busy city filled with scooters to a village crowded with cows, dogs and other farm animals. With such a relaxing first few days in Hanoi, the group wasn’t prepared for the immense poverty in Mai Chau. Once we had made our way to see the family that we were building a house for, we were immediately hit with the heat, humidity and labour of Vietnam’s rural areas. Our accommodation on stilts gave us a well needed rest for the days of hard work ahead. The first day requiring us to carry ferns, wood and cut down bamboo with the aid of machetes amongst other jobs to do. Today we assisted the locals in assembling the roof as well as nailing the bamboo to the floor. I’m looking forward to the days to come.

-Magnus Rodgers

So far the most euphoric experiences in the village of Mai Chau have boiled down to two very different things. The first being the abundance of puppies and other baby animals in the villages and the second being my interesting experiences in carrying large bamboo shoots to the building site. It started off as a simple thing, same as we had done before, but then we went off path, then we went really off path, and the next thing we knew we were testing our balance skills on thin walkways between mud filled fields of crops, some of us knee deep in it. This was quite exhausting and after falling in twice I had all but been defeated by the fields of crops. If this is what the next two weeks are going to be, it’s going to be fun.

-Parker Stroh

Today we had a lot of fun building the floor out of bamboo and nailing it in. We also got to pick pigs and a cow. This will be an amazing gift for the villagers. I also had a very intense arm wrestle with Mr G.

– Andrew Cole

I have been quite amazed how the house is going, but a house is a house. What I am really happy about is we had lots of extra money so we could buy two pigs and a baby cow. I enjoyed nailing the floor down because I was nailing with this very happy and funny worker. I can not wait to see faces of the family we are building the house with their little baby boy.

-Will Faulkner

The food we have eaten is amazing. Every meal has been so delicious that it’s hard to imagine that they could have existed. Some things have been a bit unusual but the hungry children I am traveling with were so good that they just continue to eat it until the plate is empty. It is amazing here. The people who we have met so far have embraced us with open arms and are so kind. While sometimes the work is a bit hard it is worth it. I am having so much fun, with every new day come new and better things to do.

– Meg Wareham

Mai Chau has been a very interesting experience. The actual village itself is much quieter than Hanoi and some people are very poor. About an hour away we are building a house for some very poor villagers. The house is hard work to build but it is coming along nicely and it is very satisfying to see the house become constructed over time. The money raised from the walk is paying the wages of about twenty workers who are building the house, the materials for the house and because we had extra money we are buying two piglets, one cow, an electrical wire to give the family electricity and some other things like mosquito nets. The experience of building the house for these poor villagers has been very satisfying.

Tom N

LC Pagodas – Day 4

November 13, 2015

By Philip Walsh

Early rise once again, the team recovering from first day of building and getting ready for the next one, all tired and hot from the heat and humidity. We embarked on a 45 minute bus trip back to the village to continue our project. We all lacked energy and plugged in our iPods and earphones on the bus, wondering how the day would go.

After getting off the bus, we were greeted by familiar faces and many hugs and smiles. We set to work where we left off and continued building until lunch where we swapped jobs. A group of us helped prepare lunch for us whilst the rest of us worked through. One group focused on the house build which consisted of; nailing the floor boards and window frames. The other group focused on; sawing bamboo, cutting recycled water bottles to use as pots for the plants and hanging those off the outer and inner frame of the green house. The group that worked on the green house dug a trench and prepared the ground using compost for planting. The approximate time of growth is three months for various of plants to cover the green house and five months to bare fruit.

During the second rotation, a few students went off to meet the locals in the village whilst others continued the two sections of the jobs. Three of the children that we had been playing with took us to see their homes and meet their families. They each told us a story, Janpolla, Samime and Nuong. Janpolla is eight years old and has a five month old brother. Samime is fourteen and has an eleven year old brother. Nuong is thirteen and has a five year old brother, twenty three year old sister and a brother. Her mother is now a grandma – her sister gave birth to a girl who is two months old.

Most of the women in the village got married at fifteen and have never been outside of their village. Most of their husbands work on the farm which they stay on but come back at the end of rice harvest which will be in around a month, meaning they don’t see them that much and the women are by themselves most of the time. When we asked the kids what they might like to be when they grow up,my of them said that they wanted to be a tailor and others wanted to be a nurse or a teacher. It was very enlightening to hear that they shared some of our own aspirations.

Throughout the build, the team has had great communication skills and teamwork. Everyone has worked together to either put down the floorboards or put together the framework of the bamboo greenhouse. Within only two days, we are well on the way to giving a family a new start. Everyone is surprised at what we have achieved and are excited to be finishing tomorrow and handing a completed house over to a local Cambodian family in need.

Written by Anita Condello and Max King

Vietnam Orange – Day 4

November 12, 2015

By chyde

Mekong Delta

After our alarms sounded throughout the hotel telling Vietnam Orange to get up and go, it was full steam ahead. A delicious breakfast was provided from the hotel buffet giving us energy to fit our last minute items into a small backpack for our trip to the Mekong Delta. After some shopping we all filed onto the bus for a 3 hour trip.

Our tour guide, Suny, informed us about the village we were going to and some of her personal experiences. Suny grew up in the Mekong Delta so it was nice to have some local knowledge. As we pulled up to the ‘Happy House’ (toilet), we were glad to have a chance to stretch our legs and as some of us sipped coconut juice, others enjoyed a small game of soccer until the ball fell into the pond. To pass the time, many of us joined in on some card games, such as cheat, go fish and uno. Seeing as the night before, some people decided to rig the playing cards which was very frustrating when we were playing cheat and 6 queens were put down.

Upon arrival at the boat to take us along the river, we met our Mekong Delta guide, Han. He took us to a small island where we had some lunch. The lunch consisted of a small soup, spring rolls, rice and chicken. Suny tried to trick some of us (Bailey) into believing that the chicken was actually dog. Han also tried to tell us that the chicken was elephant. Tourists can be very easily fooled by locals. We got back into the boat and travelled to the village where we will be completing the building project. We checked out the site and met the family we were building the house for. The Deo family were very grateful and humble for our contribution.

We took the boat back to our homestay hostel. After checking in and putting our bags away, we were lucky enough to take part in a bike ride around the village. Some people were thrilled about the bike ride, others not so much. We received a lot of greetings from the local children and some adults as we rode around. They were very energetic and excited to see many new faces. Whilst most of the ride was enjoyable, we found out very quickly that we were riding on a 2 way track about 1 metre wide. Sharing this path with motorbikes was a challenge but the locals were able to navigate around us with ease.

We are really enjoying our trip so far and even though this day is the first quarter mark we can’t wait for the next 3!

Missing you all back home, love you all (this also includes the sometimes annoying siblings).

Lots of love,

Immy and Jessi

P.S. As we are in a remote village for the next few nights our blog may not be updated regularly.

China – Day 6 Xi’an

November 12, 2015

By nhutchinson

This morning we went to the Xi’an Centre for Children with Incarcerated Parents. When we arrived we were shown a video about how the village was started and how it has progressed over the years. We lucky enough to observe some of the stories of the children who had passed through the village and their experiences. It was a bit confronting to see how the children started but as the video went on it showed the sense of family in their community. It was great to see the successful stories of children who were reunited with their parents at the conclusion of their sentence.

About 10 children currently in residence at the centre arrived from kindergarten. The kids were about 3-4 years old so they were very shy at first but very excited to see us. They ran into the room and 4 of them got up and preformed a dance that they had practised for us. It was really well rehearsed and so adorable to watch. In return Daniel played a song called Demons on the piano and the kids, with their happy faces, surrounded him. To conclude the musical part of our meeting the kids went up on to the stage and some of us older people joined them to dance to the song Gangnam Style. It was interesting to see how easily we were able to connect to them and have something in common with them through dance and music.

We were given a tour of the village and were shown the primary school kids living areas. The girls rooms had many things, neatly organised, to make it feel like home whilst the boys rooms were a lot more simple. Overall the rooms had a common area and two rooms with bunkbeds. During the tour we saw the construction site of the new kitchen and music/media areas.

We brought footballs and soccer balls with us to give the children which the kids loved and we taught them how to use them. We also donated flour, rice, cabbages and two TV’s for the media and reading rooms where the kids stay on snow days in the colder months.

Before we left we had a bit of time to play with kids and connect with them. It was quite amazing to see how they warmed up to us. As we were leaving it was quite an emotional time even though we only spent a couple hours with them. As a trip group we felt very happy and proud to be helping out the village with our fundraising efforts.

After we had lunch we went to the city wall of Xian. It was incredibly big and we got the privilege to cycle around the whole thing which was 14km. The road was extremely rough as it was cobble stone but it was a good experience to see the city from 50m in the air. The mountain bikes managed the bumps well.

After the wall we went to a museum which displayed modern and historical arts. We learnt about our zodiac animals and what they mean. We saw old paintings that had been buried in tombs. They were a bit damaged and faded but they still showed their meanings well. Our tour guide from the museum taught us how to write Chinese characters using calligraphy equipment. It was fascinating to see how simple the characters actually are when they are broken down into certain strokes. We also learnt that bamboo paintings take ten years to master because they have to be studied for a very long time.

We had dinner at Tang dynasty theatre where we were served a dumpling banquet. After we had eaten there were several choreographed dances preformed on the stage about the Tang dynasty. The performers were very talented and the show feature fantastic costuming and staging. It was amazing to watch.

By Isabella Hall and Hannah Perkin 🙂

Temples Day 4 Community Project second day

November 12, 2015

By dtoohey

It was the second day completing our Community Project so for a different slant……

Cambodia An ancient civilization that has faced so much trauma and a place where a helping hand goes a long way.

Opportunity By assisting in the construction of the house we are learning and enhancing our life experiences and our understanding of the world.

Magical It is amazing what we feel and experience interacting with the local villagers, children and tradesman who all keep a positive outlook even though the work can be difficult and monotonous.

Memorable This experience will help shape our lives, making us stronger people and realising how fortunate we are when we observe others who are less fortunate

Understanding The experience of Khmer Rouge and modern corruption has stalled the economy and left Cambodia in a state of poverty.

New The relationships made are diverse and are on different levels both with students, teachers, tradesman and villagers.

Incredible It is hard to believe how we are lucky enough to see a new culture with different values and beliefs.

Technology Building the house is very different to “The Block”, we are building a house with rusty saws, bent nails, hammers, fragile wood and tin.

Youth Many of these children and villagers come to watch, help and inspire us, they live very happy un-materialistic lives.

Poverty The differences between our lives and their lives is a massive culture shock. There is a real similarity between poverty on our doorstep in Warruwi and in Cambodia.

Resilience With high humidity and exhaustion we must gather as one to power through this tough time. We must remember this will change everyone for the better.

Overwhelming Being put in such a challenging situation and environment makes us draw on our past experiences and makes us rely on each other

Juxtaposition The contrasts of environments and culture is clearly seen between Australia and Cambodia.

Education The contrast between our education at St Leonard’s and the education in the village provides a realization of our lives of privilege.

Communication The language barrier challenges us to communicate in new ways without words.

Transformation Through this we will change our perspectives and views on all aspects of our lives.

Stella Widman & Stanley Buntine