Jordan Howie has found that he really enjoys helping people from other countries.
And he looks forward to the next opportunity to assist others.
The Estevan resident was in the Asian country of Cambodia from June 2-16, where he helped build homes for villagers in the country through an organization named Reach Out Volunteers.
鈥淚 was with a group, and we built a house one week, and then I joined a second group the next week, and we were starting the foundation of another house that was being built over a period of three weeks,鈥� said Howie.
He arrived in the country and met up with team members in the city of Siem Reap. They were worked in a village that was about a 20-minute drive from where they were staying in the central part of Siem Reap.
Reach Out Volunteers funds three schools in the area, so they were working in an area near one of those schools.
鈥淲e built a house for a family of six,鈥� said Howie. 鈥淭he house they were living in was really small. I don鈥檛 know how big it would be in square feet, but it was no bigger than my university dorm room, and it鈥檚 pretty small.鈥�
The house they built was much bigger, and likely five times the size of what the family was living in previously.
鈥淲e had help from some of the villagers, and they were setting up the foundation while we were working on the walls for the house. And we also built a sceptic tank for them too, for the bathroom,鈥� said Howie.
They started out by making the frames for the bamboo walls. They took little strips of bamboo and shaved them off with a machete to prevent people from getting slivers when handling them. The bamboo was weaved together, and then palm leaves were placed overtop of them.
It was supposed to be a two-week job, but it was completed in a week by the 13-person group, with the assistance of the villagers who were local construction workers.
Each day, when they were done work, they would head to the school and play soccer with the children, while the girls on the team would braid and put flowers in the hair of female Cambodian students.
In the second week, Howie and other volunteers built a home for a family of five. They worked on it for a week by working on the foundation and laid cement brick, building it 11 metres high and nailing wood together to be the frame of the house.
鈥淥n the last day, we finally set up all of the frames,鈥� said Howie.
They put beams across on the roof, and the next week, another group worked on the wall and the roof of the house. That home is now finished.
Howie noted there was a blessing ceremony for the house. Cambodia is a predominantly Buddhist nation, and so there were a lot of traditions during construction that he thought were cool.
鈥淔or example, when we were building the foundation for the house, every morning the family would put incense in the middle of the foundation, and that鈥檚 supposed to draw spirits in and protect the house and to set up the foundation,鈥� said Howie.
When they put the frame up on the last day, the people placed money under the beams to bring good luck to the family.
Howie also spent a month backpacking through Thailand in May before he arrived in Cambodia. Midway through May, he was at an elephant nature park, where he did a day tour and fed and walked elephants.
The older elephants had been saved from circuses and other ventures.
鈥淎 lot of elephants that are saved, tend to not be too friendly towards humans, but these ones have been there for a while, and they started to get their trust back, but there are a lot of others there that they keep away from the humans just for now, because they鈥檙e still transitioning to learning how to being loved, because they never experienced that,鈥� said Howie.
The baby elephants were the most playful creatures he has ever seen.
It鈥檚 not the first time he has travelled internationally through Reach Out Volunteers. Two years ago, he worked in Peru. This time around, the tasks were a lot harder, but he said he had a great experience.
He hopes to do it again, although he鈥檚 not sure when, and he would go through Reach Out Volunteers.
鈥淚 always recommend to everybody to go through this organization,鈥� said Howie. 鈥淚 just love all of the work they do. The people I鈥檝e met there are the greatest people I鈥檝e ever met, and I believe that everything they do really does make a change in the world.鈥�
The Cambodians were some of the nicest people he has met 鈥� friendly and caring. They love to talk to people, and want to learn English.
Tourism is a big industry in Cambodia, and they need to learn English to interact with others.
鈥淚t was just fun talking with all of the children that were trying to learn English,鈥� said Howie.
For this latest trip, Howie did some fundraising through a GoFundMe campaign. He raised enough to cover the $1,900 cost of the trip, and it was through the generosity of family and friends, many of whom live in the Estevan area.
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