Hands and Hearts Cambodia

Hands and Hearts Cambodia

'Take only photographs, leave only footprints" goes the much-used advice about how to travel the world. But if you're curious enough to look beyond the well-trodden tourist paths around Cambodia and leave something behind that is real, tangible and life-changing - like a home - maybe you're ready to take on Habitat for Humanity's biggest project to date, Hands and Hearts Build with Habitat Australian ambassador Angela Catterns.

In March 2012 the world's biggest not-for-profit provider of housing for low income families in need is taking on its greatest project to date, a bid to provide 140 homes for families and orphans, many of whom are HIV-positive, and is looking for 100 Australians to travel to Phnom Penh and spend a week in Cambodia getting their hands dirty.

'Life is tough enough when you are poor in Cambodia - but when you add in the stigma of HIV, people are truly marginalised, their jobs are at risk and their children suffer," says Angela Catterns.

'Most of all, people have nowhere to live and without a safe and decent home, their ability to earn an income, provide an education for their children and good healthcare for themselves is virtually impossible.

A woman stands all night so her children can sleep in hammocks while a city's waste runs underneath their floorboards.
She is HIV-positive and because of this she lost her job as a seamstress and was abandoned by the husband who infected her, left to bring up her children alone.
She stands through the night because there is nowhere for her to sleep. She lives in the shack because there is nowhere else for her to go.

'Cambodia is a country that is showing a reduction in the incidence of HIV and this is where Habitat's work is going to be incredibly effective. By building homes we're sharing real hope for a healthy future with families, one where their children can escape poverty, be educated and grow up in a safe and secure environment."

Angela Catterns had never laid a brick in her life when she travelled to Cambodia for the first time in November 2011, but by the end of a week she was part of the team handing over a house she had helped build to a family in need.

'It's an incredible feeling - I helped build a house for someone!" she says, 'I worked alongside the family and helped them to do something that is more meaningful than just donating money."

Jo Brennan, CEO, Habitat for Humanity Australia is hopeful she will see more than 100 Australians roll up their sleeves for this build.
'Cambodia is an extraordinary country and very popular with Australians as a tourist destination - more than 26,000 of us holidayed there last year. The culture, landscape and people are truly extraordinary but it is also a country of tragedy with 8 per cent of children orphaned and around 7,000 living with HIV/AIDS," she says.

'But it is a country filled with hope, where health and community initiatives around HIV/AIDS prevention are proving to be effective and where projects like Hands & Hearts will deliver incredible and long-lasting results for people. By providing homes, we're giving families the stability and security they so desperately need, and enabling access to health and education services that will help them change their future."

People interested in finding out more about the build should visit www.habitatforhumanity.org.au website. They do not need any building experience at all - they will be taught how to do a variety of building activities including mixing cement, painting, moving and laying bricks and so on, by local expert builders.

Each volunteer will raise $5,000 in funds towards the project and Habitat can help with fundraising ideas and support, and cover their travel costs (around $750 for accommodation and food) plus airfares.

Habitat for Humanity is the world's number one not-for-profit provider of housing for low income families in need. Established in 1976, Habitat for Humanity has changed the lives of people all over the world. Today, Habitat for Humanity works in thousands of communities and has built, rehabilitated and repaired well over 500,000 homes, sheltering more than 2 million people. Currently, every 7 minutes a family has a better home and a better life thanks to Habitat for Humanity, its volunteers and partners.