Hi Ho Hi Ho

The build itself is slog - pure and simple. Yes, it's for a good cause and yes, the homeowner is there and it's all worthwhile - still slog. It's hot and dirty work. I'm one of the unskilled labourers so I do a lot of little tasks. On the first day, it is trimming bricks (they are handmade mud bricks so sometimes need to scrape the edges to get a smooth line), and other prettying duties. Cleaning up both dry and damp grout lines, scrubbing the brick faces, and the inevitable floor cleaning at the end. Brick and grout dust are in every pore and airway. Because we are only up to the bottom of the windows, I'm working quite low and my back is sore.

We break every 2 to 2 and a half hours, with other breaks as needed. Morning tea, lunch, and afternoon tea. We have an appointed house mother, Karen, whose job it is to nag us to drink enough, take enough breaks, wear sunscreen, etc. She feels responsible when house leader Paul has a bit of a turn at the end of the day because he didn't really eat at lunch. Apparently, in 2009 in Cambodia, there was a heat wave during the build and on day 1, they had 100 people on IV drips to rehydrate them. They are hoping to avoid that this year.

In addition to the house mother, there are also the water angels who come around with wheel barrows full of water bottles and electrolyte drinks in icy water. They also have spray on sunscreen and icy wet facecloths to put around your neck. Despite drinking nearly 3L of water, I sweat it all out on the first day.

When we return at the end of that first day, the looks on the faces of the immaculate, genteel hotel staff are priceless. They are clearly horrified when 200 westerners return to their hotel covered in sweat, dirt and dust at the end of the day. No doubt, this is not the usual behavior of their clientele. I'm not sure they were fully briefed on what we would be doing.

The second build day I'm filling in holes in the mortar work. From my mosiac days, I find I'm better using my hands (gloved) than trowels. I become known as a pedant. In the afternoon, I'm actually laying bricks. By the end of the day, we have the windows in and have bricked around to the top of them. I now feel like I could build a retaining wall on my own. I use terms like "rebar", "flush", "string line", and "plumb" like a pro.

It is bit hotter on day 2 but no incidents on our site. I hear that one of the other teams had someone fall off scaffolding, but no serious injuries.

Day 3 is known as the hardest day. It is so far one of the hottest. The scaffolding is up so we are all in hard hats. Good thing too since the scaffolding is Cambodian people height and I hit my head a few thousand times during the day. Because the brickwork is quite high, we are mainly runners for the guys on the scaffolds, passing buckets of mortar, buckets of water for the bricks, bricks, and whatever else they need.

Housemum Karen is at the farm so bossy britches Yank (me) is the house mum for the day. The angels have lost interest and we rarely see them. There is no more freebie sunscreen. For the guys on the metal scaffolding, it has to be even hotter. I'm ruthless with my team. When morning tea comes, I holler out break time, adding "And don't make me tell you again!" I become the water angel (sans sunscreen), bring cold water, electrolyte drinks and icy towels to the site frequently. On one such run, I ask team leader Andy if he needs water. when he replies that he still has some, I retort "That means you're not drinking enough!" Despite my efforts, Andy is down in the afternoon with a bit of heat stroke. By the end of the day we are laying the ventilation bricks near the roofline. The roof will go on the next day.

This is life at the moment, long bus ride, slog, long bus ride. Nearly too tired to eat at the end of the day. Day 1 we couldn't even face a beer at the end of the day, we were that exhausted. We joke that the experience is either (1) like a chain gang - with a fancy hotel; (2) like a contiki tour for do-gooders; or (3) like a school camp with alcohol that you are allowed to have.

At the end of Day 3, an organizer announces that at our hotel that night is a wedding party. The hotel has asked us to use the side door and go straight up the stairs. I hear of a former build where H4H stayed at a beautiful hotel in Shanghai and were asked to don disposable booties before re-entering the hotel.

Day 4 for me is the farm and brick making. Kind of a half day off from the slog, I'm looking forward to it. The farm is awesome but in the afternoon, it's my turn in the first aid office. I inadvertently have pork for lunch (reminder to self - if you don't know what it is, don't eat it). I take the evening at the hotel to recover. The slog is nearly done.