Speed Building in Siem Reap

Can 15 people really build two houses in 4 days? You can if you've got an organized plan and friends in the neighborhood. 

I arrived in Siem Reap on Sunday and met up with the rest of the volunteer crew. We learned we'd be building houses for two young families under the supervision of the Volunteer Building Cambodia foremen. Our team started by tearing down the house one of the families was living in (the family on the right in the photo below). That only took 45 minutes and repeated shaking off the insects that were also living there and falling out as the walls and roof came down.

I spent most of the day painting my pants, shirt, hat, gloves and also some siding that will go on the house. There are only two VBC builders and the rest of the helpers are people in the neighborhood. Our favorites are a badass grandma and a man we have dubbed Paris Fashion Week because of his Coco Chanel bucket hat and sunglasses. After our crew leaves around noon, these people keep working to make sure we're on track for the 4 day schedule.

Day two started with a blessing before the ground breaking so that it would be a safe build for everyone. Too bad that didn't happen on day one when two of the volunteers had to go to the clinic - one for severe dehydration and the other to get 4 stitches in a cut on her arm. They are both okay now and it was an excellent scared straight way to remind us all to stay hydrated and be careful.

After the blessing, we raised the frame that was assembled while we were visiting the Hero Rats at APOPO. More on that coming up on Feel Good Friday. I spent the rest of the morning painting, varnishing shutters, and helping build scaffolding. It's all going very quickly and I can't wait to see what gone done after we left today.

We finished our day with a visit to the market and a cooking class where we made spring rolls, chicken amok and pumpkin custard inside pumpkins. All very delicious.

The photo dump is below. I'll add photos of me as I get them from other people. In the meantime, please enjoy the stylings of Paris Fashion Week. 

Feel Good Friday - Ratical Rodent Rescue

Today’s post is a bit of a rodent offset for me. Having to address some unwanted visitors in my home, I’m counterbalancing that by highlighting an organization that supports small rodents, Ratical Rodent Rescue.

Founded in 2008 and headquartered in Vallejo, California, the mission of Ratical Rodent Rescue (RRR) is "to improve the lives of domestic rodents and other small animals through education, rescue, and rehabilitation.”

The types of animals RRR works with includes rats, mice, guinea pigs, chinchillas and any other small rodents who need rescuing. According to this article, in 2022 RRR had 150 guinea pigs that people purchased during the height of COVID and turned in after realizing they could no longer provide adequate care for them.

While RRR provides housing and sanctuary for these animals, their goal is to find them forever homes. The adoption process is both simple and serious. You must sign a contract confirming that you will provide safe, suitable housing and food for the animal as well as humane treatment and veterinary care. RRR provides care guides to help you provide the best environment for your new friend.

If you’re concerned that having a pet will affect your ability to travel, fear not. RRR offers boarding services at a reasonable fee and if your pet stays longer than 3 days, they’ll receive complimentary grooming.

Interested in supporting the work of Ratical Rodent Rescue? As always, there are many ways to do so. People living in the San Francisco Bay Area can sign up to volunteer at RRR. You can also foster or adopt an animal and provide them with a happy home. No matter where you live, you can show your rodent love by buying and wearing some merch, making a donation and spreading the word on social media. Follow Ratical Rodent Rescue on Facebook and Instagram.

 

Feel Good Friday - APOPO

Today's Feel Good Friday is all about the rats of APOPO (an inspiration I will neither confirm, nor deny, is based on something I saw in my neighborhood).

The work of APOPO, a Dutch acronym describing landmine detection, is summed up in their tagline: "we train rats to save lives".

Since the organization's founding in Belgium in 1997, APOPO has been training scent detection rats to detect landmines and tuberculosis. This 45-second video, made for their 20th anniversary, gives a quick overview of the programs.

This work is necessary because there are 61 countries in the world with hidden landmines that injure over 8,000 people each year and prevent communities from farming on productive land. Using metal detectors to find the landmines is a slow and dangerous process. Here's where the rats of APOPO come in.

Dubbed HeroRATs, the African giant pouched rats from Tanzania have a highly developed sense of smell, are easy to train and too light to detonate the landmines when walking over them. They're also fast! An area the size of a tennis court would take a human with a metal detector 4 days to clear. A HeroRAT can search the same area in 30 minutes! APOPO's landmine program is currently operating in Angola, Cambodia and Mozambique.

HeroRATs not focused on landmines are trained to detect tuberculosis. Each year there are 10 million new global cases of tuberculosis and 1.6 million people die from the disease. HeroRATs sniffing sputum samples are faster and more efficient than microscopy. HeroRATs can check 100 samples in 20 minutes vs. a human checking 25 samples per day. Samples identified as positive by the rats are verified by lab technicians. Watch a short video of how it works here.

Although it may seem unconventional, the results are impressive. Since they began over 20 years ago, APOPO has destroyed more than 106,000 landmines and the HeroRATs found over 12,000 TB-positive patients, improving clinic TB detection by 40%. To learn more, explore the website for stories of people who have been impacted by APOPO and read all the rat FAQs your heart desires.

If you'd like to support the work of APOPO you can make a traditional donation, adopt a HeroRAT, shop for merch or create your own volunteer position! Keep current on stories from the field by liking the APOPO Facebook page and following them on Twitter @HeroRATs