I was given an opportunity to join EPIC home for their 204th build for a Orang Asli family to have a home for themselves. This is my 3rd build with EPIC home.
This build was a corporate build which is sponsored by Yayasan Hartalega, a corporate social responsibilities arm of Hartalega.
This greeted us when we arrive on the site early friday morning. Empty land with the footing foundation for us to build the house on.
There will be 4 different teams of builders, we will focus on the structure, the roof, the wall and the floor. I was assigned for the floor. Each team has about 4-6 builders with a specialist to lead, guide, teach and also managed the progress of the build.
First day priority is to get the structure up, so that the rest of the 3 teams can able to start our tasks. While waiting for the structure to be up, we prepare the material, get the right timber, fiber cement board, the roof sheet to be ready, either putting them at the site for easy access or cutting the material to the size that we need.
Once the structure done and handover to other teams, this is when the multiple activities happening in parallel. You can see from the picture below, that the wall, some of the floor and the roof are installed. This is the end of first day.
On second day, all the team focus on the area that we were assigned, trying to complete the roof, wall and floor. But with emphasis on quality and safety.
The picture below show the progress at the end of second day. The front stairs was done by my team, it was challenging due to the unevenness of the floor and was raining, make the soil like clay. But we got it done, and making it easier for the rest of the team to get up to the house.
On the third day, it was a mad rush with the aim to complete the house by 4pm. You can see from the picture below, the roof was done, it is beautiful, the walls and windows was installed and painted, the foyer and the railing for the foyer was also done. I spent most of the day setting up the internal wall to separate the living rooms with the bedrooms and the kitchen.
Fortunately the heavy rain didn’t come as forecasted.
The is the front of the completed house.
This is the back of the house with a kitchen bench and the back stairs.
This is the side of the house. The windows and walls are very nicely done. The gable end on the wall are very nice too.
Adding these picture to show the inside of the house. Thanks to Kamarul for the picture. We were installing the inner walls.
These are the core team that were assisting the volunteers to build the house. Most of the core team member are volunteer ourselves and have multiple house build experience and went through a course to do that. Bunch of fun, friendly, crazy and skillful people that are generous is sharing knowledge and experience.
We had a small ceremony to hand over the house to the owner. From the left, Hashida, the master builder, Kuan Mun Leong CEO of Hartalega (sponsor of the house), Jon Son, founder of EPIC and the sister of the owner. The owner can’t leave work for the ceremony, I hope they like the house we built for them.
As with the previous 2 builds, this is another great experience, learn tons of new skills, what to do and especially what not to do. Get to know a new group of friends and strengthened the existing friendship.
Another great weekend. More in 2024. If you are interested to join the future build, visit this website. Take a look at the planned mission, sign up and it will change your life.
What a way to spend a weekend. No social media, no electronics, no computer screen. Just sweat, and a little blood, a lot of hard work and sacrificing the time to provide a home to a Orang Asli family, giving them and their children hope of a better future.
I will be back for more build.