House Building in Thailand (Global Village Program)

Global Village is Habitat’s principal volunteer building program. The program offers volunteers a chance to build lasting friendships with fellow team members, and with Habitat home partner families.

In January 2011, a team of 18 HKUST students, staff and alumni went to Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand to build a house for a local couple. They were welcomed by the local staff of Habitat for Humanity Thailand as well as the home owner.

The team had a mission to build a house with local staff and the home owner in this 5-day build. The tasks they have done including transferring soil into the house to lay the foundation, mixing cements, laying bricks to build the wall, digging a hole for installation of septic tank, etc. In between the breaks and lunch, they interacted with the locals, playing games and dancing together.

Through good teamwork, the team actually finished building the house one day ahead. A House Dedication ceremony was held on 14 January. The team passed a symbolic key to the couple and they celebrated together for the completion of the new home. They also had a farewell party in the evening, in which they gave blessings to each other.

After the build, the team had 3-day cultural exploration in Bangkok. They visited some famous tourist attractions, including the Damnern Saduak floating market, the Grand Palance, Wat Pho, etc. They had deepen their understanding toward Thai culture after the exploration.

Before the trip, the team had 3 pre-trip workshops to prepare themselves for the trip, which include investigating houseing issues in Hong Kong and Thailand and team building exercises. The team also had a post-trip workshop to share their learning experience.