Japan Hope Builders 08-1 Update: The First Day of Work! (8/28)

Bangkok, August, 28

The Japan Hope Builders team left the lobby at eight in the morning. The construction site, Pattun Thani, is located about an hour away by expressway from the hotel. When the team arrived at the site, nine holes had already been dug in order to prop the columns. After the on-site orientation, the Japan Hope Builders team began work on this first job.
The first task was to scoop out the water from the nine holes from the heavy rain the night before using buckets and empty cans. The depth of the holes was about one meter. Even when we crouched down or got right down into the ground to scoop the rainwater out, more water seeped up out of the ground.
We divided into two groups to begin the next part of work after enjoying a Thai lunch of fried rice, chicken and a desert made from coconut.
The team worked on the foundation of the house by creating a wire frame, painted with reinforced paint and also made cement. Although in Japan, we are used to seeing cement making machines at construction sites and on roads with all the components already created. However, construction sites in Bangkok must create from scratch the materials for foundation building as well as cement, along with the necessary tools to create these materials.

Although the morning had been very sunny, it began to storm suddenly around 16:00 in the afternoon. The thunderstorms of the monsoon season are intense! But luckily, the day's work had been completed before it started to rain. We also finished creating all twelve poles for the wire framework needed for the groundwork.
For dinner, we went to the food court of one of the many large supermarkets near the hotel. Afterwards, we held a meeting in preparation for the elementary school visit the next day and folded origami cranes. These cranes had been made before by various participants to give as a present during the school visit.
The Voice of Participants
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Eiji (Sophomore): The reason I wanted to take part in this program is because I felt there was a lot to be gained from the experience of "house building" through manual labor. "I wanted to be able to participate in a program as a volunteer." In Japan, everyone is running around busy with daily life, but here, people are not preoccupied so much with time. Working together with everyone as a team on this project has been a lot of fun. Of course, working in a group means that cooperation is very important, and I think that I've been positively influenced by the can-do spirit of my team members around me. The homeowners, especially the father, are very nice, and I look forward to seeing him everyday.
Although the construction site is a bit far, I enjoy the variation of working in a rural setting during the day time and then having free time in the evenings in Bangkok.
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◆Related Reports on Japan Hope Builders 08-1 summer
≫Japan Hope Builders 08-1 Update: Arrival in Bangkok!