When 16-year-old Zack Panagiotopoulos accompanied his family on the Tabitha Foundation house building project in Cambodia last year, it opened his eyes to another world.
A world of flood ravaged dwellings, active land-mines and paranoia.
One where the aftermath of Cambodia’s mass genocide continues to plague the community, some 30 years on.

“It’s more than just handing over a cheque,” adds Peter. “It’s about showing these people that we genuinely care about them. So when we are building their house, it’s helping them to believe in humanity again.” Peter Panagiotopoulos

“It was a shock what you see over there (sic)- we went to the killing fields and you could still see the clothes of the dead coming through the ground,” he says.

But it was the rewarding experience of building a house for an otherwise homeless family that has inspired both Zack and his father, Peter, to return to Cambodia this week. Working under the auspices of the Tabitha Foundation, Peter, Zack and two of Zack’s classmates from Xavier College will spending five days in Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh.

There they will assist one destitute family to build their own house.
“It had such an impact on my wife and the boys last time that when we got back, we decided to invite students to participate,” says Peter, who is also the school psychologist at Xavier College.

“It will not only give them an awareness of developing countries like Cambodia but hopefully encourage them to initiate changes in communities down the track.”

It costs just $1,500 to construct a one room dwelling for a poor family, funds which they have accumulated from generous donations, including an elderly Greek pensioner.
“It’s more than just handing over a cheque,” adds Peter.

“It’s about showing these people that we genuinely care about them. So when we are building their house, it’s helping them to believe in humanity again,” adds Peter.
Peter highlights that the genocide by the Pol Pot regime in the late 70s is responsible for the poverty and lack of infrastructure in Cambodia today.

Many families cannot afford to build a house because they have been afflicted by land-mines.

Civilians live in a community of mistrust, as children who carried out the genocide are now adults who continue to live in the community.

Under the detested Pol Pot regime children as young as 12 and 13 were brainwashed and forced to take part in the genocide, which killed over 1.5million Cambodians, yet as Peter points out, “they were children then how could you try them in court now?”

He goes on to say that many are left homeless because of the wet season.
“People live in small huts made out of palm leaves thatched together, and floors made out of dirt,” he says.

“This is a problem because each year they get flooded and have to rebuild.” The house that they are to build will therefore be made on stilts two metres off the ground and with corrugated iron to keep the family safe from the floods.

The Tabitha Foundation house-building program commenced in 1996, with students from the international schools in Singapore and Cambodia building two houses.

The program has since expanded to include students, teachers, parents, individuals and corporate groups throughout different countries. In the 2007-08 financial year 33 Australian house-building teams that visited Cambodia built a total of 284 houses to accommodate approximately 2272 Cambodians.

Tabitha believes that to break the cycle of poverty you must first help the people to believe in themselves.