Volunteers Needed to Plan Habitat for Humanity House Const.

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Geoffrey
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Volunteers Needed to Plan Habitat for Humanity House Const.

Post by Geoffrey » November 27, 2007, 10:32 am

I am an NGO that is doing support work for Habitat for Humanity. I'd like some volunteers to help me with supervising and planning.

HFH will do a 2-house build in Phen district. They will be built with Interlocking Compressed Earth Blocks (ICEB). The home recipients, (a single mother of 3 and a young couple with 2 adopted children) are very happy that they will receive these ICEB houses. Each home is about 40 square meters. There is a team of 30 youth coming from the Australia in January to lay the blocks. About 17 December we plan to pour the foundation and lay the first course of blocks. The plans for the houses have been drawn and a material estimate done.

I need 1 volunteer to help me with construction planning. The volunteer will check and revise plans and check and revise material estimates. S/He will also help put together training and supervising aids for block laying.

I need 6 volunteers to supervise block laying of walls.

If you want to volunteer, please contact me. Thank you


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BKKSTAN
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Post by BKKSTAN » November 27, 2007, 11:16 am

Not to go off track from your post,but I thought you would have this info if you are a registered NGO.
Do volunteers have to have work permits and do you furnish them?

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randerson79
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Post by randerson79 » November 27, 2007, 12:56 pm

I did some volunteer work with Habitat for Humanity last year in the Udon area. They are well organized with paid staff on hand. Why don't you contact them? No need to re-invent the wheel.


Habitat for Humanity wb site.

http://www.habitatthailand.org/content_en.php?id=47

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Geoffrey
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Post by Geoffrey » November 27, 2007, 6:28 pm

Yes, the Udon Chapter of Habitat for Humanity is well organized. It has helped more families than any other chapter (except, perhaps, the Phang Nga chapter which helped tsunami survivors). I am coordinating with Khun Tasanee (HFH Udon/Isan Director) and Khun Pae (HFH Udon Volunteer Coordinator). HFH Udon has 2 construction foreman who are both very busy right now. That is one reason they are happy to have me help them plan and prepare for these 2 builds. We will be using a technology they know but are not very familiar with: Interlocking Compressed Earth Blocks. I'd love to have some volunteers to help me with the house plans and the cost estimate. I'm under the impression that most of the volunteers HFHU has are from overseas and come for only 2 weeks. I'm delighted to hear that some local people have volunteered to help HFH. It would be terrific to have some local people trained in supervising block laying. Many times the volunteers who come are unskilled youth whose energy and enthusiasm needs some direction so that the houses come out beautiful. I'm sure they'd love to have the same volunteer supervisors help with many builds.

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Post by bamakmak » November 27, 2007, 7:09 pm

Do volunteers have to have work permits and do you furnish them?
I'm currently here under a retirement Visa. I have the same concern that Stan raised. It's my understanding that a work permit is required, even for volunteer work. My retirement Visa specifically states that I am not allowed to obtain a work permit.

I would love to help HFHU but I don't want to risk my retirement status in Thailand. If there is a way around this, I would like to know.

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Post by AussieBoy » November 27, 2007, 8:26 pm

Master builder will be in Udon from the 25th dec to the 20 Jan, sounds like fun to build, what type of bricks are you using, man made or machine pressed, will the bricks be made before the volunteers start?, usually need time for the bricks to cure, will be happy to lend a hand, contact me after the 25th dec 0857562161 or darling number 1 boss Nu Nu 0817082058
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Geoffrey
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Post by Geoffrey » November 28, 2007, 4:08 am

The blocks are made using a manual press. Villagers will make the blocks ahead of time. They'll be cured in solar high-humidity curing chambers for at least a week. The villagers also do regular compressive strength tests on the blocks. :D

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Post by FrazeeDK » November 28, 2007, 8:55 am

sorry for being a tad cynical. but if you've got over 20 volunteers coming from "overseas" can you imagine how many more houses you could build if they didn't come and contributed the cost of their round-trip tickets??
On the question of Expats without work visas volunteering?? Do the Expats volunteering with the Tourist Police have work visas? It seems that the next person going up to Nong Khai Immigration should ask the head honcho if they can do volunteer work such as helping out at an old folks home, volunteering with orphans, volunteering with schoolkids?? I'm betting the head guy will say "mai me banha"..
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Geoffrey
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Post by Geoffrey » December 2, 2007, 1:47 pm

Update: There will be 15-20 first year University students from Japan coming to help build the houses. They'll only be on site for 5 days so we need to prepare well to chanel their energy and enthusiasm to build the homes.
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Geoffrey
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Post by Geoffrey » December 11, 2007, 10:40 pm

Update: Habitat staff came to our Center today for an orientation on how to build with the Interlocking Compressed Earth Blocks. Tomorrow they'll put up batter boards, layout the site and dig the foundation.
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Maligator
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Post by Maligator » December 12, 2007, 12:12 am

I'm currently here under a retirement Visa. I have the same concern that Stan raised. It's my understanding that a work permit is required, even for volunteer work. My retirement Visa specifically states that I am not allowed to obtain a work permit.

I would love to help HFHU but I don't want to risk my retirement status in Thailand. If there is a way around this, I would like to know.
This question still has not been answered.
Avoidence of it because the answer is still "no".
??????????????????????????????????????

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BKKSTAN
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Post by BKKSTAN » December 12, 2007, 8:38 am

Sounds like we have a preacher,not a listener!

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Maligator
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Post by Maligator » December 12, 2007, 9:44 am

.
They'll only be on site for 5 days so we need to prepare well to chanel their energy and enthusiasm to build the homes.
WE need?? WTF!

Get 'em some cold beer Lao and some Bar ladies and I'm sure they're enthusasm will be fine..although thier engery might be a tad low.
Do they have work permits??

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Post by bamakmak » December 12, 2007, 11:27 am

sorry for being a tad cynical. but if you've got over 20 volunteers coming from "overseas" can you imagine how many more houses you could build if they didn't come and contributed the cost of their round-trip tickets??

Not to pick on HFHU, but Frazee got me to thinking.

20 volunteers from Japan:
Average RT plane ticket $500 (approx 17,000 B) = 340,000 Baht
Local construction labor to build one modest home = 50,000 - 70,000 B

Number of homes constructed using foreign volunteer labor: 1
Number of homes constructed using local paid labor: 5 or 6

In addition, there is an economic multiplier effect of probably 5 or 6. In other words, the local construction workers spend the money they earn to buy clothes, food, etc. This in turn creates a local financial benefit 5 to 6 times the actual labor cost of 340,000 B.

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Post by bamakmak » December 12, 2007, 11:31 am

the local construction workers spend the money they earn to buy clothes, food, etc
Oops. I forgot to include whiskey Lao!

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Post by rickfarang » December 16, 2007, 3:09 am

Geoffrey,

In spite of the cynicism about Habitat's approach, as well as a lot of wariness over the work permit issue, I hope you see more responses like AussieBoy and are not put off by the others. I am glad to see that your project will be helping these two families. Way to go.

:D Image :D

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Maligator
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Post by Maligator » December 16, 2007, 6:15 am

RF..
HFH is a great organization and does good deeds beyond compare.
But I think more would be willing to help if he would give us the info if we could w/o risking visa status.
That's all I wanted...a answer to the question of work permits.


But I like you give 'em a great big thumbs up in what they do.

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TC
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Post by TC » December 16, 2007, 6:53 am

Curious to know who decides who gets the houses

TC 8)
"De gustibus non est disputandum."

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Post by Maligator » December 16, 2007, 10:03 am

Well Top Cat if it's like here, which mostly likely not, so why am I writing this, most likely cuz I'm bored....

They have to qualify to a certian level ( money wise ) and put in something like 50% sweat equity..and other things as well, but I'm not sure...
I know they are not "given the house free of charge" so to say..
In my area, they also have to be "crime free" meaning no gang affialiations ( huh?)
not on probation in the court system and have to keep current in payments or it will be repossessed.

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Geoffrey
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Post by Geoffrey » December 16, 2007, 1:32 pm

I'm sorry, I'm not a Habitat staff and can't answer all your questions. I'm happy to keep you posted of our progress and would be happy to have someone do some AutoCAD section views and/or block counting.

We layed out one site and poured the slab this week. I have to admit it is not as thick as it was designed for. I'll be going back over my calculations and making some notes for the second house.

Monday I think HFHU will assess the foundation, make any adjustments they feel necessary and lay the first (and most important) row of blocks. Within a few days I expect they will be up to the 10th level. Which is where they want to start from when the Japanese Youth arrive on 5 January.
Holy Harp

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