There’s an exciting income generation project going on at the village – a home-stay project! After two years of planning with the OA who are involved in the project, including the design of the home-stay, building works commenced in January 2018.
From a grove of rubber trees full of mosquitoes, Bada and team transformed our volunteer architects’ blueprint into reality. The building process has been rather slow, but there is progress, nevertheless …. .
The roof, the first to be ready, was put up at the end of March. In April, the site was filled with planks galore. As the men sanded the planks, sawdust fell like snow on the ground. Plank by plank, nail by nail, and finally all the walls were up in mid-May!
No proper house on stilts is complete without a front verandah and staircase. This was completed at this time of writing (first week of June). Coming up next will be the installation of a water tank, and the completion of the windows.
Once the building works finishes, capacity building with the Orang Asli begins. They will undergo six months of training in managing hygiene and housekeeping.
So, if you like staying in a rustic chalet with trees around you, falling asleep and waking up to nature and enjoying orang asli cooked meals with organically grown vegetables from the farm …. look out for our announcement in 2019! For the OA who are involved in this home-stay project, this is another venture into uncharted waters.
