Adobe House at Baan Saan Rak - Chiang Rai, Thailand

Following on the heels of another great Songkran (Thai New Year) festival, Dragonfly’s team of hardy volunteers met in Chiang Rai to build a mud-brick building at Baan Saan Rak, or the Home Woven of Love.  Kru Jit, the founder of the home, supports disadvantaged children by providing them with a happy and healthy place to stay, education through secondary school, and some vocational training.  Dragonfly was asked to build a 2-room house to be used for visitor accommodation and play / study space for the site, and we were happy to oblige!

Quick Details:

Construction Period = April 2010 - present

Budget = 37,558 THB

# Volunteers = 18

# Paid Workers = 2 mud roofers from Chaiyaphum

# Bricks Made = 1880

# Building Days = 24

Project Timeline

For the last 2 weeks in April, 2009, our team of 6 volunteers, 1 intern, and 2 staff made bricks, poured a foundation, built walls, plastered and decorated the building, poured the concrete foundation and floor, and built the structure for a mud roof.  We had help from a great group of local high school students and most of the home’s children joined in as well, though they ended up starting more mud fights than may have been necessary.

Due to early rains that year, the building had to be left with a temporary tent roof to protect it over the rainy season. 

After a long rainy season, and after the completion of our Khon Kaen library build, we returned to the Chiang Rai site to find the building had weathered the deluge without ill effect.  We spent a few weekends roping teaching and orphanage carework volunteers into helping with the building work.  We finished covering the roof inside and out with mud, had the roof plastered with cement and then painted, and got all of the kids involved painting every last mud covered surface with tapioca-based earth paint. 

In the coming school season, the building will be used to house volunteers and some of the older children, freeing up dorm rooms for new children to move to the home.

Countless thanks to the volunteer team: Sam Chernanko, Aimee Bronstein, Nicole Sawdaye, Sabrina Naqvi, Elena Martinez de la Varga, Louise Thust and James Cressey who all donated their time and funds to make this project work!

Special thanks to Tipawan Chansri-ngam, Jaruwat Jaimoon and friends, Dominick Stephenson, Marjaana and Johanna Haljala, and the staff and children who are Baan Saan Rak!

Budget information is reported through this PDF file on www.dragonflycommunity.org