Skip to content

Okotoks artist brightening lives of rural Cambodians families

Russell Thomas continues to bring his artistic prowess to Cambodia through the Bracelets4Buildings charity. He was joined this month by Okotoks photographer Robert Kunz.

Two Okotoks men returned home feeling humbled after spending two weeks improving the lives of a Cambodian family earlier this month.

Portrait artist Russell Thomas and photographer Robert Kunz joined the Bracelets4Buildings charity to build a 144-square-foot home for a family of six in rural Cambodia, providing them with a larger, stronger and more secure shelter.

The American and Canadian charity supports less fortunate families in Cambodia and Thailand by raising money through the sale of bracelets made by Cambodians and building homes for those most in need.

More than a dozen homes are built each year through the charity.

A lot of these people living in these rural poor areas, by the time the rainy season comes they’re in eight inches of water - it’s incredibly unhealthy,” said Thomas, who just returned from his third trip with the charity. “The homes they were living in are often banana leaf walls and rickety pillars, if they have pillars at all.”

Thomas, who owns Birdsong Studio and Healing Centre on Elma Street, learned about Bracelets4Buildings after meeting one of the charity’s founders who bought his painting at a charity auction a few years back.

Thomas soon joined the board and has flown to Cambodia three times since, each time helping to contribute to the $5,000 needed to build a home for a rural Cambodian family.

The charity works with village chiefs to identify families in the greatest need.

Then the volunteers swoop in.

“Even though we don’t speak a common language, after a couple of days we develop a language of our own,” Thomas said. “Their resilience and innovation and how they manage to make things work with so little is inspiring. I’m honoured that they ask us to come in and help them in a small way.”

The family Thomas supported this year consisted of a grandmother who weaves rattan baskets, which she sells for $1.50 each, her fisherman son, his wife and her three grandchildren.

Cambodian labourers were hired and local products were purchased to build the new home on concrete pillars high off the ground. The house features corrugated metal walls, window shutters and a lockable door, replacing the family’s former 80-square-foot home.

Thomas said construction takes four to five days.

If the family doesn’t have proper sanitation, the volunteers build an outhouse with a natural system that protects the earth from contamination, he said.

As the home was being built, Thomas spent most of his time painting with the grandmother and children after bringing canvases, paints and paintbrushes for the family.

It’s through art that Thomas raises money to build the homes, and it’s how he builds relationships with the families.

“I gift the paintings to the families as part of the gifting of the new house,” he said. “They are hung in places of honour.”

The favour was returned when the three children, who had never painted prior to Thomas’ arrival, gifted him two of their paintings.

“They had the generosity to give them to me, which was really wonderful,” he said.

Thomas created 10 paintings featuring elephants, a rooster, Buddha and several abstract images with the family’s three children. He returned with three of them to sell to raise money for next year’s trip.

This month’s build was a first Bracelets4Buildings experience for Kunz, who was invited by Thomas.

“It was quite a privilege that Russell asked me,” Kunz said. “The Cambodian people stole my heart.”

Kunz soon realized how good he has it after seeing how people in rural Cambodia live.

“They have to work to live and they don’t have a lot of amenities that we have,” he said. “We got to leave each night and go to our condo with air conditioning and a regular toilet and shower, but these guys wash out of a bucket and they’re happy. It makes some of the things we call problems here really disappear for me.”

Kunz took thousands of photographs and a video he plans to put on the charity’s Facebook page.

He said one of the most memorable parts of the experience was the blessing ceremony before the family moved into their new home.

“They had mats and gifts for Bracelets4Buildings,” he said. “There were monks, elders and people chanting and a feast was prepared.”

Kunz said he felt well cared for while in Cambodia.

“The conditions were not super easy and the organizers for Bracelets4Buildings are fully aware of that,” he said. “If you were getting too hot they would find a spot in the shade and make sure there was water for you.”

Already eager for his next trip, Thomas will host a 20-day painting challenge this spring where he accepts suggestions on his Facebook page for different challenges and participates in one each day. He will then sell the paintings in an online auction.

To learn more about Thomas search Russell Thomas Art on Facebook.

To learn more about Bracelets4Buildings visit https://www.bracelets4buildings.com

 




Comments

push icon
Be the first to read breaking stories. Enable push notifications on your device. Disable anytime.
No thanks