An Epic task, building houses for Orang Asli

A model of a wooden house stands in the compound of the Compass as an example of the homes that EPIC Homes builds.

SUBANG JAYA: In the compound of a factory-like building common to the industrial part of Bandar Sunway stands a wooden house on stilts, seemingly plucked from a village in the heartland of Malaysia.

It is not as incongruous as it may seem: the house, says Stephen To, is an example of those that his organisation, EPIC Homes, builds for the Orang Asli community.

To, who is a technical learning head with EPIC, said the organisation had grown from a simple home-building social enterprise to one that is also about building relationships between urban and rural communities.

Basic Builder Facilitator, Sathesh Raj (in orange t-shirt) supervises volunteers erecting a construction scaffold.

The focus on helping the Orang Asli community began with the four founders in 2010 when John-Son Oei, Jayne Kennedy, Jon Ming Loh and Jasmine Ng decided to help Orang Asli communities with housing after encountering a man living in abysmal conditions when they visited an Orang Asli village.

They decided that he would be the first person to benefit from EPIC Homes, and the first home was built, with support from a property developer. Since then, EPIC has built about 140 homes.

To said EPIC Homes operates as a team-building business, organising corporate social responsibility (CSR) projects for companies. “Sometimes they will just pay for the home. Sometimes, they will actually bring the volunteers to build the homes.”

Sathesh Raj helps a volunteer set up a catwalk platform on a scaffold.

Stephen To, EPIC DNA’s head of technical learning.

EPIC will first send out Pathfinders, to introduce the organisation to Orang Asli villages and to gather information.

Any villager in need of a new home will be put on a priority list; villagers with homes that are structurally unsound or too small for a family will be bumped up the list. Who gets a house first depends entirely on the villagers’ own decision.

After that, a call for volunteers is conducted, logistical preparations made, the building site surveyed, and the foundation laid by an Orang Asli team.

Over a three-day weekend, a team of volunteers will be put to task at building a home, under the supervision of senior and experienced volunteers called Master Builders and Specialists.

The homes are made to last, with sturdy steel columns, fibre-cement cladding and Tetra Pak roofing materials made of recyclable plastic.

Basic Builder Manager, Matt La Brooy (far right), educates a new batch of volunteers on basic construction tools and accessories.

Volunteers who want to join an EPIC Homes build must first attend a Basic Builder Workshop over a weekend to learn the do’s and don’ts of construction work.

So far, EPIC has trained about 6,000 volunteers, from all walks of life: senior corporate workers have worked alongside secondary school pupils in these building projects.

Most volunteers consist of university students and young adults: teenagers as young as 15 are also allowed to join if they are accompanied by a guardian. One volunteer was in her seventies.

“The home is just a trust-building project,” said To. “When you begin to trust us, then we can see how else we can both work together.”

EPIC also looks into improving village infrastructure and providing education to Orang Asli children. There are plans to expand to Sabah and Sarawak, after relationships have been built with local organisations. - FMT