The first need for the thousands of refugees arriving from Ambon, Tual, Timor and the Malukas has been to find somewhere to live. Many of them could not trace their family ancestral roots, so found themselves homeless and destitute.

SAO Buton responded to this need by arranging to build a basic, standard design house on land which the recipient family owned or had been arrange to borrow for the purpose.

We had a target of some 8,000 houses, but began small and in select communities where the need was perceived to be greatest. Timber, when it ran out in Baubau, was imported from other islands. We stored many tonnes of timber in the SAO Buton warehouse awaiting construction phases. When all was ready at the villages, we transported the timbers to the site and the families sorted the materials according to their requirements. Building was done in a communal manner, with each family helping the others nearby until the houses were complete.