Today was mostly about having fun with the students and getting to know them better. We started the day by presenting the health and hygiene program to the last group of students. The kids have been very responsive to the lessons, and I just hope they will retain the message of how germs are spread and how they can help themselves be healthier. One of the highlights of the day was when we passed out the 100+ beanie babies that were donated by Adam Daganhardt from his own collection. The teachers were going through the bag showing the various plush animals to the kids. They were talking about them, describing what kind of animal it was and how to say its name in English. Then our interpreter Ling explained to the kids that these beanies were for them to keep. The looks on their faces when that realization hit them was priceless. The children then reached into the bag and took one babie each. They were all excited, but I have to say there was one BB that was kind of a hard sell. For some reason, the eel wasn't too popular with them. One little girl picked it out, and her face said she wasn't too sure about it. I tried to explain she could just drop it back in and get another one, but she wasn't quite understanding me. After a few moments, she took the matter into her own hands and casually dropped the eel back in the bag and found a more suitable pet. Eventually, a little boy found the eel and was delighted to get it. We also got to play with the kids using the sports equipment we had purchased for them earlier--soccer balls, badmitten sets, hackey sacks and frisbees. Brian, Tom G and Isaiah also joined in on some of the excercise routines with them (a small portion is on one of the videos).The other major activity today was continued work on the water project. The pictures show the tough trek up the hill that is needed to deliver the cement and sand from the staging area in front of the school to the water filtration location. One of the pictures shows what looks to be a puddle of water outside a hole in the side of the hill. This is the source of water they are currently using for all purposes--cleaning, cooking and drinking. There's not much water coming out now, because they have dammed it up while working on the filter system. The way the system will work is the water will be collected behind the stone enclosure you see them building in pictures. This water then flows down through a course filter to remove major gunk, then a fine sand filter to remove the smaller contaminants. Then, the water flows into the last tank you see in the pictures. This water will then be piped down to the school for cleaning and washing. Some of it will be diverted into a separate holding tank and run through a reverse osmosis filter for drinking and cooking. The workers doing the brick and stone work are very skilled, and are working at a very fast pace. The teachers also helped hauling the material up the hill side today, but there efforts were paled in comparison to the work accomplished by our team, particularly Brian, Isaiah and Tom G.
There is another team (from Oklahoma) here in SaPa with GVI working at another school nearby. They have been hit hard by some intestinal problems, with 5 of their 8 members feeling pretty low. Our team has had a slight touch of that as well, with Brian being the one hit hardest. He got some rest last night while the rest of us went to dinner, and will hopefully be back to full strength by this morning. Everyone else is doing fine and enjoying the experience of getting involved here in Vietnam. This morning we will be visiting a school that Brian's old church has worked with in the past. We'll spend the afternoon back at our school, continuing work on the water project and getting to know the teachers and students better. This has been a great trip so far. The people here are very open and friendly, and the opportunities to serve are vast. I had some earlier reservations with our host, Glocal (GVI), before we started the trip, but after being in country for a while and meeting the personnel involved, I am very confident with the way they have their program organized as well as their mission plan. There are other organizations that serve Vietnam, and we should certainly explore those options, but so far I am very pleased with our association with GVI. More pictures and info on the next post. Thanks for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers.
JF
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