The best part of our work.

It was mid morning on Saturday when Tad and I were walking along a gorgeous trail in the countryside about 4 hours out of Luang Prabang.  We were trekking from Ban Naluang, a village where Tiger Trail has developed community based tourism, and Phayong, a village where PoP built one of its first schools.  Midway through the trek we both looked at each other and thought at the same time...

"I can't believe this is a part of the work we get to do" 

It just so happened that Tiger Trail planned a staff volunteer trip to Naluang the same weekend that Pencils of Promise had a community day in Phayong which is just an hour trek away.  Tiger Trial was going to Naluang Friday morning and PoP was coming up to Phayong on Saturday.  Tiger Trail has been working in Naluang for several years.  The village asked Tiger Trail if they could help build a school in the village and so Tiger Trail met with the District Education office and got approval to help build an adobe brick school.  For the last few month Tiger Trail has been bringing tourists to help with the project but to make the connection more real for the employees Tad took the staff to help build the school for 2 days.

Tad was the one to drive the truck and I'm sure everyone in that truck was thankful it wasn't them driving.  And even more thankful that we made it safe and sound without a single dent.

We arrived at the village just after a group had finished one week of work on the school.  Yoxa, the responsible tourism manager at Tiger Trail was with the volunteers and was still at the village when we arrived.  She introduced us to the village chief and to the family's that would host us for the night.  After walking around the village we went to look at the school. I was completely shocked by how beautiful it was.  There have been two groups to come and help build the school so far, along with the helping hands of the villagers (the kids especially love helping - I mean who doesn't love jumping in mud).

It is a really interesting process to build an adobe brick building.  It is much more labor intensive than I ever imagined.  You start by mixing straw, clay and water until it is the right consistency.  Then you transfer it into the brick molds.  Because the village is in a valley, the sun doesn't hit the bricks all day so it can take several days for the bricks to dry before they are ready for use.  Once they are dry they are put into place with more clay mixture as the mortar.

 

It was great for the staff to see the process and for us to be a part of this project but after a day and half of working with Tiger Trail, we had to shift gears and hike to Phayong, where Pencils of Promise was doing a community day.  Here are a couple more pictures from Naluang: 

This was the old school in Naluang:

Our host and former Chief of the village Boun Lid:

The Tiger Trail staff:

Part of my job at Pencils of Promise is to help coordinate community volunteer programs at different school locations.   Sometimes that means working with other volunteers as well. Our friend Ryan is the manager at a great coffee shop in town called Joma.  He and his staff volunteer their time to help at POP schools by teaching lessons, playing games, and mentoring the students.  

For the PoP day, we decided to focus on two projects: planting trees and building tippy taps, and of course lots of fun games.  All of the staff did a great job and the kids had a blast. We helped them plant 5 of the 20 trees we brought and were happy to find out they planted the rest the very next day.  And after we built the tippy tap, Jua (our amazing SHINE teacher) taught 100 kids how to wash their hands. 

I feel so blessed to be involved in work that is genuinely fun and that I feel is making a true difference in these kids' lives.

So there it is, a weekend filled with the best parts of our jobs.  And finally the ride home...

The House!

It took awhile to settle into the house, finding a few things to make it feel a bit more like a home.  Still trying to figure out how to hang art work and add those last finishing touches, but we can't wait to share this place with with visitors.  As promised here are some photos...

The house is across the street from a traditional sauna and massage

Large patio surrounded by beautiful plants and banana trees!

this one is just flowering and you can see the bananas under the petals as they start to roll back

The bottom floor is a large open area with the kitchen on the right side just behind Megan

The kitchen has an OVEN!! This is a rare find here in Laos.

The downstairs has high ceilings with beautiful exposed wood beams

Plus it came with the couches and an amazing dinning table, also rare in Laos

Upstairs has two bedrooms.  This is the guest room with its own balcony and brand new AC!

This is our room.  Both came with bed frames, mattresses and cool tables... Huge blessing!

There's a separate area off the side of our room with a vanity and closet.

Large private bathroom with heated shower. The second bathroom is downstairs near the kitchen

Probably the best part of the house is the upstairs deck!  We have some nice lounge chairs and a hammock.  It's a great place to eat breakfast, read a book, and watch the sunset.

We are so happy to have a home after many months of being homeless and so blessed to have a home like this here in Laos.  

Megan and I both feel adjusted and settled into life here in Luang Prabang.  Megan is actually in northern Laos right now with Pencils of Promise visiting some health specialists and seeing more of the country.  I went kayaking yesterday with Tiger Trail's office staff and several of our guides to do some training and have some fun with the team.  I posted several photos on the companies Facebook page.

We have internet at our house now, so make sure to keep in touch. Send us an email or let us know if you want to Skype.  We are 14 hours ahead of pacific standard time.

House in Laos

Well, we are coming up on two weeks in Luang Prabang and this September marks 12 months of living out of backpacks.  Finally we have found our new home.  It's a beautiful little house with banana trees and a deck overlooking the rolling hills of Luang Prabang.  We heard there's a local herbal sauna and massage place across the street, which will be investigated immediately.  It's in a great location just a five minute bike ride from town, although just about everything is five minute bike ride here.  We move in this Friday and will try to post photo's as soon as we can.  There's a nice room with its own balcony waiting for visitors!

And so it continues...

We are officially moving to Luang Prabang, Laos in less than 48 hours.  Things have come together perfectly in the past few weeks and we are ready.  We've transformed this:

into this:

and managed to fill it with lots of clothes, a juicer, frying pan, bose sound system and good knives, the essentials right?  As we traveled we brought as little as we could but now that we are settling in one place it is difficult to sort out what is worth a spot in that very valuable 200lb weight limit.  But we feel pretty confident with what we packed and Thailand's not too far away, where we can get most anything we forgot.

We will continue to use this blog as a way to share photos, experiences and thoughts.  We again can't thank you enough for all the support and love you have shared with us.  We couldn't make this move without it.

Love,

Meg and Tad

Our last month.

The Arrival:

We stepped onto the small 9-seater plane, said a short prayer in silence and felt the plane take off.  Every slight movement is multiplied in a small plane.  But I completely forgot about all the jolts and noises as soon as I looked out the window.  We were gliding through the air weaving between the breath taking mountains that rose from the earth and swallowed us up creating a strange sense of peace and silence within me. We made our way through the mountains and then Chimey pointed out, "There is Thehe and just in front of us is Simikot",  and we started our decent gliding down into the Himalayas.

The landing was easily one of the most terrifying moments that I have ever had.  The plane "crash landed" onto a very short and narrow dirt runway.  But seeing as I write this now- we made it safe and received an amazing welcoming from all the staff at the NCF hostel.

The first morning we awoke and stepped out of our room to see the sun reflecting on the snow topped mountains and heard all the girls in unison say, "Good morning sir, good morning madaam". A greeting we grew to love and looked forward to every day.

Chimey was only with us for a few days so the next morning we packed a small bag and set off to hike to Thehe.  The village where Namaste Children's Fund first started its work.  The hike is about one and half hours for locals, so we felt good about getting to the village in just over two.

Namaste Children's Fund Brief History:

Thehe is one of the poorest villages in Humla (northwest Nepal), which is the poorest and most remote district of Nepal.  Cora Edmonds visited Thehe as a photographer with a film crew researching shamans over 10 years ago.  Just as she was leaving, a boy ran towards her and she took this photos:

This photo had a large impact in Cora's life, as a professional photographer and in her personal life.  In short, this photograph inspired Cora and her husband Phil to trek back to Humla, Nepal to find the boy in the picture and led to the founding of a non-profit that supports his education and Thehe, the village he is from.  You can read the full story here.

Thehe has many issues stemming from over population and lack of resources.  It was difficult to target specific solutions but NCF with the help of the villagers has focused its efforts on education for girls and sanitation within the village.  They currently support 26 of the brighterst girls from Thehe, who now live in Simikot at a hostel where they  receive an education which was normally inaccessible.

Thehe:

As we got closer to the village we could hear drum beats getting louder and louder.  We turned a corner and saw a group of men and boys all jumping and playing drums, to lead us into the village.  As we walked through the village more and more people joined the procession.

We finally reached the highest point in the village and my breath was completely taken away. There was an endless line of men, women and children with garlands and blessings for us.  We greeted each person as they put hand made garlands around our necks and smeared red rice onto our foreheads.  I could barely stay present with the moment, it was so overwhelming and unlike anything I've ever experienced.

Part of the reason we went to Thehe was to talk with the girl's parents.  We wanted to ask them specific questions about their daughters participation with NCF.   The intention was to have individual interviews with the parents, but that proved impossible as they all sat in a circle eager to talk and listen.  So we scratched that idea and opted for a group interview.  One of the most encouraging things we heard from them was a change in attitude in regards to the education of girls.  It is a slow change but the parents saw that their daughters will be respected individuals and have greater opportunity because of education.

We finished the meeting and soon after Chimey and Suresh went back to Simikot leaving Tad and I with Harkha, an assistant at the hostel who helped us the rest of the time we spent in Thehe.  We slept at Suresh's old home where his mother lived.  She was an amazing host and a beautiful women.

We ate dinner that night in the kitchen which is an experience in itsself.  To get to the kitchen you first walk through two small rooms.  It gets darker and darker and as I approached the kitchen I could feel my lungs closing up from the smoke.  There was one small beam of light that shines in through a small opening in the roof.  It provided just enough light to see the soot and smoke that you are surrounded by.  I actually tried to cover my mouth with my shirt in between bites of roti and potato curry.

We woke up to a beautiful morning, went to Harkha's mother's for breakfast then made our way back to Simikot to finally begin our month with the girls.  These are some more photos from our two days in Thehe:

Teaching in Simikot:

We got back to Simikot on Saturday and had our first lesson with all the girls.  Each girl made her own name tag for her bunk bed and then we worked on a group project where each girl made two matching cards for a picture and word memory game.

Chimey was with us for a few more days and helped organize the girls into five groups.  That Sunday we defined our teaching schedule with all the staff and then went outside to play games and meet with each of the girls individually.

Monday kicked off three weeks of unbelievable fun making play-do, masks and other paper projects, drawing, painting, and playing games. We met with each group individually one day a week (Monday-Friday) from 10:00am to 4:00pm.  On Saturdays the girls did not have class so we met as a group to do art projects, games and outdoor activities.  Here's some of the best photos from our lessons.

Life In Simikot:

Ever day we woke up to the sunrise and would get our "thati pani" (boiled water) for tea or coffee.  We would read a book together and have our first meal of the day.

Our meals became a rhythm within each day. The meals consisted of the same basic ingredients, but the cooks Kallie and Badam were masters and could magically turn them into three completely different meals.  They were all delicious, but I don't know how they eat them year round.

Breakfast...

Lunch...

and Dinner.

Simikot is a tiny town, but it's full of life.  There are people building new homes and transporting stone, (the main building material) on donkeys throughout the day.  There are kids running about, men playing cards, women weaving and chatting in front of their homes and one little airstrip connecting it to the rest of Nepal.  We would take walks through the town either by ourselves or with the girls from the hostel.  One day we hiked up to a view point where you could see all of Simikot and the surrounding mountains.

Here's a few more photos from around the town.  The kids loved making faces and seeing the photos that we would take.

During our time in Simikot we got to know the staff at the hostel really well.  We had difficulty with the language barrier, but still managed to have a lot of meaningful time with each person.

The Departure:

It was the last week and we decided to do something special for the girls, Fair Day!!  We had finished our last week of class and during the week each group made a paper mache' which we used for pinatas.  We had a three-legged race, balloon tag, water balloon toss and a scavenger hunt. The games and the final pinata event were a huge success.

After the final games ended we walked back to the hostel and started to pack as the staff prepared for dinner.  That night we all crammed into the study hall and shared our last meal together.  They moved the tables and benches to one side of the room and decided that we would all preform some song or dance.  That meant that we had to dance and sing as well.  Luckily we all ended up dancing together most of the time and they only put us on the spot once or twice.

It was a perfect night of celebration that we will never forget.  The girls and all the staff became like family to us over the month and we were so thankful for the opportunity to share life with them.