Post on behalf for Mr. Daniel Tan
For any sponsoring & contribution, please contact "23.tan.daniel@gmail.com"
Thrown from
the tractor
Got your
attention. Right!!!
I was
very fortunate to come across Web:
adoptavillageinlaos.wordpress.com (Facebook: Love Laos Project)
organization and was impressed with Steve and his local support group in Laos.
Ours is a small group of individuals (SG L.I.F.E.) who believed in giving and
bringing some happiness to the unfortunate people of Laos and to assist the
children of Laos by providing them with an education so that they will have a
better future. Although our contribution maybe small but it’s an initial step
Started
the funding drive for our initial project for 30 water filters system for a
remote village North of Luang Prabang. (An Unesco World Heritage site and was
voted the 10 best places to visit). Steve’s organization had previously donated
30 water filters system to a village called Ban Lang Pha, a very remote village
in the interior of Laos’s forest near the Nam Ou 2 Hydro Dam project. We were
glad to sponsor the remaining 28 units to the 58 families living there and 2
other units were delivered to another village which was missed out previously.
Siphan
in his red hat, the village head and myself at Ban Lang Pha (picture 1)
Made my
trip by flying from Vientiane Capital to Luang Prabang, an easy 50 minutes
flight by Fokker. Was met on arrival by a smiling Siphan, (Steve’s local
coordinator) and immediately was taken in by his friendly nature and pleasantly
surprised by his good command of English.
A quick
check-in to the guest house (US$13/night with a Queen sized bed with air-cond
and hot water) and headed off to the markets to purchase school stationeries
for 60 plus primary school going children. Of course when you are dealing with
kids, you need to add sweets and other goodies and we were glad to provide all
these happy requirements. Bought some basic necessities (toothbrushes,
toothpaste, soap and etc – things we all take for granted) for the villagers.
After a
very simple dinner in one of the lanes at the famous Night Market of Luang
Prabang, decided to call it a night as we have an early morning journey to Ban
Lang Pha. Maybe I was too excited as I had a rather restless night and was kind
of tired when woke up at 6.00am but on seeing the ever cheerful face of Siphan,
I was eager to get moving. Siphan had earlier hired a minivan for the 2 hours
road trip to a place called Ban Dong Nguen. Our boat ride was waiting for us to
take us across Nam Ou river and we fully loaded the small little sampan (boat)
to make the river crossing and our tractor transport was already waiting at the
landing to take us to Ban Lang Pha which is a mere 18 km ride but took us over
90 minutes of backbreaking, tough and rough ride due to the treacherous muddy
condition due to the rain that felled for several days before our visit. It
will be a road trip that will forever remained in my memories.
Had to
disembarked several times and had our things thrown off the tractor too
(picture 2)
The
weather was kind to us as it would cloudy and whatever pain and suffering I had
was easily forgotten on reaching the village and seeing the entire village
welcoming us. It must be the red awful hat that Siphan was wearing. Ha-ha. The
villagers quickly helped us unload all the stuff and the village head organized
the distribution of the water filters system to the families at their community
hall. I had fun and was truly blessed to present the water filters to the
individual family and was teasing and joking with them. I think they were
surprised to see a Chinese man able to speak their language.
The
villagers had organized a thanksgiving ceremony (Baci in Laos) for us to thank
us for the gifts and luckily for me, I had no issues in eating Laos food they
had prepared in our honor as I have lived here for over 3 years now. There was
even a jar of their local moonshine ready for my consumption. Even had our
fortune read by the village shaman. These villagers are really simple people even
though they have so little but there always a smile on their face and readily
will share their meals with you.
Dishes prepared by the villagers and I shall spare you the picture of a dish of
raw blood (picture 3)
Took a
tour around the village by the village teacher and was shown the pathetic
rundown shack of a place called school. I was totally shocked at the poor
condition and almost shredded a tear.
Me
sitting in one of the classroom (picture 4)
After
giving out the goodies to the children, it was time to say our farewell and we
informed the villagers that we will look into their request for the
construction of a 2/3 classrooms and a pipe water system. Seeing the smiles and
the happy faces of the kids made me forget about the long hard ride down from
the mountain.
Giving
out goodies and school essentials to the kids including some sporting equipment
(picture 5)
We
survived the journey down from the mountain although we had to get off several
times due to the bad condition of the jungle path and were almost thrown off as
I lost concentration for awhile due to the intense hot sun and the light
drizzle that accompanied us all the way.
Arrived
safely in Luang Prabang in the evening and I am actually looked forward to my
next trip into the remote again this coming December 2016. Hopefully we are
able to meet some of their request but providing the kids with an education
will be our top priority.
Love
Laos Project
