PROJECT PHONGSALI 2010 For the past three months, WHWV has labored in Phongsali Province, Laos, helping villagers rid their fields and gardens of unexploded ordnance left over from the Indochina War. Thanks to the generosity of our supporters, we were able to improve the lives of hundreds of villagers. We probably saved some lives,...
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Day 70 Bits and Bobs: Yai left his bag of sugar open and ants found it. Soon it was loaded with joyful ants. Rather than throw the sugar away, Yai simply put the open bag out in the sun. At the end of the day 99% of the ants were gone. “Sun too hot...
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Day 69 In Laos, if you have a problem complete strangers will jump in to help. If you lack a tool, people will readily loan you one of theirs. The other side of the coin is that if someone is in need you’d feel guilty walking by and not stopping to lend a hand...
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Day 68 It turned cool today, which is just fine with me since recent nights have been uncomfortably warm and humid. With no electricity to power a fan and a Noah’s ark of creeping, crawling and flying critters chasing me to the stifling safety of my mosy net, I’ve had trouble getting a good...
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Day 67 Last night the Tai Dam people in Sop Houn village began their annual festival, right on the heels of the enthusiastic Tai Deng celebration that consumed all of last weekend and spilled into the early part of this week. Interestingly, while the Tai Deng residents partied loud and hard, the Tai Dam...
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Day 66 Once again, our dinner was interrupted. Tonight, just as the cook set the sticky rice and fish soup on the table, two motorcycles rolled onto the hospital grounds. The fellow driving the lead bike called for help and we all bolted from the table to see what adventure had arrived. It was...
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Day 65 It was dinnertime and the guys were just about to belly up to a meal that I’d prepared with provisions from my box of emergency rations. It was nothing more than pasta swimming in canned, mushroom-flavored tomato sauce but I’d talked it up as “Italian” cuisine. Since it didn’t have much else...
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Day 64 Five years ago Edmond Scientific, a science supply company, donated an “Astroscan Wide Field Telescope” to our project. I appealed for that unusual donation because I guessed that Lao teachers, lacking science books, media or equipment, would be hard-pressed to teach even the most basic concepts of astronomy. And… I predicted that...
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Day 63 At the house behind our camp our neighbors started preparation for their daughter’s wedding early. They were up and at it before my breakfast at 7:00 AM. While I sipped my coffee-load, I watched a group of young men pull protesting chickens from woven bamboo cages. The birds squawked, either in protest...
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