June 7 To the Village! (Katie)

An enjoyable, productive day we had today! We left our room at 8am to do a quick visit with four families in the rural village outside of Hue (where we distributed chicks last week). The goal of these short visits was to assess each household's needs, as we'll be paying them longer visits in two days, that time bearing gifts! We needed to see what we could purchase with what remains in this year's humanitarian fund that would be of the most use to each family.

Our first stop was Mr. Tho, the man who lost his leg in the war. He makes beautiful woven baskets by hand. We ordered two, as big as we could get while fitting safely in our luggage, and will buy them from him this Saturday when we return. We'll be bringing him a tall fan with an extension cord, and a new 12-meter hose to get water from his well to his shower area and animals.

Next we visited an extremely poor household where one lady cares for her three mentally handicapped family members: her husband, her daughter, and her grandson. It is the poorest household that we have personally visited yet. They have no fans, no toilet, no stove... they lack the most basic essentials. We'll be bringing them two tall fans, a rice cooker, and two extension cords. They do have other pressing needs; they shared that they would really like a toilet... however, the remaining money in the fund doesn't allow for such an expense this trip. My dad did share his suggestion of having an outhouse put in, which would be more practical and less expensive.

On we drove to Mr. Thuong's (the man with no hands). Unfortunately, we missed him, as he was out working in the fields (they sure don't use handicaps as an excuse to be lazy!). Since my father has visited him before, he knows that his immediate needs are fairly well taken care of. We'll be bringing him a tall fan with an extension cord, as that can always be used and appreciated here. We may take another small gift if one comes to mind prior to our visit.

Lastly, we went to see Ms. Hanh (the very smiley woman with no arms). She led us to her animals and showed us a massive pig... she received it as a baby piglet from our pig distribution two years ago! Since then it has given her four litters of pigs!! We already knew that her sister lives with her, but we learned that her sister's daughter-in-law (along with her son and little baby) are sharing her home now as well. We'll be bringing a water heater, complete with all the installation components so that she can have warm showers. As a little bonus, we purchased loofahs, body wash, and towels to go with it.

All of these families were recipients of chickens last weekend. We got to see them all in their new home; they're looking good! Kira passed around candy, cookies, and cheese stick crackers to kids and adults alike. We went straight from the village to the stores in Hue, running around purchasing all the items, along with more snacks to share.

We finished up this busy day with another visit to Lac Thien, where we enjoyed some food and drink, and Kira played with the kiddos.

Mr. Tho, his wife, and his lovely craftsmanship.


Mr. Tho's Chicks

The home where 3 out of the 4 members are mentally handicapped


The mentally handicapped family's house


The mentally handicapped family's chickens

Ms. Hanh's pig and piglets (there is another large female in another stall)


Ms. Hanh's fridge that we bought her last year, still working great!


Ms. Hahn's sister's daughter-in-law with her baby


Mrs Hahn and her sister's daughter-in-law's son


Ms. Hanh's chicks

Dinner at Lac Thien


Dinner at Lac Thien


Jackfruit at Mr. Tho's (Kira was in shock at its size)


Pineapples at Mr. Tho's


Peanuts at Ms. Hanh's

Comments

  1. UnknownJune 7, 2018 at 9:30 AM

    Totally awesome! Thanks for all you are doing. What a blessing you are to these people.

    ReplyDelete

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