Cheers!

Our last jaunt before coming home to the U.S. was Hanoi. It’s different than Ho Chi Minh City… it seems simpler, cleaner, calmer. Women balance baskets of fresh foods, fresh fish and whatever goods they have to sell that day. There is still a bustle in the air- jobs to be done, customers to gain, places to be.

We ventured to Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre. It’s award winning and quite a treat. It was broken into 17 different scenes and many were quite funny. The movement of the puppets combined with the authentic music allowed you to understand the story even without knowing the language.

We booked a ticket on a “junk”. It’s a houseboat that took us throughout Ha Long Bay. The bay was beautiful- Dr. Seuss mountains that poke out from a warm haze, covered in lush greenery, surrounded by green water, and sky that fades into lazy mist. We quietly float on and on, enjoying the cacophony of sounds pouring from the nearby jungles.




Our first stop was at some pretty amazing looking caves. You see pictures of really incredible caves in magazines, but it’s hard to believe they truly exist. They are real. They are natural. Man had no hand in their creation; they are pure nature. I am in awe.



My favorite part of the trip was when we hopped off the houseboat onto a smaller boat. The smaller boat then took us through a small tunnel into a really cool nook. Aside from the opening in the tunnel, we were completely surrounded by the limestone fortresses. I jumped into the warm waters and simply floated around, looking up, with magical peaks framing a threatening sky and big winged birds dipping and diving across the canvas. I could have done this for hours and hours. It was divine.


I spent the rest of the day lying on the top deck of the boat just staring… thinking thoughts… breathing air… seeing, I mean really seeing… and suddenly, I have renewed energy. I have been recharged. And perhaps now, I am ready to rejoin my old life and begin to create another year.
Cheers!

Projects in Kenya

The group I go to Kenya with is called YouthLINC - you should check it out. This is an organization that I feel makes huge differences, both in the lives of the receivers and the givers. Participating in a youthlinc experience marks you forever. I lead a team of about 25 students and 10 mentors. The students volunteer in their local community for a minimum of 100 hours. I get a list of the needs of the community in Kenya, the students select a committee to work on, and as a committee, they work throughout the entire school year to plan and prepare the projects that are based on the needs of the village. This includes fundraising for the projects or collecting any items they need. They are responsible for making sure the project happens once we are in Kenya. Once everything is planned and prepared, the team then spends two of the hardest working weeks of their lives in a secluded village in Kenya. This year we worked in Kiamuri. Here are the projects we did...

Construction

We had TWO classrooms to build. The foundation had been completely laid for one and partially laid for the other. This was incredibly demanding labor. The work progresses slow with crude tools and the lack of modern conveniences. Water had to be manually hauled in, cement mixed by hand. Even the scaffolding had to be cut down from the forest! We were a bit skeptical of it actually holding us... but we all survived. We were able to get both classrooms to the point for the roofs to go on. The community will continue the classrooms until completion.

The Library Project

Because of MANY incredibly generous people we were able to provide much needed materials and create 5 school libraries. In addition to the books we collected in the U.S., a former youthlinc student was able to get a grant so that we could purchase text books in Kenya. We hauled over as many books as we could possibly take (loads of students packed books in their own luggage to get them over). We did many activities with the students there to get them excited about having and using a library (I even read Skippy John Jones and even the kids in Kenya sang along... take a look at the video at the bottom!). I'm going to mention a few of the people that really contributed to making this project happen- Friends from Escalante Elementary School and the Salt Lake Center for Science Education- Leslie, Cathy, Elaine and Nikki... your generous contributions MADE this project happen. I cannot convey to you how desperately excited the teachers and the students were for these books... Books are truly gold in Kenya.

Shoe Distribution

Another project we did was a shoe distribution project. Thank you Murray 22nd Ward Young Women for all of your efforts in this! We had so many shoes to pack we ended up having to send some to our Peru site. We were able to give shoes to the cute nuns that took such good care of us, shoes to the high school students and shoes to village women. I have to tell you my favorite part of this project though... everyday as we would walk to the different project sites, we would always be greeted along the way by the dirtiest, cutest kids you can imagine. They weren't in school (I don't know why), they lived in dark little huts, they wore swollen, hungry bellies... yet they were always there with a smile. Near the end of our trip I talked to the group about doing the most random shoe distribution yet... we'd take the shoes, walk down the dirt roads and round up the poorest of the poor. As we'd walk the roads I would listen for sounds of kids in huts. If I heard them, I'd duck in and do the very best miming I could muster to try to get them to come with me for shoes. It was magical!

Health Education

YouthLINC has a great focus on health education. We do all kinds of lessons. We teach about various topics to a wide variety of audiences. Our students work on their lessons throughout the year and we work to get the topics of need from the village. This year we taught about HIV/AIDS, maturation, hand washing, dental hygiene, and cycle beads. We also bring hygiene and first aid supplies for women that come to health lessons. We provide hygiene and dental supplies to kids we teach. We also work to stock local clinics with much needed supplies. Thanks to McDonough Orthodontics and Jim and LaNette Powell for the dental goods. We were able to provide dental hygiene lessons and items to all 5 schools. Thank you so much to the Paradise Ward- you were incredibly generous with your donations of hygiene and first aid supplies. Students even packed some of your donations in their personal luggage in order to get it over to people who needed it most!

Microenterprise

A component of Youthlinc that I really love is the microenterprise program. We worked with 4 women's group, each with 5 women on learning about business and creating their own business plan. We raised enough money to give them each a beginning loan of $100.00 This may not sound like much, but over there, that is life changing. One woman we loaned to in the past created a "donut" business. Her business has been incredibly successful- she sells out of her donuts a few times a day. Micro loans really give these women a chance to break the poverty cycle they get caught in.

Vocational Training

We also provide vocational training while we are there. We were able to donate a few computers (they are working on getting permanent electricity at one school using solar panels). For now, they can charge the laptops at a nearby medical clinic. Some of the teachers we trained had never seen a computer. By the end of our time, many were using them to create lesson plans. We also provided 2 ovens for the community and taught women's groups how to bake some various recipes so that they could then sell their baked goods. I have to say that the papaya cookies were my fave! The students in this committee work very hard to gather/create recipes that the women will be able to acquire all of the ingredients for. We will continue training in both of these areas when a new group returns next summer.

Education

While we are in the village we also teach loads of lessons in classrooms of all ages. This is tons of fun for both their students and ours. We play games with them, sing songs with them and by the end of the trip, I have to check my team member's bags to be sure they haven't packed any kids away. This year we were able to create and take over 200 school kits to students. We were also able to leave the different schools with school supplies.


This was an amazing adventure. I wanted to give you all a taste of what we do while we are there. There were many other generous donations which were greatly appreciated (Jill A and Laura- you guys are wonderful!). The kids I take on these trips work like crazy and I believe they make some beautiful differences in this world.

Mmmm... The Beach

We took off this past weekend and headed to a small beach town. It was delightful. Most of my time was spent saoking up way too many rays, listening to crashing waves and enjoying all the fresh fruit I could possibly eat...

This gorgeous plate of fresh pineapple, banana, watermelon and dragon fruit tasted amazing and cost only a buck!



We took off in a jeep for a morning and visited massive red sand dunes. The adventure included a little sand sledding as well.




A great weekend!!