It is still incredibly basic. (Think a very under-funded, soon to be condemned summer camp in the States).What is amazing is that the kids seem truly content, happy even, and they are very well behaved and self-motivated to keep the place going. It is actually a pretty nice site, surrounded by a creek, with lots of terraced gardens that the kids tend. The day we visited a two week school vacation had just begun and about half of the kids had returned to their villages. The other half were still there, some working in the gardens, some playing tackraw (another blog post maybe) and soccer ...a few cooking the midday sticky rice meal ,a few taking showers or hanging around the "dorms", concrete buildings with a long wooden platform down each side for a bed. There were no adults on site! None! No Lord of the Flies here. It was all very relaxed. It makes you want to study the Lao psyche.
When one boy rang a bell, everybody headed to the "kitchen" (a cement floor with two large grates with wood fires underneath for cooking rice or soup) and was served a ball of sticky rice, some the size of a small cantaloupe other the size of an orange, I think by choice. That was lunch. They take it in their hands back to the dorms to eat.The contrast to what we consider our needs in the West is pretty dramatic.
A very enlightening and thought provoking visit.
[Posted by John]
[Posted by John]
4 comments:
You've got me looking at maps, weather, mileage. I'm enjoying the posts, pics. Love the textiles and would be buying tons! I have a million questions.
Is there anyway we can help?
Hey Ted,
John here. Andrew is in the process of setting up an NGO in Australia for his orphanage foundation. In the meantime contributions can be made to him directly. All monies go directly to buying food. Now that he has 7 days' breakfast covered, I think the next goal is to figure out a way to consistently add some protein to a meal.
Anyway, his name is Andrew Brown and his email is andrewb@lotusvillalaos.com.
Any size donation is welcome and a small amount goes a long way. For example, $15 could pay for breakfast (a roll) for one child for a year. Or $20 could pay for one breakfast for all 460 kids.
Wow, really eye opening, they seem happy with just having the very basics. And I can't believe all of those kids take care of themselves, you would think it would be chaos. Thanks for the post.
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