Earlier this week I travelled to Sang Thong District to visit several of the community projects MCC supports, with MCC visitors from Cambodia and Vietnam. Sang Thong District is the poorest district in the Capital of Vientiane, and although it is only about 60 km to the village capital of the district, it is about a 2 hour drive on rough roads. There are 9 districts in the Capital of Vientiane.
Our first stop was at a Buddhist temple in one of the 37 villages in Sang Thong District. Here mothers with young children had gathered to have their children weighed. Every three months or so, the district health team arrives to weigh and monitor the growth of children in the village. Those too young to stand were placed in a cloth harness and weighed. Older children stood on the scale. As I visited with this group, I was reminded of the mothers and children who participate in the Family Literacy program at EMCN.
Our group then visited the peer education team in the same village. Peer Educators are trained to share important health information with their peers. On this particular day they were talking about the risks of alcohol consumption.
After lunch, we visited a banana field with a small group of farmers, who in the past year planted banana seedlings in their dry land rice fields for the first time. The "pathway" to their field provided an opportunity for me to experience off road driving in Laos for the first time. The farmers are keen to harvest their first crop of bananas sometime in the next 6 months.
Each time I visit the district I'm inspired by the hope and strength of the villagers.
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