By Really Living Staff

VIENTIANE, LAOS - Our fearless team of Mission World humanitarian adventurers traveled halfway around the world this week. Their destination was Laos, one of the world’s few remaining communist states and one of East Asia’s most economically disadvantaged.

Over the course of this 17 day trip (including two days’ travel time, each way), working with ADRA Lao, the group will participate in and/or fund construction of water wells, greenhouses, an accessible bathroom for a family with a disabled child, and if possible, water filters for each family in a remote Laotian village called Xayoudom.

Upon arriving in the capital city of Vientiane, the group took some time to rest, adjust to the new time zone, and do a little sight-seeing.

The first work project which the team has undertaken involves helping to dig trenches for a gravity-fed water delivery system to a remote village. Their drive to this site takes about one-and-a-half hours each way over a nausea-inducing winding road. The work is hard and the humidity is high, yet the team is in good spirits and unified in their mission. Villagers are coming out to work alongside the group, and are reported to be “lovely, humble and very kind”. The water system included filtration and storage tanks, along with over six kilometers of hand-dug trenches. The efforts were worth it for the promise of a year-round supply of fresh water. Because the spring that feeds the system flows for 12 months of the year, villagers won’t have to worry about lack of water in the future as long as they maintain the system. Team members also conducted daily hygiene activities for children, with demonstrations of hand washing and teeth brushing, as well as crafts, songs, dances, games and more.

The Second project focuses on the construction of greenhouses in Yortpair. Team Coordinator Szasza Paz reported a brutal drive to the village due to an eroded road.

“Sometimes we had to get out of the van to walk up since the van couldn’t handle it,” she reported.

Again, the inconveniences were worth the effort for the potential of fresh produce the new greenhouses would provide villagers.

Additional work undertaken by the team included supporting the construction of a disabled latrine at Xay, distributing water filters to Namsan Village, distributing school supplies, warm winter clothes and flipflops to students, and distributing mosquito nets to villagers at Somboun.

The remainder of the team’s time overseas will be spent exploring and sight-seeing, both in Laos and neighbouring Thailand.