Welcome to Dong Thap

Tired today....

We had a lot to accomplish today. We divided the Home Team into 3 groups (we have renamed it Weightloss Team) because of the temperature, hard work and not so enticing food. We took a Tuk Tuk to our sites which took about 45 minutes. Interesting countryside and interesting ride. I was assigned to a wood frame home with a tin roof and palm tree leaves and siding. I brought stickers for the children, shared my sugar wafers and bought balloons for them. It was smart to do since I ended up recruiting a helper! We taught the kids a few hand games including rock, paper, scissors. I learned the other day that I was not a brick layer but today found my strength in thatching the palm leaves. It was quite fun. Since we finished completing this home early we took a Tuk Tuk to another home to help the others with their home. It was a brick home....ughhh.

Had an interesting dinner-rabbit necks which I declined try. The vegetarian meal was quite good and safe. A few of us experienced the local night life here and hit the Cafe Bar and had a Tiger Beer. Everything closes up by 9:00 pm.

Only one more day until Tour de Saigon....

Photos will be posted soon-promise.

Good-bye to Rach Gia - Day 5

Today (which was really yesterday since I am behind a day blogging) we finished up with our home. We couldn't complete it unfortunately (it will be completed by local hands). It was a tough day for many of us emotionally since we had to leave our family and kids and neighbors that we grew so close to. Jeng (the mother cried too). I learned I am not a brick layer and do not possess that skill. We had lunch with the monks and parted ways early afternoon. The highlights of working with this family was passing out candy, stickers and taking polaroid photos. It truly is remarkable that they don't have photos of their families. They asked us to take a polaroid of a lunch they had made for a recently departed family member.

The bus ride to Don Thap took about 4 hours, was bumpy at times and we crossed two rivers taking a ferry.

It was a long day and they won't be getting shorter.

Day 4 - Rach Gia continued

I am trying to get use to the food here. Breakfast today was bread and what looked like and tasted like Top Raman which was the vegetarian option-meat lovers got either pork or meatballs. What happened to pancakes and eggs...

We worked our tails off today and are still behind. We carried bricks, sand and rocks. Tough day today getting ready to pour concrete. I have gotten attached to a 5 year old named Nhi. Super darling. Everyone is so warm and friendly and I had a couple of toys I gave to the kids. We had lunch with the female monks at the Buddhist Temple next door. They were so hospitable to us and wanted us to stay for dinner tonight and lunch tomorrow. I don't know if I have mentioned this yet regarding the bathroom facilities-there aren't any-you find a bush or in this case the nearest grave. However, the monks have a bathroom so today we didn't have to worry about it. We end our work on this home tomorrow around 2pm and will go onto another home in Dong Thap. We will be putting up the brick wall tomorrow. The other team completed their home today (I guess they are better then us at building a home then we are!) We may recruit them to help us tomorrow!

I had fun shopping in the market tonight. Blondes are a rarity here and everyone stops to look and say "hello."

I have forgotten what day it is......

Lastly, I have been attacked and almost eaten alive by bed bugs. I thought they were mosquitos but they aren't. So for you all, don't let the bed bugs bites. For me, I have no option.

It takes a village in Rach Gia to build a home - Day 3

Wow, I am physically and emotionally tired from today. We flew from Phu Quoc to Rach Gia (pronounced Rockia) which was a 30 minute flight. It is hard to imagine how families can live as they do. It is very humbling.

There were two homes we were to begin working on. The first home (which is the site I stayed at) was surrounded by many raised grave sites. The second home the volunteers had to take a 2 minute boat ride to. I am assuming all the graves were family members. They had at least 5 different families living in this one little area. We met the family we were building the home for, a woman and her 3 children. One of her daughters was a victim of rape at 9. This is one reason we are helping to rebuild their home so she has a safe place. Their mother was so happy to have us there and she amazed us all by pitching in and carrying bags of sand and rocks all with a smile on her face. I am not sure if she had a husband, I never saw him. It was a great day though. All the children helped and we had fun trying to communicate with them (they enjoyed laughing at us and pointing to our skin to show us how pale we all were) and many helped us by shoveling the sand into our bags. They also enjoyed having their photos with our digital and polariod cameras. It took us 3 hours, 13 volunteers and numerous children and a few adults living in the area to complete the foundation. We got some relief from the heat with a good 30 minute rain shower. There was no restroom so it made the day very interesting! I have never been so dirty, sweaty and sandy in my life.

I have also learned to become a vegetarian in Vietnam. They make some amazing looking tofu. I ended my evening with yet another massage for 120,000 dong which I believe is about $8 USD. My massage girl walked on my back holding onto a pole.

Well, tomorrow is a 8 hour work day and up at 5am-goodnight!

Phu Quoc (what???) Day 2 - Easter Sunday

Well I am a little late posting from yesterday...could not access much of anything on the internet in Phu Quoc (pronounced Fu Cuac). Phu Quoc which is a little resort area about a one hour flight from HCMC. I was told that the government does not like blogging so it blocks all the blogging sites. However, I am obviously on tonight but I am in a new province.

Today was pretty much a R&R day. Since I had no sleep the night before getting into HCMC I didn't last long. I got my $15 foot, shoulder, arm and neck massage then passed out for 5 hours. Dinner was interesting...squid and shrimp with their heads. I stuck with the rice. I wasn't feeling adventerous. I learned that Phu Quoc is know for their dogs which are supposedly one of the most intelligent breeds in the world. I will have to post photos later.

Good Morning Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam - DAY 1

I have arrived!!! It was a fairly painless 16 hour flight...obviously flying first class with a lie down bed, champagne/wine, good food, first class service and being able to catch up on three movies really helped to pass the time. It was nice that I had enough miles charged on my credit card to warrant such a luxury. At the Los Angeles International Airport I met up with another Catalyst volunteer, Bruce (who flew in from New Jersey). Bruce unfortunately met his doomed fate by meeting me. After our arrival to HCMC and having to retrieve our luggage from baggage claim, I pointed out all my bags loaded with supplies. Bruce was quite horrified to see 1 HUGE suitcase, 1 HUGE box and a duffle bag filled with supplies. Even worse was how heavy they were. One was 70 lbs (originally 99 lbs) and the other 65 lbs and I had to improvise and use a packed duffle bag which was around 30 lbs and transfer some supplies over in order to not be charged the excess baggage fee at SFO. I also had two carry-on items to account for as well. Bruce and his wife adopted their daughter 8 years ago from Vietnam. He is here to help build homes and visit his daughter's orphanage. I have a feeling Bruce is going to avoid me as much as possible during this trip or at least until I can rid myself of the supplies.

I won't get much sleep tonight/this morning. I will be up around 3:00 am to head out to the airport to fly to Phu Quoc Island. We start work on Sunday.

This is what I will be building!

Some of you have been asking what kind of houses I will be building in Vietnam. I finally have an answer. I am very excited! Plus I am going to be putting to good use my painting skills. If this doesn't touch your heart....

6 houses in four and a half days 2 new houses in Kien Giang for girls that have been victims of sex trafficking that used to live in the garbage dump. Brick walls, tile floors, thatched/tile roof.
2 houses in My Hiep Village (Dong Thap), 1 house in Tan Hoi Trung (Dong Thap), 1 house in Sa Dec (Dong Thap). These are houses of the children Catalyst's scholarship program.
First house: A "shelter" made out of leaves. We'll build a brick one room loft home with a tin sheet roof combination of tin and thatched siding and a room for kitchen.
Second house: Build an "addition" to their current house with a wood frame, brick wall and a bathroom.
Third house: A deteriorated thatched house they would like a one room house with a tile wall and roof, and bathroom. Fourth house: Brand new construction with cement foundation, tile floors, brick walls, tile room, bathroom etc. Their house was destroyed by the last season of typhoons.... AND 5 home renovations in Dong Thap - replace the siding with new thatch and/or tile roof. Our new houses cost an average of $2000 and the house renovations will be around $300-$400. It will be amazing to get these built for our girls!