Mekong Times

We spent the last two days building a house for a poor family on the Mekong. This proved to be a challenging, but rewarding experience. The foundation had already been laid before we arrived, which made our job easier. First we had to transport all the bricks into the house while the guys learnt to mix the cement. Once we did this we were ready for brick laying. At first it was quite difficult, but we all got the hang of it after a while. Some older ladies also showed us how to weave leaves for the roof.

It was incredibly hot building the house and everyone was dripping with sweat. It was hard not to give up and I think that we were all very persistent and resilient.
On the second day of house building the walls were each getting quite high and we had to start using scaffolding to continue building the house.

At the end of the second day we were all very tired. The house was not quite finished, but the builders said they would continue to finish it. Everyone felt really a sense of accomplishment. The family that the house was going to were very greatful for our help and thanked us for the work we had done.



To finish the day we went for a bike ride. This was probably the funniest bike ride I had ever been on.  Rachel and I fell behind at one stage and got lost. We had to make a sign on the road  to notify the group where we had gone so that they could find us.We almost ran over a green snake and I broke my bike because I was frightened by a pig on the side of the track. I fell over and the frame of the wheel bent. Whoops. We found the others and realised that we had gone past the place where we were supposed to have stopped.

The other night we were given our surprise letters from home. It was so exciting to open them as we had not expected them. We were very greatful to receive the letters and appreciated the thought that had gone into it. I think that it made us realise how much we actually love and appreciate our families. Thank you!

From Amy