Vietnam Day Four

Thursday morning, March 15th, we went to Sa's house to pick up the other GVI team. Our team has only been there in the evening for dinner so it was such a cute surprise to see an actual sign that says, "Sa's House" posted over his gate.
We all headed to the kindergarten school and a chicken got loose in the night and made tracks all over their fresh concrete! No kids sneaking in to smash their handprints or carve initials, just Vietnamese chickens, hilarious.
Mom and I started free-handing the underwater scene.
Here it is about 90% complete. We need it to dry a bit more then add the final details. (P.S. We only had red, yellow, blue, green, black and white paint.)
I absolutely LOVED that in the corner of the kindergarten room were dress-up dolls. They were dressed in full H'Mong attire and even had the little clothes strung on the clothes line. Does that not completely melt your heart?!
Then we headed to the 1-5th grade Primary School. This is a boarding school for village children who live too far out to walk home. (Guess what the requirement is to NOT walk to school? You must live further than 2 hours from the school. Kids could walk nearly 2 hours to school and then 2 hours back again! Meaning they are close enough to walk and it not be an issue. I think this has grandpa's walking up hill in the snow with no shoes on story beat for sure.)
Adam, of course, noticed this Dep Trai (handsome boy) in a picture that GVI had posted, he is a Vietnamese albino.
Three teachers washing dishes after lunch. I wonder if the teachers in the US would be up for teaching class, preparing food, washing dishes, cleaning the grounds and sleeping in the room next door to the children?? Dedication, people.
Joe Don was immediately swarmed by the boys who all wanted to take a turn on his lap.
Two beautiful 5th grade girls. The one on the right reminds me of an Asian Kamryn, do you think so Kristin?
There are about 50 children at the boarding school and here are their sleeping quarters. Another interesting fact is that they only have 1-2 sets of clothes. They wear them for at least a week before washing, undergarments included. And they do not have p.j.'s, they sleep in their day clothes.
There are 2 restrooms and they look like this... BYOTP. But they are kids and I am sure they do not have any toilet paper. This is a GVI project upgrade. Apparently before this it was a hole in the ground with a plastic tarp around it.
The kiddos were fascinated with Lois' long blonde hair.
Mom and I started on the other two murals at the Primary school. The one on the left is a picture of washing germs off a hand and the other is a toothbrush/toothpaste. These are located in the hygiene classroom. Things like washing hands, brushing teeth, wiping, bathing and the like are all new concepts and are now being taught. But it is a very new way of life and even though we did not see follow-through in these areas, it will catch on!
This was the view from the hygiene classroom.
Rick, our team leader, shooting the breeze with the boys. Rick and his son, Nick, have been coming on this trip for years (this is his 17 year old son's sixth time in country!) and have watched these boys grow up. Rick says he sees two of their greatest needs being playtime and physical affection. Their parents are absolutely doing the best for them, but it is understandable how they could lack in those two areas.
We had dinner at Sa's which was rice, noodle stirfry, chicken soup, grilled chicken, kale, spring rolls and mango. Then we headed back to the Primary school for a crafts night. My mom and I planned several crafts which we broke up into three rooms for the kids to rotate though. Room 1- Stickers and painting birdhouses. Room 2- Fingerprint tree leaves and checkers. Room 3- Hygiene picture and temporary tattoos. Almost every child was given an art smock to keep.
OK, Art Teacher Shock came when one of the teachers at the Primary school said that this was the FIRST TIME that the children had ever painted. Future art camp anyone?
Hoping to sleep through the night tonight. Each night so far I haven't slept past 3:30am and of course am super tired by like 6pm. But tonight since we had an evening activity, I am hoping this helped give that final push to a longer nights sleep.

All Authority. On repeat in my head- so so divine.

NHP