Return to Muang Sing

Post date: Mar 31, 2014 8:13:09 AM

We returned to Muang Sing in February 2014 after being away for five months. It was a homecoming for us. The Butterfly Children are doing well. We had many visits together with their families. The teacher who worked with us was transferred to a neighboring school so the Butterfly Children's Development Center has unfortunately closed. Some of the children visit her where she is staying at the new school and play games with her.

Almost all the computers we left in the village are working and being used. We updated them while we were there. One lucky girl received the computer that Leila's brother gave to them. They continue to use the computers to learn English and mathematics.

The mother of one of the first Butterfly Children whom we sent to the Don Khoi Children's Development Center in Vientiane for three weeks was very proud to tell us her daughter was studying in Japan. She is studying agriculture at a vocational school and was one of 22 agriculture students in Laos selected to learn agriculture in Japan for three weeks. We saw the babies of some of the other Butterfly Children who have already dropped out of school.

We also visited former patients to follow up on their care. Other former patients and their families saw us at the market or on the streets and stopped to say hello.

We saw three of the deaf scholarship students. Their school closed for the New Year so they had to return to their villages for two weeks. One of their fathers took on the responsibility of traveling with them to school. He is confident and makes all the arrangements. We continue to support their travel costs. Here is one of the deaf girls showing us how she can translate Lao language into sign language. We saw three of them off at the bus station on their way to school. The fourth student was waiting by the side of the road for them.

We look forward to visiting everyone again in 2015!