From 5 Star to Suffering Disabled to Hope

We were greeted with large boquets at the SOS Children's Village in Vientiane. This organization is worldwide and was very impressive...5 Star compared to others we have seen in SE Asia. (click on photos to make them larger)

It went downhill pretty rapidly from there...we ran all day (ended up with about 7 appointments) and mid-fternoon landed at a facility (I use the term very loosely) for 40 disabled children. It was one of the most disturbing scenes we have seen...the photos make it look better than it actually is. The "facility" is mostly outside, behind and in the bowels of a stadium. The room with the beds houses 6 or 7. The Director lives onsite in unbelievable conditions. How she smiles is beyond me. We didn't want to leave that place without doing something to help. Hopefully we will be able to help facilitate at least a clean up of that place and improve the conditions...believe it or not, people pay to leave their kids there for the day.

Our last visit in Laos prior to heading to the airport and back to Hanoi was with Dr. Nao Boutta, Director of the Ministry of Health. The discussion was very hopeful as we discussed the needs of the elderly in Laos. As you can see in the photo, we presented Dr. Nao a "transfer vest" as a sample of something that can be very helpful with disabled people of all ages. He was most enthused with the potential of the vest in Laos, where transfer equipment is not readily available. High points of the Laos portion of the trip were the receptions we received at the Department of Social Welfare and Ministry of Health, where requests were made for video of our upcoming conference in Hanoi, the enthusiasm for the vest (we took 3 as samples), requests for Dr. Nguyen's book and their offer to take us into outlying areas. They also requested that we collaborate with them to improve care for the elderly...our passion.


When is that jet going to arrive???