|
|
|
14/10/06 Work, floods, dengue, camp… now in Chiang Mai |
|
|
|
 Chiang Mai traffic
Please enjoy this latest short-ish update and 5 new photo albums! And feel free to say hello or post photo comments.
Water, water, everywhere…
 Welcome to Laos, Dr Gidley!
… and not a drop to drink!
In August there had been quite sever flooding throughout the whole town of Luangnamtha, in the northern province where most of ADRA’s projects are. The airport runway was covered with about 30cm of water. The flooding happened around about the same time some colleagues and I were on the plane from Vientiane to Luangnamtha. At about the time we were to arrive the plane descended beneath the clouds and we looked around and saw that we were about to land back at Vientiane! The plane had done an about-turn and come back, on hearing the news of the flooding. I’ve posted some photos of the damage to rice fields we were able to survey a couple of weeks later together with some photos from our team of the flooding at its peak. Some of our project staff also turned their attention for about a week to cleaning up many wells in the region, so people could access (relatively) clean drinking water again. (See photos.)
Pathfinder Camp
Last weekend while Vientiane was celebrating boat-racing the Pathfinder club of Vientiane SDA church (which is the newly established first such club in Laos) went on its second campout. We went to Thad Luek waterfall (see photos), which is quite beautiful. And you can guess what happened: it flooded! Well, not too badly, but it rained for most of the time we were there, which meant the waterfall – not even a hundred metres from our tents – became more and more spectacular throughout the weekend. But it also meant that on the first night most people didn’t get much sleep due to trying to avoid water coming into their tents. Fortunately our tent was pretty much alright. I just moved a bit to avoid a steady drip that started coming onto my face, and was able to sleep most of the night. But others moved into cars, other tents, or the verandah of the National Park visitor’s centre up the hill.
The camp was still thoroughly enjoyable despite the wet. I learnt a lot about Lao cooking, culture, and language, and made quite a few more friends. We were blessed to have a good relation with the Park caretakers, who offered for us to stay inside the visitor’s centre the rest of the weekend. So we pitched our tents inside the building and also on the verandah, and had some really fun activities and games as well as interesting and meaningful talks and an induction ceremony through during the remainder of the camp. I guess the rain brought us all together a bit more!
Work, work, work
Work has been busy, but I’ve also been forced to take over a week of sick leave due to getting dengue fever last month. Not fun at all! It also took a little more time to get my energy back and be able to be operational again. Which meant that in the time since that I have been able to focus on work I’ve been even more busy catching up for lost time. In the last few weeks we’ve had donor visits, and also the arrival of a new member of our staff – Dr Vic Gidley, who I know well from Australia. It’s been great to have him come – already he’s making a very good contribution with his wisdom and experience, even though it’s a first for him to come and work in a developing country.
Apart from work, however, I have managed to keep fairly involved at the SDA church in Vientiane – with Pathfinders, of course, and taking Sabbath school lessons (in English of course – my Lao is still only very basic) and even an afternoon program for a branch church on the outskirts of Vientiane. I’ve also contributed to a paper that should be soon published in the Australian Water Journal. But I had hoped by now to have written more papers from my thesis work… but that will have to come later.
Luangprabang and Chiang Mai
For the last half of last week I went with one of our Lao staff to Luangprabang to make plans and reservations for our staff retreat that will be there in the last week of November. The town has a lot of character, history, natural beauty, but is also very laid back. Perfect place to go as a tourist! I am looking forward to going back there. We met a lot of very helpful people, and it looks like our staff retreat will come together quite well.
From Luangprabang I flew direct to Chiang Mai yesterday, for a workshop on “Instituitional Dimensions of Global Environmental Change: Water, Trade and Environment”. It’s going to be very interesting to see how my research findings relate to a bigger picture of research and policy development around the world. There are 40 participants from all parts of the world. I think I’m the only Australian, and the only one from Laos. There should also be good linkages to my work with ADRA Laos, and the networking will also be fantastic. So far I’ve only been with the group for a little bit yesterday, as I’ve spent Sabbath doing my own thing while the workshop has got underway. I went to the Chiang Mai SDA church this morning and, as you’d expect in this part of the world, met some really nice people. I’m looking forward to the next week and a bit here in Chiang Mai, and will certainly have more to post/share later, when I get the chance. |
|
News