Overview of My 3 Week Trip Back to China : ) 

Who: I’ll be working with the same organization that I was with last year  at two of the four locations that I worked with last year. I’m excited to be returning to the same organization and continuing to work with the same people.  I think that it’s important to build relationships with the local staff as opposed to jumping around to various organizations. This will be my third year with this organization which is exciting!

What:  The two sites that I will be going to both work with children with special needs.  My role while I’m there will be to provide training to local staff on assessment and intervention for speech/special education services.  Last year I developed some materials and I look forward to building upon those and fielding any questions that the staff may have.  They have been treating speech/language delays for one year  (they previously did mostly physical therapy) and I expect that they will have a number of questions about assessment and treatment.  I will also be going into a local orphanage at one of the sites and working with the children there  (one of my favorite but emotionally difficult settings). 

Where:  I’ll be in Yunnan province again : ) 

Why:  There are a number of children and adults in China with special needs but not a lot of services.  An Internet search will tell you that China has special education services, but I’ve not seen many with the exception of the services being provided from private organizations.  Most children with special needs are not welcomed into public schools and they stay at home with their parents.  There’s a big stigma about having a special need in China and I think that it’s important to show the love of God for all of His created beings; after all we are all made in the image of an incredible God!  I love working with parents and encouraging them to enjoy the blessing that their children are.  I also love working with the individuals themselves and encouraging them to actively participate in their communities.   I could write “why” for pages but that’s the gist of it. 

How:  Despite multiple valiant efforts, I can’t speak Chinese : (  This is challenging but also useful… I CAN’T do the therapy because I don’t have the language skills.  This forces everyone involved to follow a training model.  This model allows for the local staff to learn the needed skills and do therapy all year around.  It also ensures that services are done in a culturally appropriate and meaningful way.  

A Grateful Heart : )

NOTHING makes you more grateful than being away from home.  I learned a lot about God, people, life, myself etc in China, but one theme that popped up over and over is that I am incredibly blessed and have so many people to be grateful for.  I am blessed by the grace of an incredible God, the love of an amazing family, friends and fiance, political freedom, financial security, a good education, a healthy body, and the list could go on and on.  During my first week back to church, Pastor Scott preached on being grateful.  His sermon, along with my experiences this year reminded me of how blessed I've been by my community before, during and after my trip to China.  I think we sometimes forget about all of the resources that go into preparing us to step out and do something like going overseas.  

One of God's most amazing gifts is one another.  While we should always learn to rely and lean on God, He knows that sometimes we need the audible voice of a trusted friend, a physical shoulder to cry on and people to rejoice with.  Life's complex, its not fair, its exhausting, its sad while also being beautiful, exciting and amazing.... God gives us each other to navigate the ups and downs of this world.  

Making lists of people that you are grateful for is always dangerous because you don't want to leave anyone out so I'll say now that this is not an exhaustive list... its more categorical.  I've been so blessed by Pastor Bryan, the Becks, Shananon Libengood, Hannah Zappa and Dana Hunter who have encouraged me and prayed for and with me before, during and after my trip.  I came to the East End two and a half years ago feeling lost and not sure about what I believed.  Pastor Bryan has put a lot of time into answering my theological questions and encouraging me in my faith, he's definately given me an understanding of Northway's mission statement to "Freeing People to Follow Jesus."  I'm also grateful for my small group, I loved learning about God with you weekly!  My financial supporters... I was blown out of this world by your support... I was sure that I would be begging people for money up until I  got on the plane but that wasn't the case.  I was blessed by my home church, Pittsburgh Chinese Church, Whitehall Presbyterian, Faith Chapel and friends and family.  Thank you all for your financial sacrifice, I'm humbled and challenged by your generocity.  I was also blessed by the love of the local and foreign staff while I was in China (I won't name names for security reasons).  Soooo many people opened their homes to me and went out of their way to make me feel loved.  Northway has three families of global partners over there and I stayed with all three of them at some point.  They gave me a home away from home and I'm so grateful for that.  Serving in orphanages definately makes you grateful for your family. At one point I was holding an infant and the realization that that little two month old baby is in this world on their own broke my heart.  Along with being supportive of my every venture, my family has always been the joy of my life,  I love simply being with them.  One of the families that I was staying with commented on that after overhearing a facetime conversation with my older sister.  He commented that I always sound like I'm having such a good time when I call home and its true, they kept me sane and encouraged : )   DEFINITELY not least... BILL.  I can't overstate how important his support has been. Not having his encouragement would have killed me.  It's hard to be engaged and on two different continents.... not only did he do more than his share of the wedding planning, but he continues to patiently handle my readjustment back home.  I can't believe God's given me someone that's so good to me.  I'm so blessed!  

All of this to say.... THANK YOU ALL!  

Many of you know Sarah Briggs who has also recently returned from overseas, her and I would love to invite you to hear more about what God is doing globally.  I'm excited to hear from Sarah, she did outreach in 11 countries this year and I know she has a lot to share!  See the picture below for details:

P.S.  PCC, Whitehall and Faith Chapel:  you are more than welcome to attend this event, I am also in the process of speaking with your churches about a good time to come out your way as well : ) 

 

Readjusting

Im down in D.C. for a couple of days and went to the national mall to walk around for a couple of hours... what do you know... there is a China festival!  China follows me!  I ordered my dumplings from the food tent and I really wanted to order in Chinese just to freak the ABC (American Born Chinese) girl out... but that would be against my goal to reacclimate to American culture and act normal : ).  I looked in the gift shop out of curiousity and the souvineers were ten times the price of China.  Maybe I should have brought some back and hawked them outside... if I only knew : )

My first week back has gone well.  It's just weird... it's weird to be in two distinctly different envionrments in such a short amount of time.  I think that the biggest challenge is figuring out what to do with all that I saw and experienced.  How do I remember it, learn from it and not drown in the guilty of having left it?  One of the biggest temptations is just to forget, to move on from here and pretend that nothing happened.  It's easy to get wrapped up in planning a wedding and move straight into married life, followed by the childbearing years, followed by a cushy retirement.  Why did I go to China?  Why did I open my eyes to see sights that make my stomach hurt and expose my heart to realities that break it?  In truth, I've come home and put a smile on my face and feel ok most of the time, but there are days when I feel broken and powerless on the inside. 

While I was in China, I thought about my seemingly chaotic life.  If you look at my resume, you would be a little scared.  I've had a lot of jobs and I have two more degrees than are necessary.  I really didn't know what to do with myself for a while.  I bebopped around in various jobs (all of which I loved) trying to find a fit.  Finally, I settled on Speech Pathology (and LOVE IT).  When I thought about those years between high school and getting my first job in speech, I thought that my other experiences were all just random acts of a lost soul.  In China, I had the opporunity to use many of the skills that I had gained in those years.... I did job coaching, special education and gave low level advise about mental health issues.  During that time, I began to see life differently.  When it's all said and done, I believe that our experiences here on earth will be like one of those photomosaics, with every experience being its own but adding to the larger picture.  I think before I saw it more like a patch work quilt, each experience being there but not intertwined.  I don't think that's true because through our experiences, God grows us up.  He teaches us more about ourselves and about each other with each challenge that we face and then builds upon that to make us able to take what's next.  In thinking of it that way, my goal is to look forward to the next phase of life and be excited for how God will use the new skills, insights and passions that China has blessed me with as opposed to grieving for an experience that has ended.  Please keep me in your prayers as I figure out what is next : ) 

When I was thinking about this, I was reminded of the words of the Casting Crowns song "Already There"....

"From where you're standing Lord you see a grand design that you imagined when you breathed me into life and all the chaos comes together in your hands like a masterpiece of your picture perfect plan."

Chorus: One day I'll stand before you and look back on the life I've lived.  I can't wait to enjoy the view and see how all the pieces fit." 

Homeward Bound!

I'm currently sitting in Chicago airport waiting for my final flight home : )   It's been quite the day, it started with my 5am pick-up in China.  I dragged my bags to the curb outside of my apt where I awaited foe the rented car.  I heard my car before I saw it...why?  Perhaps because the driver was driving without headlights in the dark hours of the morning.  Oh China, I thought to myself!  The driver was so nice and helped me get my bags onto a cart so I could check in.  The flight from KMG to Shanghai was uneventful, the only obnoxious part was that they made me pick up my checked bags in Shanghai and re-check them which ended up adding a long, annoying step to an already long day.  One of the other families living in China (not the city that I am in) was also flying through Shanghai on the same day at about the same time as me... we hung out during our layover which was really nice.  I've had a tough time thinking about leaving China and I think that it was good to have the company during the long layover to avoid being the crazy, crying foreigner, a role I have played far too often duing my time here : ).  The airline wouldn't let me check my bags in until 12:30 (I arrived around 10:45) and I was standing in line as soon as it opened.  When they opened check-in, it was like letting the horses out of the gates at Preakness!  Everyone was anxious to get their bags checked and head through security.  The first wave of travelors went up to the counter and then stood there.... FOR OVER AN HOUR!  The computer system for all of United Airlines in Shanghai was down and they didn't know when they were going to get it fixed.  They just kept making announcements saying that they are unable to check anyone in.  I started to panic... I've been away from my fiance for eight months and enough is enough, I was ready to board that plane.  What I didn't know is that boarding the plane was only half of my long day of airline travels... The plane from Shanghai to Chicago had all sorts of crazy going on.  First it was late, then we boarded and sat at the gate for almost two and a half hours!  The story of why we were sitting there changed with every apologetic but nonetheless annoying, announcement.  First it was traffic controls fault, then we were waiting for maintenance.  At one point the had to shut the plane down to fix something which cut the AC off.  It was so hot I thought people were going to have heat strokes... Luckily I have seen the Chinese remedy for heat strokes so I was ready to jump to the rescue with Eastern medicine!  Well by the time we got on our way I knew that I wasn't going to make my connecting flight in Chicago, the question was whether there was room on the final flight that night o whether I would have to spend the night at the airport which would have been terrible.  The flight went shockingly fast considering that we were on there much longer than we should have been and there weren't personal tv screens which make the time go faster.  The airport in Chicago was a little stressful because so many people either missed their flights and were mad or were close to missing their flights so they were frantic.  I no longer like O'Hare... We really need a better system for incoming international flights... This getting your bags, re-checking them and going through security again is bananas.  It took a really long time, but I got my favorite moment... When the customs officer says "welcome home"  I LOVE that!  Everytime leave, I remember home much I love my home :  ). I also wanted to belt out patriotic songs at the site of the American flag : ).  My mood dampened a little bit when I boarded my last flight and they announced that we were running late because they didn't have the pilot... Unreal United Airlines, unreal!  We only ended up leaving half an hour late which is an improvement over my earlier flight. Right now I'm skimming through Skymall wondering if you can register for wedding gifts from them... I love their inventions they truely are genius!  Really I'm just  distracting myself as I await our descent into Pittsburgh where my Bill will meet me and we'll be with each other forever ; ).  I'm still processing through my experience in China, but regardless of what I'll be up to next,  I know that I want to be there with my Bill.  I love China and always will, but right now it's good to be home : ) 

My skymall registery: 1.  can you imagine being next to the guy inflating that massive pillow!  I really got a neck ache from laying on the tray table today and I could have used that... 2. Who says attaching a hot beverage to your laptop is a bad idea?  Not when you have this Skymall original!  3.  Jumping the gun a little here but i think our kids should be strapped onto bills shoulders by their legs that way we can't lose them : ). 4. Last but not least, voice activated r2d2 robot!!! I love it!  If I included the amazing pet inventions I could have gone on and on, but, Bill says "no cats" and I'm not encouraging the dog conversation so it ends here... If we ever have a pet, it won't ever get anything from Skymall because that's a terrible use of resources, but there are some fun contraptions for the k9 crowd to dream of!

,

Malaysia Continued

Im writing from an airport that is so small that it looks like a drivers ed. course.  The size of the runway makes me wonder how big the plane is going to be...Im a little scared!  This place reeks with adventure... even sitting in this airport makes me feel like I am in another time.  Its an open air waiting room with big fans to keep people from passing out from the oppressive heat.  The runway is lined with palmtrees and backed by a mountain.  I feel like I'm on Lost... where's the men in the jumpsuits working for the Darma Initiative?  Better question.... where's Sawyer?  Joking... I'm an engaged women : ).  My trip to the airport was also an adventure.  I love when public transportation and extreme sports collide into one.  It's a good way to feed your need for a rush and get where you're going in one bill.  My transportation here was a speed boat.  It was a really nice ride and I got to see the waterfront on some of the other resort beaches... I liked mine the best, it wasn't in the tourbook so I think its less known making it less populated.  I do have some complaints about the "resort."  When I got there I was absolutely exhausted and just wanted to go to bed, but first I needed to ensure that I would never make the trip that I had just made... it was way too long and complicated and ate up too much precious time.  I had seen that there was an airport on the island but never looked into a flight because I assumed that it would be too expensive.  While I was waiting for the ferry to the island I went to KFC and used the WiFi to look up a flight.  It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought so I booked it, or so I thought.  While sitting on the ferry, I looked at the screen shot that I had taken of my flight information and saw that it wasn't the final confirmation page.  This was a serious problem because I had booked a one way boat ticket to the island and they said that there is no way to book ferry tickets once you are on the island.  This meant that if that flight was booked, I was stuck.  Im running a pretty tight ship here and don't have much room for error... Only one flight goes to Kunming from Malaysia a day and if I miss it, I'll miss my flight back to the States.  Soooo my first order of business was to look into this flight.  The internet at the "resort" didn't work.  I politely talked to the receptionist about it and explained that I reallly needed internet to book a plane ticket.  She was neither helpful nor concerned.  I tried to hold the "ugly American" in me back but this place advertises that it has internet... THIS IS FALSE ADVERTISING... I wanted to scream.  One thing that I've learned is that customer service is viewed very differently in different countries and I don't really know if they care about false advertising here.  I was almost in tears.  I went to her again and she agreed to call the airport.... they were closed. As I walked to my room, I carefully crafted the review that I would post online about this resort.  It couldn't be overly bitter or it would be cast aside as the ravings of a lunatic... I would get my revenge one way or another.  Then I went to my room.... the key didn't work... so I dragged my suitcase back to reception... the women there looked like she wanted me dead... they called maintance and then I dragged my bag back to my room.  He opened the door for me... the pictures online displayed a nice, clean room... FALSE ADVERTISING!  I actually think that there were more bugs in the room than outside.  Luckily they weren't scary bugs, they were fairly small.  Although a couple of them were jumping around happily on my bed... "are those flees?"  I wondered.  I don't know... there's no internet so I can't look it up!  Then I saw the bathroom.  When you flush the toilet the water runs all over the floor.  A lot of water, truely it floods the bathroom.  On closer examination, I noticed that the water running everywhere is coming from the pipe in the back so at least it should be clean.  After showering I watched half of "The Butler" (great movie!) and went to bed.  In the moring life was better.  I called the airport and booked my flight... as I sit here Im laughing at myself for my panic... there are five people in this airport, its unlikely that the plane will be full.  Internet access returned after I booked my flight over the phone which was good because I wanted to let Bill know that I had made it.  One more comment about the room... the next day I noticed that the pillow was the moldiest piece of material I've ever seen.  Half of me was concerned for my health since I sleep on my stomach and basically inhale my pillow, the other half of me wished that that pillow could talk.  Oh the tales it must have.  How could a pillow get that moldy?  Was it in a flood, perhaps it was shipwrecked... I can't even fathom what could make a pillow that moldy.   There weren't moldy pillows in the pictures, but there might be after my carefully crafter review!  I love the power that internet gives the consumer, we always have a voice and I like it!

The room came with a free breakfast buffet which was nice.  Unfortunately I mistook the fish sauce on the table for syrup.  That was disappointing as I have really been craving pancakes... I didn't expect fish sauce to be a staple for breakfast.  Next I embarked on my goal to relax.  I relaxed for about 45 minutes and then got bored so I decided to go for a hike in the jungle.  My hike was cut really short... I started to enter the jungle but a huge reptile jumped out at me.  I don't know what it is called (I asked a local person but they told me the local name which I forget) but it was basically an iguana the size of an alligator.   I ran and never ventured into the jungle again!  So that drove me back to relaxing and let me tell you, I need a hammock in my life.  I love them!  I was a little sad as I ate dinner at the ocean front restaurant.  The waiter asked if I was alone and I said yes.  My adventures have been amazing but Im ready to have an adventure buddy for life with me ; ).  Miss you Bill!  I went to bed pretty early.  Im used to traveling alone, but this country makes me a little nervous.  The guide book recommended that women not travel alone, which I didn't read until I was on the plane here and it was too late.  That warning made me a little nervous because they said that people think of western women as being loose and can target them.  Its hard to know the line between being cautious and being paranoid, but with two days left, I'm not taking any chances.  This morning I returned to my hammock until taking the boat to the airport.  I can's wait to see this plane!  

Pictures of the airport!

Update:  I have a whole new respect for aviation.  You really realize the miracle that flight is when you are on a plane with a propellor. I sat in the window seat right next to the propellor and realized that if anything stopped that little device from spinning, we would fall into the sea in seconds... It was a terrifying realization, followed by another terrifying discovery.  I looked at the arm rest that I was clutching and saw the rectangular metal box with the word "push" carved into it... AN ASHTRAY!  How old is this plane?  When was the last time people were allowed to smoke on a plane?  

I'm now sitting at my hostel.  I went out and saw the towers but that was all that I had time for.  My hostel is in a shady area and I was afraid to be out at night so I'm getting up extra early tomorrow to go visit a mosque.  Also I can't believe how western this place is... I forgot how amazing it is to have so many food choices... My head was spinning from the choices!  

W.S.

This trip was my second time to W.S. this year.  I was there for about three weeks in March right before I came home for a visit.  I had a rough time during my last visit.  I moved up there right around the time when my nephew was born and internet was tough which meant that I didn't get to call Bill or my brother and sister-in-law very easily.  Then I found out that my grandpap was receiving hostice care.  It's really hard to be away from home during times like that.  During my time in China, this was the period when I was the most homesick.  Unfortunately, W.S. is the site (I feel) that has the most amount of opportunities for me to get involved in and I was struggling to keep myself focused.  I spent a lot of time walking and crying in the evenings after work, it was tough.  This was also the site that was the hardest in regards to the language barrier.  The team that I worked with are all local staff members with the exception of one person and she speaks fluent Chinese.  Also, they have a local dialect which I don't understand at all.  This meant that I really didn't understand anything that was happening ever and that I had a hard time communicating with everyone.  The women that I stayed with are AMAZING!  They never stop, they had people over almost every night and poured into so many people's lives.  I was so blessed to see their work.... it was just tough on me (I'm not complaining just explaining) because I didn't want to be rude so I hung out with everyone but didn't understand ANYTHING.  It's really tiring and lonely to be in that situation all day long.  All of this to say that I had a tough time last time I was there, but felt much better and got a lot accomplished this time.  Also, one of their staff members stepped up and said that she wanted to be committed to making a speech therapy program there which was really exciting!  It's tough to just give general tips to everyone (although its good to do that), I like to have at least one person to really pour into. 

This site has a therapy center which was providing physical therapy services and wanted to start speech therapy but hadn't yet.  They also go into the state run orphanage (Im planning to talk about the orphanage in a later post).  I spent my time in W.S. working with the new speech therapist and teaching her how to assess and provide treatment for the kids there.  I also worked on leaving some materials for them to use.  My heart is to not just focus on speech therapy, but also special education services.  None of these kids go to school so unless their parents or our center teach them academic skills, they won't get them.  I see a lot of kids that have average or close to average cognitive skills but don't have the academic skills that they should have because no one is teaching them anything.  I've also found that when we teach them these academic skills, it really impresses people (becasue they think of these kids as not being capable of learning) and changes the way that people (including their parents) view them.  I love when I'm either teaching kids or doing an assessment and we find that they are capable of things that people never expected.  Some of these kids are trapped in their bodies and just need someone to advocate for them/teach them how to advocate for themselves.  

I'm really hoping that the work that was done at the orphanage carries on, but I don't know :(   It is a trickier sitaution because there are less staff members who go to the orphanage so I wonder if the special education portion will be lost as it seems that the physical therapy takes priority :(   I'm hoping things will carry on and did all that I could to encourage.  Along with training the org. staff, I also shared  my ideas with some of the foreigners who also volunteer there hoping that between everyone, someone will teach the kids something.  I feel like my experience with the two older girls who are currently job training was a big eye opener.  The orphanage kids also don't go to school.... what's going to happen to them when they age out?  When you release kids with no skills its a disaster for eveyone.  I made a special education program (mostly math with some literacy components) that goes up to 2nd grade skills.  Right now the kids are not even at pre-school skills so it will take them a while to get them up to 2nd grade skills.  I think that this is important not only because of the skills that it will teach these kids but also the fact that it will make them learners, give us an opportunity to build up their self-esteem and resilency, give them respect that they deserve but aren't getting and teach them how to operate in a learning environment.  I won't get into the situation at the orphanage on this post but will say that they exhibit textbook orphanage behavior.  I did a poster presentation in grad school about institutionalized kids so I read a lot of the research... they acted exactly how the authors of the articles described.  Basically there is no structure in their day so they roam around doing nothing.  This leaves them with no abilty to participate in group activities, persevere or interact with peers.  It's sad and regardless of where they end up, they don't have the life skills that they need to be successful.  HATE IT : (  It was the most heartbreaking setting ever.  I cried on my way home EVERY time I went because you could see another aspect of sadness everyday.  Just when you thought that the world couldn't knock these kids down again, it did.  But... I pray for a miracle in the life of every kid there.  I pray for families to swoop in and give them their hearts desire... To feel loved.

ZD

I'm a little behind with blogging but as generally happens, I catch up while I am traveling.  Right now I am sitting on the floor of a bus station in Malaysia where I will be waiting for my bus for the next 10 hours.... sometimes I make really stupid travel plans and this is one of those time : ).  Anyway, just wanted to write about a couple of things that I haven't had a chance to talk about. 

In the beginning of May I spent some time up in ZD.  I love it up there because it is basically as close to Tbt as I may ever get.  The scenery is AMAZING... I love looking at the mountains and the people up there were really rewarding to work with.  While I was up there, I worked with an ex-pat who has been providing special education services for some of the kids at the rehab center.  Some of them also have speech needs so I did assessments, treatment plans and staff training.  It was a real blessing to see how involved two of the parents in particular were.  One of the girls is about 13 and has cerebral palsey.  She doesn't go to school but her family has taken the time to teach her academic skils at home and she is able to read.  This is pretty unusual so it was really encouraging to see them treat her as someone who can learn and lead a productive life.  There was another parent of a younger child that was so attuned to her kid.   This little girl has pretty severe cerebral palsey but does seem to have fairly good cognitive skills.  She is unable to speak and is also unable to use her hands... this makes communication tricky and it also makes it difficult to determine understanding since we generally have kids who are unable to speak touch pictures to request items and/or touch pictures to answer questions.  I was trying to encourage her to use her eye gaze to make selections and that was going pretty well.  When I asked her mom if she has found a way to communicate with her, her mom told me that the girl makes certain faces to communicate certain things... for example, there is a milk that she likes and the container has a person making a particular face so this little girl makes that face when she wants that milk.  This may not seem that exciting, but it is!  This mom considers her child a communicator despite her severe impairments and encourages her to use whatever she can to communicate (most parents want perfect speech or nothing).  Wait for it, it gets better.... We dropped in on this mom unexpectedly one day and she had made a tent in her front yard where she was doing physical therapy with her daughter when we drove up... she considers herself her childs teacher/therapist!  This is EVERY teacher/therapists dream... to have carryover at home!  I love this lady!  

During this trip I also had the opportunity to go to a leprosy village which was different.  There is still Leprocy here.  It's not that common but when it does happen its really sad.  People are forced out of their home villages and made to stay in a leprosy village.  This is done because of fear, the villagers don't want to be infected so they throw the infected person out.  This village was so far out in the middle of the mountains that we had to drive down this windy road, where we really also drove off of the cliff.... It was really narrow and it was muddy.  Driving through the mud felt similar to driving on ice... We were all silently praying as we felt the tires sliding.  If it slid too far we would go off of the cliff.  We couldn't even drive all of the way in, we had to park the car and hike to actually reach the village.  I will admit that I am not well educated on this disease and asked our team a lot of questions.  They were saying that actually 90% of peopleare immune to leprosy in the first place and that it isn't contageous once treated.  The sad thing is that even after these people are treated their home village wont let them back in so they stay in the leprosy  village forever : (.   Its especially sad to see kids of affected people there... they may never leave there because of the stigma of having a family member with leprosy.  Our team went so that the Dr. could check up on the villagers and also so that one of our team members could train them on how to harvest honey.  Since there is the social stigma around leprosy, its hard for people from this  village to have any source for cash.  They farm and herd for food, but if a need would arise requiring money, they don't have any.  One of the resources that they do have access to is bees.  So one of the team members brought in a bee hive and taught the villagers how to use it.  They had some older hives already but this new one allows for a greater return.  

Oh and on the way to this village, we found a man in a ditch on the side of the road.  He was on a motorcycle and had flipped it and cracked his head off of a rock (almost no one wears helmets here). His head was bleeding pretty bad and he was conscious but confused.  We ended up taking him to the ER and staying with him until he was stable and his family arrived...it was a long day!  Also, the ER never gave this guy any pain meds... His head was cracked open and not so much as aspirin!  I felt so bad for him, he looked like he was in so much pain : (

Here are some pictures of the leprosy village.  The government gave them supplies to make concrete houses which was nice because their old houses were pretty run down.