Hi my friends,
How are you today?
Thanks for all your kindness and support to Journey to The Land Of Love
It was a beautiful memory for us and now it is in the memory of many people. The first day of our journey ended with the warmth of a campfire night.
Early in the morning of the second day, in the cold weather above 10 degrees, we got up very early, had breakfast with shrimp noodles with vegetables, the taste was special, the strange thing was that when we returned to the mountains, we enjoyed everything than usual.
We started the journey by dividing the team to share gifts with relatives. Being informed by the people, we know that the Laos people right next to the border are also facing difficulties, that year rats destroyed crops, and the weather was also erratic, affecting the crop. People’s life is more and more difficult.
Together with the people of A Tu village, we all agree to share food with people in Laos. But the thing is that food trucks cannot cross the border, partly because the higher the road is, the more difficult it is to go, partly for political reasons.
We had to borrow the house of the people right next to the border, that night we moved all the food in and informed the people in Laos to pick it up.
You can imagine a scene where people have to walk in the forest for 10 hours, in cold and rainy weather, barefoot, carrying bags to store food.
Some people got up early in the morning, didn't eat or drink anything, seeing that scene, we couldn't hold back our emotions. Most people can't speak Vietnamese, but we still communicate with each other by body language and happy, expectant eyes, which makes us even more confident in what we're doing.
We took some rice to cook porridge for our relatives to eat so that they could have the strength to walk back, they even comforted us, that walking in the mountains like this is already familiar, don't worry!
After a few hours, sharing with each other during a difficult time, the hasty steps out for fear of coming home late at night, the waves of greetings from Laos people, we and the people of A Tu looked over, secretly promise to meet on a more beautiful day.
On a day life is less difficult, those smiles are brighter.
We feel cherished and proud of the people here who help each other, although they are not rich, they are willing to give what they have. Something that not everyone these days can do.
This is teacher A Dip, from Co Tu, he is a teacher of ATu primary school, the class has only a few students. In addition to teaching, he also helps and supports families in all aspects, because he is the best Vietnamese speaker in the region.
He always encourages families to support the children to go to school, because the children here do not have the conditions, often drop out of school early to go to work. But you are also farming, and then life is a hard circle like their parents.
Thanks to him, now the village has a few children who are supported to go to the city to study, they are the fire that lights up hope for everyone in their hometown.
We said goodbye to A Tu at noon, the weather was still cold, away from the warm kitchen smoke of the people, the peaceful scenes lingered, only two days, but we all had a strange feeling of mourning. When everyone returned, everyone was silent, leaving all emotions in their hearts, having worries and hopes for good things to come to the village and its people.
Everyone took turns looking at the village one last time, trying to remember the beautiful things in this small corner. The whole way back was tough ahead, although the stuff was unloaded and the motorbike was lighter, that didn't make things any easier, still muddy roads, flooded with mud ponds.
But in everyone's mind, now everyone feels different, thinking about how hard it is for people to walk such a long distance, this road is still nothing.
On the way back to the city, there was a moment of feeling strange, noisy, and chaotic. We remember the scene without electricity, no clean water, only the sound of insects, the sound of people laughing and talking...we said to each other: should we go to A Tu again?
We're back in town, back to work. Not long after that, we received the good news, A Tu village has moved to a better place, no longer need to stay on that high slope. There is also an extended road to the village, now it is more convenient for people to go, and children can also go to school more regularly. Hopefully, people's lives will be better.
We cannot decide where we are born, but we can decide what we can do. We will return to the village again, but hopefully, it will be a trip to visit the compatriots, see the changes in A Tu, and that A Tu will no longer need the volunteer trips.
It is forever a place to keep memories of a meaningful journey of youth.
Thank you for accompanying us on this meaningful journey.
Pictures taken by me and my teammate.
See you in the next post,
From Vietnam with love <3