Well a few months ago my friends from Toys for Thailand were here, Sasha and Maria. We met some people from Om Gouy (check out the Musar village blog) and went to see if we could help them out with somethings in their village. I told the ladies that instead of waiting til they come back to Thailand from California, why don’t I just head that way and begin the process? So last week with my friends Greig and Wisit (the principle) here at the Wat Don Chan Poly-Tech School, loaded up Greigs pick -up truck and on we went. The day before we left we bought ton’s of things to take with us like, canned fish, noodles, fresh veggies, equipment for them to cut their hair, seeds and tools to plant with, bananas trees, eggs, oil, some spices as well as what we got donated. Which was school supplies (from Greig and his friends in Chiang Mai), clothes (from Sarah in LA) Frisbee’s (from Yelena, in LA), thanks all.

We left early Saturday morning as it was going to be a 4 1/2 hour trip to Om Gouy and then another 1 hour and 45 minutes up the mountain on a dirt road, which you do not want to travel on during the rainy season. We were met in Om Gouy by 2 of the teachers Adun and Noon and up we followed them. When we got there I was so excited to see them again and I could hardly wait to give them the items we brought. We gave out the clothes and Frisbee’s, saving the other items  for the following day. Adun and Noon cooked us a nice dinner and then we went to meet the family that was going to let us sleep in their house.

They were so sweet to us and when we arrived in to their 2 room home, made of bamboo they made us tea using tree bark, yum. There was no furniture and just a kind of fire pit in the middle of the front room which is used for cooking and keeping the home warm and it was so needed, it gets really cold on that mountain at night. It was not to easy to sleep with the dogs, pigs, cows and roosters talking most of the night and they made sure we were awake early. I am not sure what time since time really doesn’t matter on the mountain but I know it was early and sometimes still dark.

That first morning we had some more tea and then had breakfast with the teachers and began to plan our day which would included checking out the whole village and the village occupied by the Galiang Tribe about a kilo away. Their kids share the same school so we want to help them both. After eating we gave out the haircutting equipment and then I gave a young boy his first haircut with electric clippers,  they have some solar cells for the school to have a bit of light so we plugged into that. While I did this Greig began to help them plan the banana trees and Wisitspoke to them about what they would need in the coming months and how we could help them to get these items. See since Toys for Thailand was a big part of this and Sasha told them that we could not do everything but we would help them to help themselves. They then wanted me to make lunch, being a chef and all. I asked if they had any chicken, now remember no running water or electricity in the homes so no refrigerators…OK so back to the chicken, yes they had some but first they had to be put to rest and the feathers removed, which some of the ladies took care of. Thank goodness for that because if I had to do it we would have eaten vegetarian that meal. Everyone jumped in and help prep everything, washing the pots and serving, it was really nice. I cooked on an open fire right outside the school. To see these kids so happy, eating a nice hot meal full of good protein, playing frisbee (some of the kids first toys ever) and practicing the few English words they know was a blast…

After eating and cleaning up we checked out the next village and saw them making clothes by hand and taking the husk off of the rice, kind of by hand (wait to see the pictures). They then took us on 4 miles of dirt road heading to a waterfall. We got as far as we could and then it was about a 1 1/2 mile walk the rest of the way and it was not all so easy. It was also really hot and had no water to drink but when we got to the waterfall it was cold, clean and tasted delisious. After swimming for a bit and relaxing it was back up the hill and on our way home. The kids stopped to pick some beautiful wild orchard plants for Greig’ s home (they were all over the place, it was amazing) as well as some really bitter fruit, which they loved and just made me more thirsty and some ferns that they would cook for us when we got back.

We then went to see the rest of the Mu Suer village and figure more out, you see not speaking the language so well it made it a bit tough, but I think we got it. A bit more Frisbee then on to what we called the village 7-11. There was a guy with a room full of snacks, cigarettes, warm beer, some cleaning supplies and home-made whiskey. I thought this was funny being the people are so poor but they manage to find some money to party it up from time to time, I guess funny and sad maybe a better word, anyway…Eggs, veggies and rice for dinner, more bark tea and bed was the rest of our night. The next day we talked to some of the woman about wanting to sell some of the clothes and bags they make to help them out, it took hours. They don’t normally sell them they just make them for the village so they did not know what to charge or how it would work if we placed and “order” with them. I am still not sure if they get it but we will see in the coming weeks when we head back that way. Eggs, steamed freshly picked ferns and black sticky rice was breakfast and it was really good. They also served us roasted eggplant mashed with chilies to dip the ferns in, SPICY!

We took a quick walk to say goodbye to some of the people and stumbled across the men from the village building a house and it was super cool. It cost them between $150-$300, depending on the type of roof they will put on. That is the main cost and since it is so far to get those items it’s the gas to and from as well. This amount of money is about what the whole family makes in a year, could you imagine??? It was cool to see them so carefully split the bamboo and put this place together. While this was going on some of the woman were getting lunch ready, some with babies tied to their backs, see everyone helps in the village. It was time to go so one more good bye to some of the kids and down the hill we went. We were sad to leave since we had so much fun and next time we plan on staying longer.

Now on the next few trips that we plan to take there we plan to do the following 1. get chickens for them to put in a chicken coup, which we will help to build so they can have lot’s of fresh eggs 2. bring more things for them to plant like soy beans for more protein 3. maybe some frogs for another good source of protein and they are easy to raise 4. blankets for the kids, remember it gets cool at night 5. a new battery for their solar cells to have more light for the school room. They can use the school room for other thing or gatherings if they have better light. 6. Fish to stock their pond 7. maybe some more fabric to make more items of clothing to sell 8. art supplies to let the kids express themselves a bit. Well we think this is a good start for now, more to come…Also if you want to make a contribution to help us with the above projects please feel free there is a paypal button on the home page, so it is really easy but no pressure. As always thanks so much for the love and support. Also a special thanks for all of their donations on this and our next trip go out to Sasha and Maria from Toys for Thailand, Sarah, Yelena, Sarah Welborn, Greig and Wisit. Check out the pictures they are really fun.