The Project in the village of Van was an amazing experience for all involved. Our goals changed throughout the course of the project but in the end everyone was happy villagers and families.

We stayed with Mr Huats family, living in one of there rooms, bamboo floors and a leafy roof provided the shelter for the 8 of us. To get to the Village we waalked roughly 25km through the high mountain pass that lead to the Van valley, passing through quaint villages we encountered buffalo, local people in their fields, people carrying baskets of cassava 50kilos heavy barefoot, we ate lunch in a village known for its silk worms, and at the end of the day were greeted by warm noodles sat around being welcomed by one of the most hospitable family i have ever met.

The village lies amongst the foothills of the border mountains found between Laos And Vietnam. The mountains surround the village giving the area a timeless feel, where really nothing much has changed for many generations, well at least in terms of lifestyle. Modern commodities like telephone and internet can be found in local villages but trying to translate opening hours might be more challenging.

The village is still very much agricultural and things are done the old way, no paddy tractors here, just a man and his buffalo, the main produce are Rice and Casava using both the hillside and the flooded valley floors. The diet of the villagers consists mainly of Rice and healthy locally grown seasonal vegetables, fish are somtimes eaten, buffalo, duck chicken and pork.

The House we lived ate and danced in was built four 3 years ago, but only after 3 years of asking the local spiritual guides, houses will only be built in good years, of course also this depends on the family that will live in it, it is very important to have a home rid of bad spirits and bad luck before they start. The wood used to Build the houses is treated by submerging it in water and keeping lice away from it, a difficult task considering that they remove all the wood from a pond before asking the Spiritual guides and must put it all back if they are told its not a good year!

The children and aldults and infact everyone we encountred here are very friendly, and always intrigued by us as much as we are by them, almost all of the volunteers got there hands dirty playing games and having fun with the children. The truth is although you will stay with them only for a short time, they will stay with you far far longer