Pali's family home

Novice Pali's family were very warm and welcoming, they are kind, gentle and generous, just like Pali. The villagers were curious and came to say hello, I felt like a celebrity or maybe a Martian!! And Pali's family had prepared heaps of delicious food, yummy, it was such a privilege to meet his family and be invited into their family home

Pali showed me around his village

Life was very relaxed in the village, I loved the peace and the warm welcome, the children wanted to touch me, they pointed to my hairy arms and giggled! the community seemed very close and that day very happy

we walked to the family rice field and Pali's old school

Pali's family own a rice field, it's essential for them to have a good harvest each year in order to feed the family. this year was a good year and the rice store at home was full. Pali was very proud to show Somsai his former school he bounded along the paths who took as a child, I could hardly keep up

and finally, the baci ceremony

Novice Pali and his family had arranged a Baci Ceremony to thank me for supporting him, what an honour. I've been to a few Baci's ceremonies now but none for me so I was a bit anxious, Pali laughed and said just follow his cues. The Baci Ceremony started with drinking rice whiskey to pay respect to spirits, food was offered and brackets were tied to wish me luck. his Dad spoke in Lao and thanked me for helping his son. I was chocked, had a tear in my eye as I thanked them for their generosity and said it was a huge privilege to know Pali, the joy he gave me with his kindness and watching his English improve so much in the two years I've known him I thought I think this is making a difference to his life, I hope he continue to succeed in his education, he'd like to become a doctor and I'm determined to do everything I can to help him to achieve this dream. pali and Somsai are lovely kids, the day was one of my happiest.

my first lao wedding

it's wedding season as it's the dry season
roads are closed off
everyone you know is invited
food is shared
plenty of beer lao and lao lao is consumed
and then the music starts
hug speakers, hug volume, huge karaoke
and then time to boogey
christine and dad's favourite tuktuk driver, noy's son-in-law was getting married
he's and his new wife are 14 years old

the self-portraits have arrived

i think this is a great project for the new hospital
the plan is to have heaps of art to create a welcoming, friendly environment
so one wall will be children's self-portraits, 25 each from the UK, Laos, Japan and America
thank you so much guys for helping out
and Sasja, you are great, thanks for gathering them together and sending them to Laos
big hug
it was so exciting to receive the parcel and to look through and guess who's was who's
they are all incredible and quite unique, i'd like to keep them for an art display at home
but the new children's hospital is a much better place for them
the portraits are all now with Furuyama, the hospital architect, will send pictures of the final instillation

bye bye yvonne

it's been a blast, come back soon