Day 4 - First Day in Dong Thap

The first thing people noticed about Dong Thap was that it was "not as poor". The big adventure of Dong Thap has been the Tuk-tuks. These are little motorcycle/trucks that the teams used to truck out to the work sites. It was a ride through skinny roads and paths past rice fields, duck farms, and Vietnamese country living. The home team split into three and one group got to use their carpentry skills and completely finish a house! The other group continued their finely honed bricklaying and latrine-digging talents. The children at the home sites enjoyed practicing their English on us and helping us with the bricks.

One of the great treats when working on a house is looking up to see a girl ride by on her brand new Catalyst bicycle. She's always sitting up tall and proud! We all yell--"Catalyst bike!" so everyone working will stop and take a look! As far as the distribution team goes--our kids had a great time riding the tuk-tuks and have become a well oiled machine when distributing bikes, rice, sugar, noodles, and beans.

The medical team continues to methodically labor away--they're studs! Their big excitement was when a group of nearby homebuilders fell through the roof of the home they were building. Caroline just about had a heart attack when she heard--thought it was our group. But it wasn't us--and the medical team triaged the guys, stitched them up and sent them on their way. Mission accomplished!

The evening of Day 4 ended with an official dinner. Lots of courses-- curried rabbit, lotus seeds, lotus flower salad with beef, clam soup, fresh mango and grapefruit. Bruce Whittaker was the toast of the evening. He sat at the official table with the local government officials where there was much toasting and congratulating and
celebrating. We had to carry him back to the bus--(just kidding :) ).