(from Marty) Camp Life Jim is now working with the UXO clearance team in Sekong Province, a remote mountainous region in southwest Laos, near the Vietnam border. Though his communication options are limited (no internet access), we have been lucky enough these first ten days or so to be able to talk by phone almost daily. This wont last, though, for when clearance tasks are finished in Camp One serving the villages of Dak Yai and Dak Lai, he will move to a new area --- where cell phone coverage is rumored to be spotty at best --- to set up Camp Two. Most of his stories so far have been of chilly nights (35 degrees Fahrenheit the first morning at 7 am) sleeping in a tent and sleeping bag--- at least he packed an old winter coat at the last minute when he learned that the weather has been unusually cold this year. The Lao team members, though, dont really have heavy coats and winter camping gear, so are spending early mornings and late afternoons after work huddled around the cookfire. At least the cook has plenty of kitchen volunteers --- work that guarantees them a prime spot near the fire! Once dinner is finished, by 6 pm, Jim retires to his tent to climb into his sleeping bag and listen to podcasts for a couple hours. One poor Lao fellow who is new to the team, and to the region, started out with only a light cotton blanket the first night! Jims team this year is the largest hes employed so far: nine de-miners, a driver, medic, cook, two field supervisors, and Jims interpreter. We were fortunate that this years fundraising was sufficient to finance a larger team --- which translates into more clearance work and thus more lives saved. The camps fresh water source, some 200 yards away, is a bamboo pipe fed by a mountain spring. All water for cooking and drinking --- and bathing, if one chooses not to walk to the river and bathe there --- has to be carried to camp in water cans or jugs. In a phone call a couple nights ago, Jim reported to our grandson Lewis that Grandpa has streamlined his late afternoon bath routine to a necessary 13 scoops of water --- and not a single one more, if the air temperature is cold! He said that they have awoken to see a layer of ice in the water buckets some mornings. But while the elevation makes for cool days and cold nights, the region is ideal for growing coffee. One of the first clearance projects was a full days work clearing over an acre of land for planting a coffee tree nursery. No UXO found that day, but plenty of miscellaneous metal bits and fragments --- all needing examination, just to be sure. The work focuses on clearing land for designated projects such as gardens, irrigation ditches, coffee plantations --- any project that involves disturbing the earth. These livelihood projects cant proceed safely without first having the land cleared of potentially deadly devices. This week Jim reported they had uncovered 13 bombs that were to be safely disposed of in a controlled detonation the next day. From coffee to food --- Jim always has interesting tales of what the days meals consist of, and where they came from. Even as we talk on the phone, he interrupts himself to describe the villager driving up on a motorbike with a chicken to sell, or the man walking into the camp with some tasty forest specimen to offer for the right price. But Ill leave those stories for the master to spin --- my e-mail inbox is starting to fill with Jims first blog posts; he must have driven into town (the closest is an hour away) for supplies today and found internet service. Next post will be direct from the source!
Posted on: Fri, 31 Jan 2014 03:55:39 +0000