Day 2 Lang Son

The remainder of our mission group arrived today, 14 of us in total. After gathering everyone from the airport, our bus set out for Lang Son, about 2 hours north of Hanoi. Lang Son province is where we will be distributing the wheelchairs. We stopped along the way for lunch at a roadside Vietnamese eating establishment. (Sorry I didn't get the name of the place or pictures) The hosts were very gracious. The food will take some getting used to. Tu and Van tutored me in basic Vietnamese words en route. Van says she will be quizzing me tomorrow. I think I have about a 7 word vocabulary now: hello, goodbye, please, thank you, yes, no, and no problem. Van is going to be disappointed. She must have tried to teach me at least 20 words, but vocabulary just doesn't stick like it did when I was younger!

We settled in at Vi's Boutique Hotel in Lang Son. Lots of members of our group brought toiletries, clothes, toys, candy, nail polish, and other donations to give out to the families we meet and for FWM to distribute to other places they serve in Vietnam. The president of ASVHO, which is an association for the poor, handicapped, and orphaned in Vietnam, held a special dinner for us in honor of Free Wheelchair Mission and Giving it Back to Kids to take us for the generous contributions to those in need in Lang Son province. Many toasts with Sake were made. I'm not sure how well the folks who just arrived today from the U.S. weathered those toasts and the food adventures, but so far so good. Here is a picture of Georgia Kloos, our leader from FWM, being honored with flowers from An, the president of ASVHO, and her staff, and a picture of the food spread at each table.

Georgia w/Vietnamese Hosts

Honorary Dinner - family style

Tomorrow we will be assembling and delivering our first wheelchairs to homes in Loc Binh and Cao Loc. I can't wait to tell you their stories in pictures and words!