Weekly Newsletter
Dear Bamboo Schoolers,
On the 1st of October we had the great privilege and joy to welcome our founder and chairman, Bodo Peters, to Laos.
He came accompanied by a professional photography and filming crew consisting of one of the co- founders of Bamboo School, Eugen (photographer), and Marvin (camera).
All 3 will be with us until the 19th of October filming a promotional video of our project sites, Lao lifestyle impressions and adventures in order to further promote, spread and raise further awareness of our foundation.
Eugen even brought his drone with him and has dedicatedly flown it throughout several viewpoints in Nong Khiaw and other sceneries in the surrounding areas.
On the 3rd of October we visited our first project site, Ban Khon Khuen, where we finished building our primary school in June. The kids surprised our team with a beautiful welcoming dance performance, followed by the typical baci celebration held by the head and the shaman of the village.
The following day we proceeded to Oudomxay province in order to film the drastic Chinese (since it is close to the Chinese border) influence in Laos. It didn’t even feel like being in the usual village or city in Laos, but felt more like a heavy capitalistic environment. The housing of its habitants looks completely different to the rest of the country and every shop name is noted in Chinese.
Furthermore, we also went to visit the Akha (one of the minorities in Laos) district close to Oudomxay, where we photographed and filmed the colorful dressed women.
Tomorrow we will proceed onto a 3 day Kayak tour, filled with adventurous shots and new impressions for all of us. We want to get in contact with a remote village only reachable by river to find out if that’s a new target for our next Waterfilter – campaign.
We wish all of you a nice and relaxing weekend.
Isabel
GM ... MehrWeniger
06.10.17 ·
Weekly Newsletter
The past week Brianna, Sytha (our translator) and I visited the clinic in Muang Ngoy for market day.
Since our foundation in Germany had been given a donation of blood pressure and blood sugar level devices, we took the opportunity to train the nurses, while also assisting other patients in the clinic.
The nurses were more than happy for this hi-tech device and immediately started to experiment it on us, themselves and a couple of patients.
This market day was the last one for Brianna, since her last day with us was 2 days ago. Hereby we would like to thank Brianna for her great effort and dedication to our foundation and wish her all the best for her future endeavors s in New Zealand.
Also, we would like to thank Dr. Ranger, Brianna’s partner, who assisted with the hand washing project (that will be implemented when our founder arrives next week in the villages).
With the departure of these 2 volunteers, we are currently (as always) seeking out for medical volunteers (nurses and doctors) that are specified in the following field: Gynecology, Dermatology and Dentistry.
You can contact us by email or our Facebook site, should you be interested in volunteering with us or have further questions.
Our field manager, Satheet, left on Friday to our project villages, accompanied by our construction manager, in order to fix 2 water tanks and to deliver a solar panel. Since our founder is arriving next week with a camera team (including a drone pilot!) we want to make sure to have everything in place.
Therefore, a lot of planning and coordinating had to be done in the last week, which has kept us all busy. The hot weather (and power shortcuts) has not made any of these arrangements any easier.
It’s been as hot as in April/May, prior to the rainy season. I don’t know what’s worse…
We wish you all a happy start into the new week and look forward to keeping you updated with exciting news of our work here in Laos!
Sok Dee!
Isabel
GM ... MehrWeniger
29.09.17 ·
Dear Bamboo Schoolers,
the previous week has been, as usual, a busy one.
In another attempt to get my NGO Visa for Laos, I had to leave the country by plane (in this case I choose Singapore, since it was was the cheapest flight to get) and get back in on a specific date in order to obtain my visa upon arrival at the airport of Luang Prabang.
Even though I was very excited to finally obtain this very important document, I was confronted with the fact that the immigration office granted me the NGO Visa- for a period of a month only.
Supposedly I was to obtain it for 4 months, but no one was able to explain me why I got it for a month only.
Just another day in good old Laos. It's starting to honestly get a bit frustrating.
Having arrived in Luang Prabang I bought my third airplane ticket (Singapore- Kuala Lumpur- Luang Prabang) of the day to Vientiane, where I was invited to a dinner organized by the Lao- German- Friendship Association, to meet and welcome the new German ambassador of Laos.
Since it was the first time that I had taken a flight from Luang Prabang to Vientiane, I was astonished of how fast the flight was(20min.), whilst it usually takes 12 hours by bus (on horrible roads).
The ambassador's welcoming dinner was a huge success and I was able to introduce our foundation to his excellency Lütkenherm. He seemed very interested and immediately introduced me to his wife, who's a pediatrician.
She kindly offered to assist us to find further doctors to come and volunteer with us and is interested in getting to know our organization in person (what an honor!!).
Furthermore I was also able to meet Martina Lawler, a member of the senior german expert service. She also offered to assist us with finding doctors and expressed her interest to work with us in the future. Great news!
Overall my trip to the capital was a big success and I am more than thankful to have met great people that showed such interest in our foundation!
However, let's not forget about our volunteer, Brianna from New York, who bravely stayed in Nong Khiaw while I was gone. Here's an insight on her time there:
"I have successfully finished my first week (and a couple days) at the local hospital in Nong Khiaw and needless to say it is not the big, bustling NYC hospital I am accustomed to. I approached the hospital with my translator, Sytha, removed my shoes and felt the cool tiled floor beneath my feet as we began our first shift together.
We are introduced to many staff members with friendly smiles as I take the grand tour of the hospital grounds. I will spend most of my future time in the outpatient examination room, the emergency room and the inpatient ward where patients can stay the night if needed. During my first full day, I witnessed a man writhing in pain from a centipede bite, and a young teen with appendicitis that must travel to a village one hour further away for surgery. Both experiencing their pain to the highest degree, as no pain medication stronger than paracetamol is permitted.
I spent my second day in the outpatient exam room with a young female doctor and two nurses awaiting the next patient queued outside. We saw multiple patients, all varying in age, size and complaints. One patient had a generalized full body rash, the next two with a sore throat and fever, and the next with pain in her kidneys. One common denominator between the group is that they all were prescribed antibiotics for their ailments. This seems to be a common trend amongst the staff, as most patients will have an antibiotic written on their prescription list. Maybe after I ensure that everyone is washing their hands after touching patients and sterilizing the medical equipment, I will tackle the topic of antibiotic resistance. Or maybe I will save that for the next volunteer…
Later in the week, I was sitting in the examination room as a young woman enters looking quite ill. The head doctor follows behind her and hands her a sterile face mask to don. She places it lightly over her nostrils which essentially means it is not being used correctly by any means. She sits down across the table from me, and I ask Sytha what is happening. He tells me calmly that she has Tuberculosis- a disease that is transmitted from breathing in the same air as an infected person. She will stay for treatment in the hospital, but she will stay in the old building that is mainly used for storage. Not the most ideal place to recover, but at least she will be away from the other ill patients. Naturally, I hand the alcohol wipes and sanitizer to everyone in the room and instruct that the room be wiped down and explain my reasoning. I received some laughs, but at least it was done.
I found my most recent shift at the hospital to be of particular interest to me as it related to my experience with oncology. The patient, an older, frail looking gentleman smelling of cigarette smoke, entered the examination room, coughing between sentences. He complained of shortness of breath, chest pain with inhalation and a worsening cough. I was only a few feet away and I could hear audible wheezing as he breathed. The doctor diagnosed the patient with pharyngitis and prescribed an antibiotic and paracetamol for pain relief. It is evident to me, that the patient either had emphysema or perhaps, lung cancer (impossible to be sure without proper testing). I was told by Sytha that the doctors do not inform the patient or family if they believe the patient has a terminal illness, such as cancer, and will try to make the family feel better by prescribing a medication. To me, this is hard to believe, but to the Laotians it is part of their culture.
It has been an informative week and I am learning so much about the Lao culture and the healthcare system. Saturday is market day in Muang Ngoi, and I imagine I will have much to report on that".
As per this upcoming week Satheet, Brianna and myself (accompanied by nursing staff from the district hospital in Nong Khiaw), will be going to our project villages and hold a training on the importance of hand washing. We kindly thank Peter Ranger (former volunteer from New Zealand) for preparing, researching and proposing this project.
Villagers rarely wash them or use soap and then eat all of the food with their hands. This leads to a lot of diarrhea diseases and even death.
We look forward to telling you how the projects went...
We wish you all a good start into a happy new week!
Isabel Montano
General Manager ... MehrWeniger
11.09.17 ·
