An emotional farewell to the village family
“BEEP BEEP BEEP” went our alarm clock at 6:00 am. Our t-shirts were still wet from yesterday but on they were shoved along with some sticky insect repellent and sunscreen. We were then greeted at the dining area by the lovely staff and ate a similar breakfast to yesterday’s. Shortly after finishing the meal we made our journey along the morning Mekong river to the building site to conclude our tiring work.
As it was our last day in the village we all knew we had to give it our all and leave a lasting impact on this underprivileged family. We started mixing the cement, passing the bricks and ever so carefully laying the bricks a metre off the ground using our refined skills that the patient builders had taught us. Although waterfalls of sweat were streaming down our face and the sun was shining bright on our backs, we continued to soldier through to make a family’s dream home come true.
We were excited to have finally completed the challenging build but were upset to leave our connections with the family behind. Getting the whole Vietnam Grey group to smile in sync was an easy task as we were all thrilled to have made this much progress in just two and a half days. The family seemed so thankful for all the efforts we had put in for them. They also were extremely appreciative for the bags of rice, six weeks worth, which we had bought for them.
This amazing opportunity touched all members of the group and gave us an insight of other lives around the world. The mother’s smile and tears were contagious and quickly spread throughout Vietnam Grey. As the mother held us in her arms many tears were shed and emotions were in full force.
Our journey through the rocky path was comforted by the flock of children excited to see new faces. We handed out toys and stationary to the kids to give them a sense of positivity. By giving these gifts to the kids it created the warm fuzzy feeling inside all of us which is related to “Karma”, from the dominate Buddhist religion within Vietnam. Buddhists and Vietnam Grey believe that when good deeds are done they are returned in the near future. We hopped back on our our bikes and continued our cycling adventure to the homestay. Along the way we came to another homestay which was home to a massive 6okg pet python. The snake slithered and hissed along our necks and gave some us a real scare although it was as tame as anything. It was so heavy that we needed six people to hold the weight on their backs.
At the end of the day when we had showered and reflected on the big day that occurred, some local Vietnamese musicians came and performed many pieces to us. It was interesting to observe the different instruments and styles of singing. As a sign of appreciation we returned the favour and performed a few tunes from our musical culture. This village build helped us to break from the “Brighton bubble” and challenged our knowledge gained from the CUE program that ran throughout the school year. The experience was very beneficial and no second was regretted.
We hope everybody back in Australia is doing well and enjoying school! – Pip and Garrett 🙂