What a week it has been!! Phuoc Huynh, Australia

In a period of 5 days, it seems like I've been here way much longer. Our days have been filled with so much to see and do.

On Thursday, we went to the baraks, the place where the tsunami victims have been living for 2 years! The victims are living in such poor conditions, but they don't seem to be complaining about it. Everyone in the village seem to be supporting one another and living as a big family. It's extremely sad to hear the stories that these people shared. There was a mother of 3 that had not enough money to buy milk for her children! I also got to witness a ceremony performed on a 1month old baby, because the mother invited me into her house, I felt as if I shouldn't be where I was but she didn't seem to mind. I think she was happy for me to be there. The mother sat down holding her child and the grandmother (I think) was performing the ceremony. The grandmother threw rice over the mother and her child, which was a symbol for prosperity, and then she dipped a bunch of leaves into a bowl of water containing flower petals. This was a way of letting the child be in touch with nature. The reason for this ceremony was to celebrate the 'first time the child touched the ground'. I just felt honoured to be able to witness what I did.

That night a few of us went to the streets to eat Durian (an exotic Asian fruit), the smell of the fruit wasn't as bad as what I'm used to and the taste of it wasn't great as well! We brought 3-4 fruits and each one of them was a different taste -bitter, soft and mushy and slightly sweet. Although I didn't like the Durians that we had, the experience of eating them on the side of the streets was one I won't forget. Basically, there would be a pile of Durian on the road and there will be tables and seat set up and the sellers would cut the fruit open for you.

On Friday morning we went to visit a high school that was next to the EI office, we were welcomed by the students with 2 traditional dance performances, which was to bring the guest happiness and show graditude. After the performances, we walked through the school and had flower petals thrown in our pathway. Gosh, I felt like royalty! We listened to 2 students stories about their tsunami experiences, it was so heart breaking. After the stories, we got to mingle with the students. I felt like as if I was a rock star or something because all the kids pulled out their mobile phones and wanted to take pictures with us!

Signing off

Phuoc