COPI Mission Update, 3/21 Raina

We have completed our two Sa Pa clinics. Sa Pa is in the mountains near China. Last year this is where is snowed. This year the weather was beautiful the first two days we were here. Today it is foggy and a little cool, but many are without a jacket in t-shirts feeling fine.

Yesterday we did a clinic at the boarding school after thinking we would not do one at all. At about 10:30 PM (I was in bed) binh heard from the mayor that he was not going to allow us to do a clinic at the boarding school. He is a new mayor and doesn't know COPI so wanted to show he was in control. Binh told me about it when she came in to our room at midnight. In the morning after breakfast we told the team. Binh also called the principal of the school to let her know we were not allowed to come. About an hour after we were originally supposed to leave, binh got word from the mayor that the teachers and students at the boarding school were protesting if we did come. They refused to hold classes if we were made to stay away. The mayor said that we could hold clinic but if anything happened it would be on our heads. The principal said that nothing bad has happened in the 8 years we've been coming so they were confident everything would be alright. So we had a huge clinic seeing 311 junior high age, indigenous children. We finished at 8:00 with the children singing to us and presenting the 6th graders (the newest students) with blankets. It was a wonderful day. We gave out knit gloves to every student, even though it was not cold this time.

Today we did a clinic at a school in the Sa Pa valley. Some of the children walk 10 kilometers to attend school. Some that would have to walk further stay at the school. There was one room with 4 beds where 11 boys slept. The Kiwanis Key Club is going to build proper dormitories for the kids. These children were also junior high age and indigenous. They were very dirty and shy. They loved the gloves that we gave each one of them and were very polite. We saw them have their lunch. Each child was given rice, veggies and some small fish. It was apparently a special day, like a festival time, so they were given the fish. Otherwise it is only rice and veggies.

We are ready now to take a bus to Lao Cai and take the overnight train to Hanoi. It seems we are always on the move.

Raina