The last three days we've been working pretty hard at building a new playground at the Lahu village and it has been so much fun! There is a hill that overlooks the village where the last wave of volunteers created an awesome soccer field. At the end of the soccer field there is some space, so Shivani and Ellen headed up a project to build a playground for the kids. The hill is made of very dense, compacted sand so we spent a couple days digging and pick-axing away at the dirt to make trenches to put in tires and other playground equipment. The first few days we joked that we were being sent to a labor camp, but we definitely had a lot of fun... and got a really good workout. Today was probably my favorite day working on the playground because all of the kids from the village came and helped us finish up some last minute digging, and then we all worked together cleaning off the tires to get them ready for painting. The older girls would go and get water in buckets to pour over the tires while the younger girls washed off the dirt with rags. At the same time the boys went off to get sand and concrete to secure the tires in place. There was so much unity and teamwork and we all were having so much fun. I felt so amazingly happy this whole afternoon. I just love this community and I love how willing and happy everyone is to contribute and give. This is such a poor village- the average person makes 200 ฿/ day (that's $6.25). Imagine trying to support a family of 2 or 3 kids on that wage. Although they may be lacking monetarily, they certainly are not lacking in happiness. It is such a good reminder to me that what really makes life sweet is our relationships and how we treat others. The Lahu are an amazing example of this! What a blessing and joy to get to be around such people!

 Some of our cute little helpers!

Yesterday Melanie, Janna, and I went to a different village called JaJuSii to teach dental care. This is a village I had never been to before and it was a special experience going there. We normally don't go to this village without a local just to be on the safe side because of potentially dangerous activity going on. There's a lady that we work with named Ouen who went with us. We parked at the Akha village and then walked about 20 minutes up a muddy road to get to this village. JaJuSii is much smaller than the Lahu and Akha villages, but it probably has the most beautiful view! The village is set atop a hill that overlooks lush fields and orchards and mountains. Heaven! I feel like the people in JaJuSii are less privileged than those of the other two villages and have had much less opportunity. They also are not quite as warm and welcoming as is typical here. However, I think the dental class was particularly helpful and insightful to the members of this community and they were happy to receive the toothbrushes and toothpaste. Also, a humanitarian group from Singapore had donated lots of toys to this village and we got to deliver them. The little kids were so excited! The toys that they donated were really nice- the type that light up and make music. It was definitely Christmas in JaJuSii yesterday!

Som Tam at the Lahu village! Let's just say it was quite an adventure...

 The girls made us some beautiful bouquets!