Day 8: Final Build Day

Today  has been a very full day starting with our drive to the build site...our last one of the trip.  With all the strange things that people transport on their motorbikes, I think the one thing that stands out the most are ducks.  The phrase of the day has now become "ducks in a basket"...we've actually resorted to searching them out and came across two bikes almost simultaneously carrying ducks in a basket on our journey to the site.  Look closely and you might see them in the blur...the best I could do on the hectic roads of Vietnam.

Since today is our last day, we started the day off by visiting a local kindergarten....what a treat!  The children of Vietnam are so beautiful and beyond excited to see visitors.  We first arrived across the street at the school to meet up with the school officials.  As soon as we entered the courtyard and some the kids caught a glimpse of us all walking in, subtle pandemonium started to set in.  The kids gradually came out of their classrooms waving and getting more and more excited...they love to get their pictures taken.

Eventually we went over to the kindergarten to see the kids....there were two levels of students, ages 4 and 5 year olds.  Many of the kids were very shy and were working very hard on their writing skills in the older group.  We also walked past a couple other classrooms and came across two little boys who were very excited to play a bit of peek-a-boo with their new visitors....so sweet.  Finally we entered a large courtyard where the younger children were playing some games.  We took a little time to sing the hokey-poky and the chicken dance with them, followed along with one of their songs and then they showed us their jumping jumping skills.  Some of the kids had a great time, others weren't sure what to make of us, and others really weren't overly interested in us at all....just like kindergarteners at home.

After taking a few photos, speaking with the administration, and some of the team members leaving some school materials for the kids, we headed off to the local government office. We met with one of the head officials for the local area we are building in.  He was very interested in knowing how we enjoyed our time in the province, what we did on the build site and if we visited some of the local pagodas.  He also thanked us for offering our assistance to the people of his riding, as many are very poor and would have had sever challenges in ever acquiring a decent home without out help and support.  We showed him a few pictures of the snow out west and he mentioned he heard Canada was a very beautiful country.  I really enjoyed having the opportunity to speak with this individual and promote the great work of Habitat for Humanity...the government is a strong supporter of these builds in this province and a necessary component as well.

By mid morning it was time to head to the build site....and of course traveling through the market one last time.  We arrived at the site and Liz and I headed to the other house to do a little work, as we had not built there yet.  We spent the entire morning laying bricks.  I haven't had a lot of experience doing this before, but I think I started to get the knack of it by lunch time. The homeowners were also helping us and checking out our craftsmanship...I love how they always provide guidance and offer support when you're not necessarily sure what you are doing...which is most of the time. It seems like all the home owners have some form of experience doing all parts of the construction we've been doing...and they are all hard workers.

This build location also had the tiniest kitten who liked to drop by from time to time for a little cuddle.  There were lots of children around as well...including the sweetest little girl who loved to get here picture taken. I believe she was the grandchild or even great-grandchild of the home owners...they were taking care of her while her mother worked in Ho Chi Minh City.  When we first arrived she was actually helping out by carrying a couple bricks for us...very cute.  During out time at this house they also installed an iron window in the wall be were building.  I love the look of the iron in the windows and the bright colours of many of the homes in Vietnam.

At lunch we had an interesting treat...snake!! When we arrived in the morning we saw the women descaling the fish in the back....yuck!  It looked like they may have boiled the snake...you could actually tell it was snake because the skin was still on it and you could see where the scales were.  I decided to try a little piece of it and after taking the skin off I discovered it was full of bones and not all that much meat on it.  It tasted a little bit like chicken, but one piece was enough for me.  After lunch, instead of laying down, Jennifer and I went for a little walk up the road and found a water buffalo tied up next door...what else would you expect to find in Vietnam!

 Instead of returning to our house for brick laying, Liz and I went to the other home with the rest of the team to help mix and pour concrete....this is back breaking work and requires a lot of people to do all the work and create a long enough chain line to reach the back of the house.  We were supposed to finish early today, but when we realized we wouldn't be finished of the foundation in time, we decided to stay until the work was done...even if everyone was beyond exhausted by this point.  By the end of the day, there had been 8 batches of concrete mixed, carried and dumped in the forms and we finished up by 3:30pm.  What an incredible feeling to know we were able to help finish the foundation for this family...with our little team of eight.  We all let out a cheer when the final bucket was poured and high fived everyone for an extremely well done job.  I'm so proud of all our team members and the hard work that everyone put into the past two weeks on this build.  A truly fulfilling accomplishment and experience for sure.

After the houses were finished for the day...and after a necessary bathroom break of course...we had a short ceremony at each of the houses.  The family members spoke and thanked everyone for their support, we presented them with a gift and photo of the team and we also heard from the head of the Women's Union who have been so supportive of this entire build. It is always such and incredible feeling to know you have helped a family in need in some way and to see the joy in the faces of the families as they see the realization of a decent home in their future.  Thank you Habitat for another incredible experience.

 After taking our last boat ride across the river and getting settled in our van for our final drive back to Rach Gia I realized there was a rooster in bag next to me...will we ever escape these things!!  Interestingly enough, it didn't make any noise the entire trip back...although it did move a couple times during the drive...so weird.  Apparently one of the Habitat staff was taking it home to mate with her chickens...I guess a rooster's gotta do, what a rooster's gotta do.

We also saw quite the sight on the river along our drive.  A raft of ducks...possibly hundreds...being herded along the river.  It was pretty impressive to see all these ducks in a line just swimming for as far as the eye could see....the picture does not do it justice. Today we took a different way back to the city...and man the road was rough and our driver had a heavy foot.  Along the way we stopped at the monkey bridge.  This was a bamboo foot bridge that people use to cross the river.  Liz and Jennifer decided to walk partially across for a photo op...apparently it was fastened together with twine and perhaps not that safe....but fun of course.

We finally arrived back at the hotel at 5:30pm, jumped in the shower and headed off to our farewell dinner.  Ngan and rest of the Habitat staff we've been working with were all there.  We had another delicious meal...including ostridge.  After the meal we presented Habitat with a signed conical hat for their wall, as well as our Canada flag.  Ngan then made the most beautiful speech about her work with us as a team and presented us all with a memorable keepsake of our time in Vietnam...a certificate with personalized photos of our work on the sites...this is why she was taking all those photos over the last two weeks!!!  The best gift I could have received and certainly a keeper.  Ngan has been such a delight during this trip and added a whole new dimension to our time in Vietnam...she is definitely a keeper Habitat....and I will miss her wit and humour very much.

After dinner we then headed upstairs at the restaurant for what else, but karaoke!!!!  Vietnamese people are crazy over karaoke...there are karaoke locations everywhere you go.  You actually rent out a private room for your group and sing your hearts out.  We stayed for a good hour or more, sang everything from the Eagles to Madonna, including some Vietnamese songs...Ngan has a beautiful voice...and were only let down when we were are all psyched to belt out "Sweet Home Alabama" and the words didn't show up!!!  Oh we have such singing talents...at least we pretended we did for an hour in our own little world.

We paid up our bill and then said our regrettable goodbyes to our fearless leaders and headed back to the hotel for a final evening of drinks in Matt and Steve's room...we actually stayed up past 11pm tonight!!!

This has been an overwhelming day on so many fronts and it will be bittersweet to say goodbye to such fabulous team members tomorrow as we head back to Ho Chi Minh City where we will part ways.

Until then...
Lisa