The group has assembled at the Chanthapanya Hotel. We went out for a walk this morning and picked up a few things from the local stores. Vientiane is nice. It’s clean, laid-back and quite accommodating. The area we are staying at is right by the Cultural Center and there are a lot of ex-pats in the area. A surprising number of ex-pats!
At about 12:30 pm we assembled and went for short tour of the city on rented bicycles. We saw the Presidential Palace, some temples and and other sites. We stopped at an exhibit of an organization that help disabled Laotians. Here’s where it gets interesting.
Small, poor, landlocked Laos holds the distinction of being the most bombed country in the history of the world. During the time of the Vietnam War the US dropped over 270 million cluster bombs on Laos. It is now known as the “Secret War”. One regular size bomb casing holds about 600+ cluster bombs. The casing separates while dropping and releases the cluster bombs. It is estimated that about 60 million of these cluster bombs failed to explode. Those that haven’t been found or detonated still pose a hazard to life and limb. Poor people try to recover bomb fragments to sell the salvaged metal for scrap. Children wander into field where there are unexploded cluster bombs. So after all these years, people are being killed and disabled by these explosives.
We had an orientation meeting at the CRS office. We will be going to a school about 1 1/2 hours by bus outside of Vientiane. We will be building additional classrooms, fixing up existing classrooms and build a playground for the children. We are anxious to get started.
Revisit this blog. Photos will be forthcoming.