Hi All!! Hope you are all keeping warmer than we are!! We are back in a hotel now as our tents got wet & it was still drizzling so we drove the one & one half hours to town.... but here's the story from where I left off :

Jui Dao Ma Lua
After swerving for semis, motorcycles, ox & carts, goats, people and various other moving objects while driving on switchback roads climbing higher & higher (therefore the cliff beside us was getting steeper & steeper), we came to the end of the road. Then we started down a wide path & then finally turned onto the lane which ended at Jui Dao Ma Lua. Excited children raced down a hill to greet us as we tried to take in the site before us. Poverty. We have seen it before but it always slaps us in the face and it almost feel a deep ache within. But this was not the time to reflect on it...we had people to hug & show that we'd come because we cared. We set up our tents just beyond the main village and one of the locals had given up his main room for our "kitchen, dining room, storage & working space." It's about the size of our living room. The home is constructed of brick, cement floors & wood beams covered by plaster like stuff for walls. No heat. I repeat--no heat & it's probably about 45-50 F. We put on our warmest clothing and started cleaning up the best we could. Those diaper wipes I brought came in handy. I used 6 to clean off one shelf. The guys went out to meet the local men & figure out where they wanted to start drilling for water. It didn't take them long to find the spot, cut a tree to erect a tripod, attach the pulley & drilling head and begin. Renay plugged in a small heating unit & put on a kettle of water. Soon we were showing the kids the proper way to wash hands, faces & blow their nose. Who knew that could bring such bubbling laughter!!

Assessments
With the help of OnYung, I began assessing the kids. The first girl was 15, married with 1 or 2 kids & beautiful. She willingly correctly named the words on the flashcards I showed her (thank goodness I'd found some in the USA that were in Chinese) but when I asked her to read, she said "I'm married and don't need to do that." Most of the next ones were between the ages of 7 & 11...most didn't know any of the words but could count correctly the 20 buttons I showed them. Some could even figure out how many were left when I took one or two away. One 4 yr old didn't know how old he was & wouldn't tell us his name. He said he didn't know but maybe he was just pretending cause he was quite the character. I found two who could read the level 1-2-3 book I'd purchased in Kunming--one 11 & other 13--both who had gone to school in Guang Dong (nearby city). Since the 11 year old missed stumbled over some of the words, I asked the 13 year old if she was willing to read to the younger ones. With much coaxing, she agreed. We gathered up the kids (which wasn't hard as they seem to follow me like bees around their hive) and with my arm around Yong, she began. It was thrilling...but the kids were a bit too noisy & rambunctious The next day, I again asked her & made it very clear to the kids that they were to listen quietly (& if they did, we'd give them a cookie.) They lwere great & clapped when Yong finished the story. I asked if they wanted to hear another & they loudly said yes! So after three stories, I told Yong that if she read to the children often, they would become better readers and she would be like a teacher to them. She said she would like to do that so I gave her the book. She beamed! Then I handed her the cookies to hand out to her students. What a thrill for me--and I hadn't even noticed I was cold!!!

Gotta go--we're heading back to the village.....