When disaster strikes overseas, people who want to help may begin collecting items intended for use in relief operations. It is not unusual for community and civic groups to have collected thousands of pounds of material – typically used clothing, canned food and bottled water – realizing only afterward that they do not know to whom to send the collection, what their transportation options are, or whether the items are actually needed.

“Heart Space” community held a recreational sports meeting at 19:00 on Jun. 20th 2009. It included 10 competition items and attracted more than 200 people to take part in. There were 39 people obtaining awards. This competition not only trained their bodies, but also brought the happiness in the relocation camp. This is a sports meeting with interesting and competition. Due to excessive players this competition lasted two nights and ended at 20:00 on Jun. 21st 2009.

Dear friends, I am so excited! I took 1000 RMB (about $150) out of our CRI account and bought 2 goats today. Who would have thought 2 goats would be so much fun! The villagers from the earthquake had their animals all killed by the landslide from the earthquake, and all they want is some animals to get back to work. The 2 goats are a start to a communal farm for this relocated village. There are 20,000 people relocated to this village. I don't know how they are going to set it up, but they were very excited to have the first 2 goats to start with.

I left for the airport on Sunday eagerly expecting to leave for Nepal and the Womens’ International Conference in Kathmandu. I got on the plane on Sunday night, sat down, belted myself in and waited. Sometime later an announcement over the speakers told all 300 of us we had to de-plane because there was a malfunctioning part on the plane. We waited in the airport loading area. Later, another announcement told us to get back into line to get vouchers for a hotel for the night. Then we got back in line to get on the shuttle, and then we got back in line at the hotel to get a room. Finally, about 3 am I got to my room and was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. Next day I went back to the airport and stood in line again for a new boarding pass. I went to the gate to wait to get on the plane, pleased that I would still make it to Nepal to go to the conference. All of the passengers waited to get on our plane and we even watched the regularly scheduled flight load passengers and take off. Still we sat and waited.  Several hours later, repeat the night before. About 3 am I was back in a hotel room, frustrated that I would not be on time for the conference. On Wednesday we were finally told that we would be put on a different airline. However this airline only went as far as Bangkok and I would have to get another boarding pass on a different airline in Bangkok to get to Kathmandu. My luggage would not be on the plane with me, as it would be shipped to my final destination by the original airline. I had no hope of ever seeing my luggage again!

I came to Sri Lanka to meet with some nonprofits who are working in the country. I also wanted to head back to Sri Lanka to see what kind of recovery there has been in the last 5 years. I was a little confused when I arrived in the airport. This was not the same airport I was in last time; it is now modern and air-conditioned. There are x-ray machines, computers, departure/arrival screens and it is as clean and orderly as any airport. Last time I was here there were wooden tables set up with uniformed and armed guards demanding money from me. (Although some things stay the same... even though there were x-ray machines, they didn’t use them so luggage still wasn’t inspected).

I came to India for the first time about 1985 and am just now returning. When I arrived last week I was amazed at the changes I noticed. The airport was stunning: big, beautiful, air conditioned and modern. That was definitely not the airport I flew into last time. Some other changes I have observed:

Women for Human Rights, a non-profit in Nepal working with widows, picked a village for us because we said we wanted to help some widows, specifically we wanted to donate goats. We drove for some time out of Kathmandu. The taxi driver was angry that we were going so far out of town and he was talking very rude our translator said. We finally got to the village and the taxi driver let us out at the top of hill.

On February 7 (my birthday) we spent all day traveling up to an isolated village in Kavre. The roads were dusty and bumpy. You can't imagine the bumps! At one point I was thrown up and my head hit the roof of the car and then back down with whiplash! aaawww. The mountain roads were steep and at times I was looking straight down 1000 feet down the side of the mountain! The roads are only big enough for one car, so when another car was coming from the other direction both cars had to move as far to the edge as possible and passed each other with barely inches. They maneuvered slowly and very cautiously. I tried to take a video of the road, but it was bumping so badly there was no way to keep the camera steady, so you will have to settle for pictures. We kept going higher and higher. Each time I thought we were at the top of the mountain, we would go around the corner and climb higher. Steven estimates were up around 11,000 feet. We had a great driver who was very careful. We were told he is a Sherpa during the trekking season. We went with the non-profit Women for Human Rights.

It has been a while since my last email. The one you just got was written several days ago. I have been down, sick as a dog. My head is finally up. I am at a new hotel, one that has a generator when the power goes off.

Well, the adventure just never ends! We left our hotel about 5 am to catch our plane. We arrived in China to make a connection to Nepal. We stood in line at customs. We finally got to the front of the line. The customs man thumbed through my passport, then he went through Steven’s passport, then he set them down and raised his arm. UH OH! Never good when that happens!

We went out to enjoy the city. There seems to be as much traffic here as in Saigon. It is cooler here; it was about 80 degrees today. We have met some very friendly people and they are eager to talk to Americans. They are especially intrigued by Steven. He is over 6 feet tall and he has bumped his head many times on door jams.Today a group of teen girls insisted that they get their picture taken with him. They wanted him to hold out his arms to the side and they stood under his arms for the picture. Another group of girls wanted Steven and I to stand as they took turns standing next to us for the pictures they took of each other with the Americans.

We left Dalightful Dalat, cool, clean and picture pretty and headed down the mountain road. It took us 4 hours to go about 60 miles in a car we rented (no more busses!). We were dropped off at the train station at 4 pm. We got on the train at 6 pm. As we were about to board, a young Danish couple got off to ask us questions. They looked "shell shocked" and exhausted and they had not come as far as we were going. That was the first clue we ignored. We boarded a train that had to have been left here by the French 60 years ago and did not look like it had been maintained, certainly not painted or repaired in all those years. Clue number 2 we ignored. My companion was starting to get nervous, but I assured him that this would be an "adventure". A big heavy metal door was slid open for us and there was a 6 foot by 6 foot space. Ok, not luxury, but an adventure. There were 6 bunks in this space with used sheets and blankets thrown on them. Ok, it would do for 1800 miles for 2 of us. The travel agent assured us that we would not be sharing the room, that we had reserved the room for us. We moved the used sheets and blankets, sat on the hard surface, and the train lurched forward. I mean lurched, hard. We traveled for an hour of what would be a 26 hour trip.

I took a tourist bus on Tuesday from Saigon to Dalat. Both the interpreter in Saigon and the travel lady tried to tell me it wasn’t a good idea, but you who know me will laugh when I tell you they couldn't talk me out of it. I wanted to see the country side. I travelled from the hotel to the bus station by taxi and waited for my bus to arrive. After trying to get on two different big orange buses, they told me to sit and wait. Finally my bus arrived and I got comfortable at 9 am. My bus said "Tourist" across the front of it so I was certain I was on the express bus to the mountains. I discovered that "Tourist" doesn't necessarily mean people from other countries. It means someone who lives on the edge of Saigon all the way to the mountains! We stopped every few miles to pick up or drop off more local "tourists". We stopped for bathroom breaks (eastern style), we even stopped for a lunch break. We arrived at my hotel at about 6:30 PM. Steven and I were the only "Tourists from another country" on the bus. The only thing we were missing was the chickens.  We have now seen the country-side and will fly next time!!

I left LAX on Tuesday and arrived here late Thursday night and have covered a lot of ground. I spent Friday in HCMC talking with my translator about nonprofits here in the city. He says HCMC has a lot of nonprofits and he recommends we work in the Mekong Delta. I spent Saturday down in the delta with the translator looking at the situation and talking about the needs in the delta. He says it is a very economically depressed area and he has ideas about starting projects there. He said he has been thinking about starting something like a restaurant so that women can learn the restaurant and tourism industry to give them skills to bring in income.