ALIVE Meeting & Fun Bags

ALIVE, otherwise known as "Vietnam School" is a program at Yale University run by a wonderful group of students from Vietnam to teach families about Vietnam, the language, the culture, the food, the fun! We have been going every other Sunday for a few month and have had a great time. After three months I can say "hello friend", "my name is Sandy" and "thank-you" in Vietnamese. Of course when I proudly walk into a local Vietnamese restaurant and with a big smile and say "hello friend" in Vietnamese, not one person has yet to comprehend what I am saying....Noah and Jesse on the other hand they understand completely.

The Alive group was nice enough to turn the meeting over to four of us from the group who are going on the expedition as well as another woman who actually went two years ago. Gina lead the discussion along with a catalyst video. Gina & I represented the medical team, Patty the home renovation/building team, and Martha the school/food distribution team.

The counselors took the kids into the next room where they got busy making "fun bags". We are asking groups of children's, kids classes etc.to put together a gallon size zip lock bag containing a tee-shirt, hand made drawing, tooth brush, child's toothpaste, a toy and a return envelope. We will be handing hundreds of these out in Vietnam and the children who receive them will hopefully draw pictures to send back to the children here. The kids too this very seriously and some great art work was produced.

All of the children were able to write in Vietnamese on their drawings ....

All work ended when the delicious plate of chocolate covered strawberry's appeared on the table....thanks Michael!