The most depressing part of the trip, and in fact from 7 years of traveling non-stop around Asia, was meeting the little Lao girl in her mums harness seen above. She’s sick – not eating, extremely skinny, and has no energy. After a bit of translation work, we find out she has a lung problem, and can’t be operated on until she is 7 years old – 2 years away.
We were right in the middle of the sticks – about 3 hours away from the nearest town in Central Laos. Naturally, myself and the 3 others I was traveling with needed to know how we could help. We knew she needed to be seen at straight away, or she could well possibly have died.
Her mum was being a little “geng jai” – ashamed of accepting help from outsiders, but we didn’t let up. After finding out it costs for medication (a glucose drip was desperately needed), we went out searching the village for a car to take the girl to the hospital. Once we found the car, we helped the lady shut her noodle shop up and off she went.
Even though Myself and Matt donated money, I felt so helpless. I then started to ask myself how I could insure money I sent in the future would go on the girl’s treatment? How many other kids in Laos run the risk of dieing due to not having enough money for basic hospital and medical treatment? I don’t know, but I’m going to find out.
This has disturbed me. I had to really fight to hold the tears back when I was with the girl, and I’m not ashamed to say it; a tear just let loose while writing this.
Luckily, a lucky break came my way when I met a Lao teacher who is married to a Thai who lives in Mukdahan, and is actively involved in charity work. It’s pretty bizare how we met, but I’ll save that for another day. I’m waiting for a response back from him now.
I need to find a way to insure the money I send goes on the girl. I need to find a way to bring her over to Thailand when the time comes for her operation. I need to find out how I can help other kids in the same situation. If you want to lend a hand, please leave a comment below and I’ll email you directly when I’ve got this worked out.
