September 2008 Trip

Sept. 30, 2008 Posted by Jeremy and Victoria Griebel

Hello from Hanoi! This trip has been such an amazing experience for both of us. Here's a little recap of what we've done the past few days:

• Saturday we delivered 4 more tons of rice to families who lost so much, including family members and homes. The community had come together to build temporary homes for these families. We spent time visiting with one man, the commune leader, who lost his wife and son in the storm. Our hearts broke for him and so many others. We wished we could have done more for them.
• Sunday morning was spent in Bac Ha at the market. You could get pretty much anything you needed there...sandals, clothing, meat, fish, vegetables, puppies, chickens,water buffalo, little pigs and lots more. It was a busy place! We spent the afternoon touring the Bac Ha area on motorbikes. I can't get over how beautiful the landscape and rice fields are.
• Monday we were off to check on the computer labs at Ta Chi (installed by Cool River in Summer 2007) and Bao Nhai (installed by Cool River in Summer 2008). We enjoyed some time hanging out with the kids passing out candy and stickers..they loved it!

Now we're back in Hanoi for our last day. We'll spend some time shopping and relaxing before getting on the plane to return home. Thank you so much to everyone who has been praying for us. God did amazing things here, not only through us, but also to us. Seeds were planted.

Sept 29, 2008--Posted by Kevin Colon

After 4 days up in the mountain villages, we are back in Hanoi today. We got to do and experience a lot of things and felt that there was a lot of fruit for our work. Jeremy and Victoria will be logging in soon to give you more details on this. Stay tuned. Thank you for all your prayers.

Sept 26, 2008--Posted by Kevin Colon

We're in Lao Cai today. Arrived at 5 AM, ate a quick breakfast, then travelled to one of the hardest hit areas of the tropical storm to pass out 4 tons of rice to the people there. I didn't know Victoria was so strong. You should have seen her throwing around 50 kg (110 lbs.) bags of rice around. Jeremy and I got them off the truck and carried them to the warehouse. And all of this in a rain strom. It was crazy.

After the work we met with the vice chairman of the people's committee and he thanked the team for the donation and the work. They hope to get people through this tough time and back on their feet again after this devestating storm.

Tomorrow....more of the same. Keep praying!

Sept 25, 2008--Posted by Kevin Colon

Well, thanks for all the prayers. They have been answered. We just got word about an hour ago that we have a green-light to go to the mountain villages. It also looks like we will be able to do more than we originally thought to help there. 8 tons of rice to be delivered to homes all over two areas that were heavily damaged by the tropical storm. It's going to be awesome!

Before we go, we are headed to the Bierla Orphanage to hang out with kids and deliver school supplies and toys....THEN we get on the overnight train to the mountains. Ok...that's it.

More news to come. Check back! And keep praying!

Sept 24, 2008--Posted by Kevin Colon

We ate a good breakfast and took off to the streets of Hanoi to gather some supplies and connect with some of our friends in the shops next to Lake Hoa Kiem.

Around 11 we met the Glocal Ventures Team which briefed us on our itinerary and Tropical Storm Hagupit that is headed to North Vietnam tonight. This storm looks to be severe at the moment and is headed straight for Lao Cai (where we're supposed to go) We're hoping the storm will change course so we can continue our work. Pray for that!

After the meeting we had lunch with the GVI staff and then headed to the market to buy diapers for the orphanage.

We drove about 40 minutes to the orphanage and spent the next several hours there holding babies, playing with toddlers and givnig gifts to the teachers and the director. The orphanage is a tough place. As I held a little one month old little girl and watvhed Jeremy in a crib (yes IN a crib) with another two and Victoria going from child to child making sure each child had been held and loved, I had to fight back the tears over and over again. Pray for them.

Another hour and a half back to the hotel. Traffic was awful, awdul, awful. I've never seen it that bad here. The cars are starting to dominate the roads and making the jams much, much worse.

More to come....stay tuned.

Sept 23, 2008--Posted by Kevin Colon

We've arrived in Hanoi. Everything has gone extremely smooth so far. It's been amazing how we've had not one delay, hiccup, or problem. Jeremy and Victoria are loving it here.

Today we meet with the Glocal Ventures Staff, gather supplies for the mountain villages and visit the orphanage. At least that's the plan (things always change here).

We did find out that there is more bad weather heading this way, possible tropical storm strength. Please pray for this situation as it could impact our trip...obviously. So, pray that the weather stays away. Pray that we can have safe passage through the mountains. Pray that He will use us.

June 2008 Trip

June 10th 3PM From Brian Weigner: Last Post

We are back in the United States and doing very well! Our travel back was long and dull but we made it safely...and our luggage did as well.

We all are very excited to share more memories with all of you. I’m sure we will have plenty of opportunities! Coming up soon on a Sunday (JUNE 22) morning, we will share with Cool River Church about our journey.

June 9th 4:30 PM From Angela Weigner: Last Day in Hanoi

Today is our last day in Hanoi and Vietnam.

Our time in Sapa was great! We relaxed, ate well, shopped, hiked, and saw the touristy side of Vietnam. Last night we took a freezing train ride back to Hanoi (air conditioner on high) and are running on low today, but we are still having a good time.

Today was a special day for us. We were able to visit an orphanage that does not get a lot of outside help and drop off our supplies. The orphanage is actually a living area for orphans and senior citizens. The “gated community” has a section for seniors and a section for the kids.

We met with the head of the orphanage and then went on a tour. Most of the kids that were ages 2-12 were at school so we did not see them. We did go in one room that was full of middle school aged girls and they were spending time with two volunteers from another organization. The two volunteers were from northern Europe and are helping out with that orphanage by teaching English and spending time with the kids playing games; they are staying for 3-6 months to help out. We did not stay with them long.

Next we visited one of the nursery rooms to show the nurse the supplies we brought. THANK YOU to all of you that donated your clothing and baby items. We brought spoons, bottles, towels, and wash clothes, many outfits for various times of year, teeters, and much more!

There were six babies that were ages 2-14 months in the room. It was nap time so they were all asleep, some in bouncy seats, and some in very basic cribs. I did not take very many pictures, but I know Nicole did, so we will have more to share later.

This picture is of two babies each holding a bottle we gave them. All the babies were really quiet and good and cute. They do not have any toys so the nurse handed them the bottles to look at. Another need for the babies is disposable diapers. The children were wearing very basic cloth diapers. I wished more than anything that I could have diapered them all in a disposable diaper.

In future trips Cool River is welcome to bring toys and mobiles for the kids. I know GVI already is working with a church in Australia to support a nutrition program. GVI brings formula and oatmeal once a month. They are also looking for a partner to support the purchase of disposable diapers.

This picture is a picture of Brian playing with one of the babies. He was making her laugh. I got a good video of it too.

Sherman (GVI staff) said most of the babies will either get placed with another family member or neighborhood of where the child is from. These babies will not be adopted internationally, and are most likey there for a short stay. For the children who are not claimed by family or a village, they stay in the system. Vietnam gives orphans the opportunity to go to college if they make it and for the most part do a good job of supporting them to live a successful life.

We were not there for long but I am glad we could just take an hour and take one bag over to help with the care of these babies in transition.

Afterwards, we went to lunch, had a debriefing meeting were we talked about our trip, talked about future trips and about the long term vision in Vietnam. I am excited to see how many Cool River people will come to Vietnam within the next three years.

Now we are packing, and getting ready to go to the airport. Thanks for following our trip. We look forward to sharing more with everyone once we return. Feel free to ask any of us to come and share about our trip! We have sooo many pictures combined we could keep anyone busy for awhile!

June 7th 8:00 AM From Angela Weigner: Trip Pictures

I have some time to post some pictures now. The rest of the team is out hiking to waterfalls. Also see Debra's post below.

Here is a picture of the final lab. It is a good set up. This was the only time the lab was empty. I know it will be used A LOT!

Here is a picutre of Nicole teaching the school teachers. At the end of class they set up email accounts and are excited to use email and net meeting to communicate to use to communicate with students.

Here is a picutre of Nicole and GVI staff Tim after they taught the first group of students. They thanked us for coming and sang the cuttest song for us!

Here is Deb at her desk. She sat here for 3 days working on the lab making everything run smoothly. The town appreciates the lab greatly! The first two days we put in really long days at the lab. The last day all of the parents of the kids were going to greet us at the school with fruit and drinks to say thank you, but that is the day we left early to go and check on the other lab. We are sad we missed this opportunity, but we are very touched and moved by the warmness and gratitude the town has showed us.

June 7th 8:00 AM From Debra Williams

I am in Sa Pa and in tourist heaven. There are westerners here as well as the local vietnamese natives. The city has french flair architecture set in the lush, green mountains. It sort of reminds me of San Francisco but more like an out of control jungle. The town sits atop a major mountain with breathtaking views from every angle. As far as the shops and restaurants, they run the gamut from English, French, Italian, German and Vietnamese. It is obvious that many different ethnicities settle in this area.

One last thing, the necessary amenities are very close to our standards. So I feel great! I even have internet in my room via wireless and it’s high speed. YAHOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

Ok, one more last note. It took me 15 minutes to upload 23 pictures to this website in Sa Pa. In Bac Ha I only got in 3 pictures during that time and it took me 3 days to do it!

The following is some information about how the people live in very remote areas in Vietnam, such as Bac Ha area villages. They eat all kinds of animals (duck, chicken, dog, fish, pig, frogs, water buffalo, etc) and share their kill with the entire village in order to preserve the meat without it going to waste. So for example, family A will kill their water buffalo and put it out at the market (street vendor setup) and everyone comes to get their share. Next time it is family B who shares their kill. They have no refrigeration or freezing capabilities so they smoke the meat or jerk it for later consumption. They don’t have the luxury of having meat everyday. Rice and noodles are their main staple. They grow their own crops on the sides of the mountains. If you look closely at some of the pictures of the mountains, you will see uniform lines which are rows of corn, rice, bok choy, watermelon, and other fruits and vegetables that are not the usual kind. Matter of fact their crops are very different from ours. Bananas are green when ripe and are short and stout. Watermelons are very small. Plums don’t even look anything like plums. They also eat a lot of bamboo since it is a native tree and is easy to chop up. If you notice in the pictures, the mountains are quite steep. So if you can imagine planting and harvesting on the sides of these mountains, it becomes a very rough life. Most people don’t have running water or electricity, but the schools do and some restaurants and stores. Bathrooms are troughs behind a thatch. Water, however, is very plentiful in bottles. I don’t know why or how they afford it, but it is everywhere for them and tourists.

June 5th 5:06 PM From Brian Weigner (email)
I'm at the Ta Chai school (Cool River's first computer lab project) writing this email. Everything is working great! The teachers are using the lab for training both other teachers and students. They love the lab. In fact the government has established the Ta Chai school as the national standard. The work you all put in is really bearing fruit.

June 6th 5:30 PM From Angela Weigner

Today we said goodbye to Bac Ha and headed to Bao Nhai for the dedication service. We took a beautiful drive to Sa Pa and now we are here to be tourist for a few days before heading back to the big city of Hanoi. We have a great sense of accomplishment and have much joy as we know we have given a whole town a computer lab,

June 5th 11:30 AM From Angela Weigner

Hey everyone! I know it seems like we left you hanging, but we haven’t.

Yesterday was spent working all the bugs out of the lab. It was a long day, but productive. We have quite an audience of school staff, and our own people busy surfing the net, so it has been very slow and we are not able to post our amazing pictures.

Today Nicole is teaching two training sessions to the middle school students (35 all together) and one training to teachers. We have already taught the students and it was an amazing experience to help them learn about the computer. Nicole did a wonderful job of putting together a presentation.

Debra will post on here later. She has been our hero and key person for putting the lab together and making sure everything works. She has worked so hard and we appreciate her so much! We were not able to get the sound to work at first and she has worked non stop and has found a solution. I can't wait to hear the lab with everyone's sound!

June 3rd, 2008 6:30 PM From Angela Weigner: Day 1: Bac Ha

I write this from Computer #2 out of #10 in our new lab in Bao Nhai. Today has already felt like three days in one and it is only 4:00pm. We started our morning with the train stopping at 5:40 am in the Lao Cai Train Station. We actually had a really nice train and I had the best night sleep I have had on a train. The rocking as you sleep is mesmerizing.

We then took a ride to the Sao Mai Hotel. It takes about 2 hours to get to the hotel. Most of the ride is a flat drive through many street side villages. Here is a list of animals we saw: a big fat pig, a little goat, an even littler baby goat, so many water buffaloes I lost count, cat, dogs, horses, rosters, chickens, and ducks. Every time I saw dogs I thought of Shay, who came on a previous trip. He told me that the dogs in Vietnam are all very happy. I can say I saw a lot of happy dogs as we drove to Bac Ha and thought of Shay.

The last third of the ride ascends in elevation up to higher than our Colorado elevation. The landscape is breathtaking. I was thinking about the song “The Splendor of the King.” Creation was really singing out loud to us as we drove in this morning.

I was so glad to arrive at Bac Ha and the hotel. The hotel feels so comfortable and familiar. We were able to see more old friends and even see our old rooms. We got to all shower (so thankful) and eat our first meal at the Sao Mai. We had the breakfast as I remember- a crepe with Vietnam bananas straight off the tree with chocolate sauce. Nicole describes it as “WAY YUMMY.”

The school we are at is about a 30-40 minute drive back towards the train station. The people have been wonderful host and are so happy we are here. There has been much anticipation in the waiting of the computer lab. They saw us come by the first time and were very excited. Today was a celebration. I am reminded of how the gift of computers touches so many lives. It will touch the lives of teachers, administrators, students, and surrounding villages. Computer labs give schools the ability to be at a national school standard, which is a BIG deal. I write all this to emphasize what a big deal putting a computer lab is for Northern Vietnam.

As we arrived at the schoool, we met with a group of 8-12 officials and administrators. We had a short meeting where we were welcomed, invited to lunch, and were able to be introduced. They had bottled water and yummy watermelon waiting for us. We then walked upstairs to the lab location. The next 20-30 minutes were a whirlwind as everyone (all officials and school personnel, and our group) carried boxes up, helped us unpack, organize the desk, monitors, mouses. It was fun to watch everyone unwrap and place the computers. It was like it was everyone’s birthday.

After we finished we went to lunch. This culture like many likes to take at least a two hour lunch. I love it and demand we implement it into US culture immediately. We were treated to an amazing lunch at a local restaurant similar to the lunch yesterday, but today we were eating outside under a canopy. There were many toasts thanking Colorado for coming back to Bac Ha and for our gift of the computer labs. There were many officials, and the school principal and vice principal.

As soon as we got the internet the whole room was quiet. Everyone is surfing the net. The only break everyone took was a few minutes ago when Brian gave everyone Warhead Candy followed by Pop Rocks. That is always priceless to see!

We are going back to the hotel now.

June 2nd, 2008 6:30 PM From Angela Weigner: Day 2: Hanoi

Note: We don’t have much time before we leave for the train so I will post pictures later.

The team went to bed around 1:30 am. I fell asleep watching TV at 12:30 am on the couch and woke up around 1:30sh am to see my surroundings had changed dramatically. The computers and screens and boxes were all packed up and the room was spacious.

The day started with rain, but by the time we got outside it was not raining. The sky still looked like it wanted to rain. We asked one of the GVI staff if it would rain again and he said “Hard to tell.”

Today was a relaxing day and a day of two great experiences.

We finally got out of the house at 11:00am and ate lunch with the GVI staff at a wonderful restaurant that served us a feast of Vietnamese food. This was the best I have ever had. It included frog legs, duck, tofu, French fries, various Vietnamese fruits and vegetables, rice cooked in a clay pot (they broke the clay pot open to get the rice patty out-picture will come soon). Let’s just say the food kept coming and we kept eating and it was amazing (for $5/person)!

We then went to a coffee shop right at the intersection of the video on Kevin’s blog with the crazy traffic. This was a super nice coffee shop. We had just ordered and sat down outside on the third story balcony and then the rain finally came. We moved inside, and had a very informative training on Vietnamese culture.

We were also able to enjoy this time with a translator from our previous trip that is in Hanoi for the summer. My heart was so glad to reunite with friends from a previous trip. We shared such great experiences.

Now it’s time to move up North. The work is done with the computers and the truck has left with the computers. The rain continues. The train tickets are bought. Debra and Nicole just returned from a shopping spree in Hanoi. We are packing. We love Hanoi and the excitement and are hopeful and excited to see what is next. This team has been so excited to see and experience Vietnam. It has been fun to watch the team’s enthusiasm as we go day by day.

June 1st, 2008 9:04 PM From Angela Weigner: Day 1 in Hanoi

Wow, what a first day in Hanoi!

We started our day waking up to the light of day, eventhough we weren’t sure what time our biological clocks were set.

We went to a HIF church service today and met with people from all over the world. I am always amazed to be in a room with so much diversity and so many stories.

We observed and experienced Hanoi traffic. For those of you who are thinking about trading in the SUV and downsizing due to gas prices should consider the following option!

One thing that was different from last time I was here, is now adults are required to wear helmets on bikes, which I guess messes up hair but saves lives.

After that, you’ll never guess where we at lunch… I give you a few hints…

1. This was a popular chain in the 1980’s.

2. It used to have Pac Man video game and a salad bar with a sneeze guard.

3. They used to put fennel seeds on their food and use red cups still found at restraunt supply stores.

Have you guessed yet?

Okay, for those of you who guessed Pizza Hut, good job! But I must say this Pizza Hut was nicer and had a varity of items on their menu. Debra even had a hot latte.

After lunch we decided to venture upstairs to the Big C store, which we decided stands for “Big Chaos.” Imagine Walmart and Costco on the busiest day times 1000 and you can find yourself in Big C. We grabed a few items and were back to our paradise outside of the city (monkeys included- our caged pets in the village)!

At about 3:00pm we decided to get down to business. We unloaded all the computers, took inventory, and watched Debra get to work imaging the computers. We have worked through the internet going in and out, some corupted drivers, we have relaxed, and have ordered some Al Fresco’s (kinda like Chili's) delivery for dinner.

It is our hopes to finish the computers tonight or early tomorrow and see more of Hanoi tomorrow. Thanks for checking in with us! We wish everyone of you could be here with us!

June 1st, 2008 2:18AM From Brian Weigner

We have arrived in Hanoi! After more than 29 hours on planes and in airports we are in Hanoi. Sherman (with Glocal Ventures Inc-GVI) met us at the airport and flagged a van for us. After a short van ride to the guest house, the team unpacked, emailed, and are now fast asleep...except for me. We have a big day ahead of us tomorrow so I’ll sign off. Thanks for reading about our Vietnam adventure. Stay online for more updates and plenty of pictures!

May 30, 2008 12:22 PM From Brian Weigner

We are 15 minutes away from leaving these United States! So far everything is going superb. After a quick Mexican meal at LAX (since VN is not known for Mexican), we boarded the plane and are waiting in anticipation for a great time! Please continue to pray like crazy for us!

Here is the team at 5AM (from left to right) Nicole Nemer, Brian Weigner, Debra Williams, and Angela Weigner:

The rockies just west of Denver on our way to LAX (absoultely amazing-God really created us a great place to live):

We'll post again when we're in Hanoi.