The Akha Training Center

After 5 hours of much needed rest, we awoke this morning to our first full day in Thailand! We enjoyed a nice breakfast at the hotel and left for the airport to catch a flight into Chiang Rai that we had not yet booked. It was somewhat of an amazing race to find the cheapest tickets! Luckily we were all able to find round trip tickets from Bangkok to Chiang Rai at the last minute. The flight into Chiang Rai was about an hour. Upon arriving at the airport, we were greeted by David Stevenson and some of the children from the Akha Training Center. The 17 of us, along with the 5 of them, loaded into 2 small trucks and began the one hour long drive to the center. For some of us the drive was an exciting experience, as we were piled into the back of the trucks with luggage and groceries going at least 60 miles per hour on winding roads. While those of us in the backs of the trucks did not have the most comfortable seat, we definitely enjoyed the best view of the amazing landscape!

Once we arrived at the center we were greeted by hundreds of smiling children from the Akha tribe. They all rushed to grab our luggage or simply grab our hand and lead us around the center. We were served a delicious dinner of rice, chicken and vegetables by some of the children. Afterwards we watched all 400 plus kids enjoy a time of devotion and singing. When they were done singing, it was our turn. We introduced ourselves one by one to them and then sang the song “If your happy and you know it.”  

Our original plan was to hold a vaccine clinic this evening, but we have not yet been able to get vaccines. We are still working on this and hopefully we will be able to purchase the vaccines and administer them to the children before leaving. So far, now the plan is to get some rest before starting a long day of clinic tomorrow! We will start clinic after breakfast and our goal is to examine around 150 children in about 12 hours.

---Quincy