We started out our morning by stopping at the House of Love to bring a few of the older children along with us to teach them about giving to the community. We then gathered in an impoverished area and delivered nutrition supplies to the poorest community members. This consisted of a bucket to catch rain water, 25kg of rice, oil, a pot, and a few other supplies. 
The team worked quickly and tirelessly to distribute all the items. Alisia was on the front lines filling up the buckets and helping as much as possible.
The people who received the aid are the poorest of the poor. I was helping one woman carry her bucket and she nearly fell over, if I hadn't caught her. Mai-Lynn was there to translate and told me the woman said she was so poor she had nothing. She is in a lot of pain and needs surgery but she can't afford it. And she has no one to take care of her. Very sad situations, but the rice we provided them gives them some relief to get them through for a short amount of time.
We also distributed bikes to some children in this community so they are able to get an education. Education is the ticket out of poverty so these bikes provide a potentially different path that these children will follow. Thank you to some of my friends who donated bikes! (You will also see more bikes donated later this week, I believe!)
After we distributed the nutrition, we were supposed to be visiting 3 homes. However, despite Brittany's Hope working with the government prior to our visit, the local law enforcement arrived and told us we could only send 5 people to the homes. So 5 students went while the rest of us returned to House of Love for some bonus bonding time with the children.
Somewhat like Spain, things close down at lunch time. So we arrived just in time for lunch and naps.
While they napped, we ate lunch. Is it EOS? Is it a clown nose? No! It's my favorite new fruit: lychees!
After nap time was playtime! These kids have serious energy! Alisia must have chased them around the courtyard for 30 minutes! Everyone was giggling and having a great time!
I made up some kind of new game where we slide rocks to each other and then the boys taught me how to play "jacks" with rocks. They are very good at it. I'm not so great!
They LOVED wearing our glasses! And were very good at taking turns too! (Usually!)
We also did some work while we were there. Alisia and her new friend, Hua, worked to clear out the garden for planting (along with many other hard working college students and orphans!)
I helped moving firewood into a huge pile including this monstrous log:
We ended our day with some dancing: the Cha Cha slide and the Cupid shuffle. More dancing is planned for tomorrow!
Again, the children came to the gate to watch us leave and the back-of-the-bussers waved for as long as possible as we pulled away!
What a great day at the House of Love!
We were on our own for dinner so after our nice, cool showers, we met up with our new friend Liana to walk around the night market. We took a bike ride to get there:
Night market:
On our way home, we happened upon a rooftop bar and they had the Pheonix Firethrowers performing. That was an amazing and unexpected treat! I think I was the most scared of the three of us! It felt so hot and it seemed like they were inches from your head!!
Liana actually looks like she's enjoying it!!
Back to the House of Love tomorrow for another long, hot day. I'm not sure I've mentioned the heat enough. After all, there is no point dwelling on something you can't change. But we are dripping with sweat every moment of every day while we are here! If my face looks shiny in ALL my pictures, it's because it is! If you zoom in, you might see the sweat dripping down every inch of my body! It is HOT!!! For now, though, I'm in the cool AC of my hotel which might be about 80 right now?? It cools down as the night goes on, though, so sleeping is actually quite comfortable! Good night!!
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