More villages to visit further up the mountains

As my readers can tell, I am not a professional blogger.    I'm still learning how to insert pictures in the right places, make it appealing with spacing and information, but sometimes I have trouble.  Please forgive me for anything that does not fall into spaces in the right way.  

We continued our travels up and around mountainous roads after we left the first village on December 30.  Every village was just a repeat of the first.   Some were larger and had more people but the situation and stories were much the same.
I think it was the second village where we found many people with medical needs.   Most did not ask for help with food as much as they needed money to see a doctor.    There were illnesses such as kidney stones, growth in a young man's throat, female problems and many other situations that needed medical attention.   The hospital in Luang Prabang can't be very good and we doubted some of the diagnoses but traveling to Vientiane would be a major task for these people.   It would require a long bus ride, overnight stays and more money to see a doctor and a large amount needed for surgery.    Almost everyone had been told by a doctor in Luang Prabang that they needed surgery.    We have also found that many times poor people are exploited by the medical system and recommended treatments and surgeries would not be recommended by reputable doctors.    Several of the people said they had to go to the hospital every week for a shot or some kind of medical treatment.   This is probably no more than putting a band aide on a medical issue and not solving their illness.

    The more we saw, the
more depressing it got because we realized that thousands (even millions) that live this way in Laos and other Asian countries where there is severe poverty.

See the roofline of the house in the following picture.   During the monsoon season, none of the houses will be dry inside.   Clothes hanging on lines will be wet; bedding they sleep on will not dry and for months they have to endure the wet season.   The small house in the backgound was built by an old man who asked for money last year to build his house.  He was so proud of it he wanted us to walk back to see it.     

Every village has sweet, old people who are grateful for anything you do for them.    This old couple were happier with their small block house than most Americans would be with a $250,000 house.  They don't have to worry about furnishing it with fine stuff, pay electric bills or do yardwork.   It is a life of poverty but sometimes a life freedom of worry except for daily food.