It was amazing to arrive in Jingxi town
to see it being dug up before our eyes
the old is going
the new is coming in
It looks like China want to make the most of the natural beauty of this area
and turn it into Guilin- a top tourist attraction.
We decided we wanted a cake to take to the Da Mo girls for our birthday celebrations
so Matthew had that ordered in moments, and we just waited for it to appear!
This girl walked past the van ......
......where it was quickly transferred
........and we were off on our exciting journey down the hill of death to the Miao village of Da Mo!
Paula had her daughter's dolls ready to show the Da Mo womenn to see if we could help set up a small business with them making Miao costumes?
It is impossible to capture on camera, the breath-taking (in more ways than one),
beauty of the view down the steep valley
and wonderful to stop and observe the century old traditions of the Miao people
living here close to the Vietnam Border
We passed Longban Middle School,
where in the last few years, the very first Miao girls ever from Da Mo attended school.
It has been a hard time for them to integrate and feel accepted here, but most have struggled on valiantly, with extra support from Matthew and his team
Continuing down the hill, we closed our eyes and prayed!
There was a lot of nervous giggling from the girls...and the mums!!!!!
And eventually we all decided we would like to walk!
The poor driver had to navigate the crazy single track hairpin bends on the edge of a sheer drop!
Our pretty butterflies!
Shawn, spotter of the amazing, stopped us to look at this ingenious creation
The ordinary old plastic water bottle
propped up by some twigs
to hold it JUST at the point where the fresh water dripped...
straight into the mouth of the bottle!
So some ingenious travellers would always have fresh water to drink on their journey!
Butterflies as I have mentioned before were the theme of this trip
tho it was hard to capture them as they flitted amongst us
As we came down the hill and into the silence of this remote and beautiful village,
time just stood still.
I had to stop and just breathe it all in.
I could not believe we were finally there!!!
As we gathered our breath, outside the first house in the village,
almost from nowhere came a face, loved and well-known to me over many years
Meihao, sponsored by our lovely Dunfermline ladies......
took us by the hand and welcomed us into their home.
Oh, it was such a privilege to be there..
and it just always amazes me just how much can be shared without language.
A very special time!
Soon it was time to head back into the village where we could not wait to meet the rest of the girls we have loved, prayed for, supported and watched thro so many of Matthew's incredible photos and DVDs.
No comments:
Post a Comment