Three days to go and I'm really starting to get excited now! I finished up work yesterday to give myself some time to rest and relax (and finish all the last minute packing!) and it was so nice of to my colleagues and friends to wish me well for a wonderful trip! So we got the final travel arrangements from Vietnam yesterday, and it's a jam packed schedule! The evalutation team is made up of 4 groups of about 3-4 people. I am in a group with an interpreter nam...

Yesterday a colleague brought over an Annual Progress Report from a child with a disability (who for the sake of this blog I'll call Van*) and what was written (or not written) in the report brought me great sadness and was the first of what I imagine will be many 'reality hits' over the coming weeks while I'm on this trip. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, an Annual Progress Report is as the name suggests, an annual report to sponsors abo...

This is Patt's story. Patt lives in Cambodia and lost his leg to a landmine in 1989. Patt talks about the sacrifices his family made to pay for his medical treatment, selling their cows and rice field. In his story, he speaks of the shame he felt and discrimination he experienced, not only from his local community, but even his own family. Patt also explains the impact of this discrimination on not only his own life, but also the lives of his five children. B...

OK, this is the first of what I hope to be many blog posts over the next 4-6 weeks. But the reality is, there may not be internet access in many of the places I'm going (it's very rural and hilly in the project areas), but hey I'll try. It's not long now.... I'm leaving in three weeks for Vietnam. For an experience. No scratch that, an experience of a lifetime. I'll assume you've all read the "About Leah" part which explains what this trip is all about, so wo...