Halfway through the last week I started to experience extremely painful stomach cramps, at times I had pangs so sharp I couldn’t breathe. I had to spend a lot of time in bed, and was f… Read More
After the emotionally draining weekend that followed our goodbye session with the girls from AFESIP, I was reunited with the MSR team before our departure to a small village where we would c… Read More
As a literary student, I have learned to pay close attention to symbolic events. Meals, journeys, or changes of weather are some examples of things that any student of literature will slow d… Read More
Today, March 8, is International Women's Day. On this day we focus on and celebrate women's achievements throughout history and across the world. The first National Women's Day w… Read More
Throughout our sessions at AFESIP we have performed various little skits for the girls focused on male and female friendship. The idea was that we wanted them to see how the two sexes can in… Read More
Surely to inhabit a body that you do not own is the greatest torture a human can be subjected to. The history of slavery that is interlaced with the history of any civilization is at once ap… Read More
After a ten-hour ride back to Vientiane and six hours of sleep, we were all up yesterday morning to start the VYDA day camp. This was going to be a long day, and I wasn’t fully mentall… Read More
I have often heard that if you’re going through Hell the best thing to do is to just keep going. I can testify that this is true. People, I have been through Hell. Many of you will hav… Read More
Today we had our sixth session with the girls from AFESIP, and from a personal perspective, it was groundbreaking.When we arrived we set up our iPod with speakers to begin the stretch and da… Read More
I have bad news. I regret to inform you all that I inherited a condition at birth that has now reached its advanced stages and has become, unfortunately, irreversible. The condition is commo… Read More
For the Laos Mission 2011 MSR International is working with two organizations that already exist and are functioning within Laos; AFESIP (Agir pour les Femmes en Situation Precaire), and VYD… Read More
Today we had our third session with the girls from AFESIP. At the end of our last session, they asked us if they could prepare their own theatre pieces to present to us today. Julie and I we… Read More
For years, in the process of reading a book or a periodical, I would regularly get mildly irritated by the absence of the serial comma, as it seems an important detail not to leave out.Littl… Read More