(LAOS) Summer in Laos means rain – lots and lots of rain! We get a thunderstorm almost every day, and for a few days last week it rained without stopping. Since we live in the mountains, the rains bring cooler temperatures and let us sleep without a fan at night. It’s really quite pleasant! We moved to a new house in mid-May and are happy to be settled in a comfortable place. Our old house needed repairs that couldn’t be done while we lived in it, and we were constantly itchy because of mold and dust. Our new house is full of light, with a large living room and a beautiful flower garden. We live next door to our landlords, a friendly Lao family with two girls. We are blessed to live in such a quiet, peaceful place.

Summer in Laos means rain – lots and lots of rain! We get a thunderstorm almost every day, and for a few days last week it rained without stopping. Since we live in the mountains, the rains bring cooler temperatures and let us sleep without a fan at night. It’s really quite pleasant!

We moved to a new house in mid-May and are happy to be settled in a comfortable place. Our old house needed repairs that couldn’t be done while we lived in it, and we were constantly itchy because of mold and dust. Our new house is full of light, with a large living room and a beautiful flower garden. We live next door to our landlords, a friendly Lao family with two girls. We are blessed to live in such a quiet, peaceful place.

We’ve already had friends come stay with us twice – Jeffrey and Kaarina, a couple working with MCC that live in a small town a few hours from us. They come once a month to Phonsavan for rest and shopping because they live in a more difficult place. We enjoy hosting them and are glad that our house can be a refreshing place for them.

We’d like to tell you about two interesting things going on now in James’ work.

First, about two dozen farmers in six villages are planting beans in their corn fields this year in order to improve the soil. Those who did it last year have already noticed a difference in the quality of this year’s corn! I hope that this could be one path to sustainable mountain farming in Laos.

Second, we brought together men and women leaders a few weeks ago who are from six villages that we work with. These leaders visited another village in their area that has made good progress toward its goals. The visitors learned that this village was able to develop because of their unity and effective leadership. The leader of a village nearby told me that he had only been to this neighboring village a few times since they’d moved a few years ago, despite its only being 30 minutes away.

James Zwier

Program Advisor 
World Renew Laos