III. Health and Personsonal Care

The Dispensary is a God-sent haven to those disabled who are either abandoned or disowned by their families, and those who have no families at all. Sister Xuan, the nurse practitioner (Y Sy) has now been officially assigned to the Dispensary by her Congregation. Besides caring for and administering medicines to those able to come to the Dispensary, she also makes visits to the homebound sick and cares for them in their homes. She is using the Community's only motorcycle more frequently than anyone else in the house. She is also proudly in charge of the pharmaceutical cabinet.

Sisters Hoan and Thường continue their daily rounds of home health and personsonal care to the homebound. They have been given the added responsibilities of caring for the Dispensary's inpatients as well as its daily operation and housekeeping.

The nurse practitioner is paid 500,000 dong per month; each of the nurse's aids receives 300,000 dong per month.

A new well has been drilled. However, additional works including an electric pump, a reservoir and plumbing are still needed in order to provide running water to the "complex."

IV. Material Assistance to Needy People

New wheelchair for patients at the Dispensary.

The children of Mo Xuan, Phu Tho are lacking all the basic necessities during the chilly winter month.
• 11 wheelchairs. Five (5) have been given to individuals. Two (2) are housed in the Dispensary, four (4) others in the parish houses of Ha Thach, Hien Quan, Yen Tap and Ngo Xa to be used by disabled people when needed.
• 140 blankets. Wintertime temperatures in the Highlands range between F 40 and F 50 degrees, and the people living there are desperately in need of warm clothing. Blankets were distributed to the following communities:
• Hau Thao, Sapa (H'Mong tribe)
• Lao Chai, Sapa (H'Mong tribe)
• Ro Luc, Phu Tho
• Moa Xuan, Phu Tho
• Khe Nhoai, Phu Tho (Thai Xanh tribe)
• Khe Nhao, Phu Tho (Thai Xanh tribe)
• 60 mosquito nets
• Ro Luc, Phu Tho
• Hien Quan, Phu Tho
• Mo Xuan, Phu Tho
• Nylon straw mattresses (Chieu)
• Hien Quan
• Mo Xuan
• Ro Luc
• 7 bicycles for families facing hardship. Bicycles are vital for business as well as transportation because people use them to carry goods from one place to another.
• Van The, Phu Tho
• Mo Xuan, Phu Tho
• Khe Nhoi, Phu Tho
• Khe Nhao, Phu Tho
• 

  New Wheat Threshing Machine.
  10 Threshing Machines for H'mong people in the following communities:
• Mộ Xuan, Phu Tho
• Hau Thao, Sapa
• Lao Chai, Sapa

V. Community Development

• Wells were drilled for the following communities:
• (1) Son Dong, Ha Tay
• (1) Phu Nghia, Ba Vi, Ha Tay
• (2) Hien Quan, Phu Tho
• (1) Chieu Ung, for the Dispensary
• Mountain Lane Making for the villages of Hau Thao and Lao Chai, Sapa. The lane is the "primary road" around the village leading to its parish church.

The non-resident pastor of parishes in the province of Lao Cai mobilized his Highland parishioners to complete a 5ft wide dirt path leading from the inter-provincial Sapa - Son La paved road to the entrances of the villages of Hau Thao and Lao Chai. This path greatly helps reduce the time it takes him and his pastoral team to reach the parish churches on the back seat of rented and "chauffeured" motorcycles when he is allowed to do missions in the area. I could hardly call this a road, as the rain might wash dirt and rocks down from the hill onto the surface of the path or render it muddy. The pastor now requests 500 US dollars for labor that tribesmen will put in to make an "Around the Village" lane (at a wage of 1 US dollar per day, per personson).

The last part of my mission was to visit the tribes and observe the sites of the lanes to be made. The night train from Ha Noi brought me to the city of Lao Cai early the next morning. A hired motorcycle driver then took me on a 55-mile uphill trip to Sapa. From there, I had to continue climbing on the above-mentioned 5ft zigzagging dirt path until I finally reached the two parishes nestled high in the mountains of Saipan. Climbing up the 6,000 ft mountains on the back of a motorcycle was quite a memorable experience of thrills and suspense. Occasionally, the driver had to wade through the mud pushing his vehicle and leaving me to struggle like an acrobat on the edge of the path. Losing balance would have sent me tumbling down the mountainside!