Beautiful Phrao

Picture from left to right: Laith, Paul, Dave, Shannon, Rose, Gaudhi, Huyen, Ronn, Jess, Jessica(me), Andrea, Andy, and Professor Shafer

What some may think of as heavenly and exotic cannot even begin to describe the scenery in the Phrao district of northern Thailand. This absolutely stunning landscape shows the great purity in this area. There are mountains covered in fog and banana trees lining the small dirt roads. In this beautiful region, the organization of Warm Heart Thailand has been founded. Warm Heart Foundation is the non-governmental organization we are working with to clean the water. It was co-founded by Professor Shafer, a Rutgers professor, who has dedicated most of his life to projects like this. The very new foundation hopes to improve the lives of people in this poor area. They are working on many other projects besides just our water project. There are people working here from University of California San Diego, Northeastern, and many more from Rutgers. The projects include carbon credit, organic gardening, micro enterprise, database/IT, and building a children's home. Everyday the group of us hop in the back of this pick up truck and drive fifteen minutes to the office in town. At the office we meet with the Thai staff, which consist of researchers, community leaders, and secretaries. The plan is to work with at least one Thai member on this project. It is really exciting to know that we will get to learn about Thailand with the help of natives.
The group of Americans usually eats lunch in this little noodle shop just a few yards down the road. They have the most amazing noodle soup for only 15 batt (about 50 cents)! After the workday we have been walking about the amazing town; going in caves and visiting temples.
To help us become more fluent in Thai we will be getting lessons three times a week from the Thai staff.
We are having a blast!!