Our Weekend in Phialat

Recently, we spent the weekend with some MCC volunteers,

Heidi and Micah,

who live in a bamboo house on stilts

in a village called Phialat

(pronounced almost like "pee-a-laat").

Phialat is less than 2 hours from Vientiane.

Heidi is a community health worker

and is working with an MCC health project based in Phialat.

Their house is on the hospital grounds.

Micah is an agriculturalist

and has started a project working

with integrated pest management

and sustainable methods of crop production.

Part of the project involves model gardens,

one of which is right by their house.

This (below) is lemon grass

which is consumed in soups and sauces

but in the garden serves as pest control

and helps to reduce erosion.