Contact Admin. We were picked up at 8 am from our hotel by a mini-van that took us to the small town of Stung Treng. The ride was bumpy and took us around 5 hours to arrive to our destination. It was very hot and we were a bit hungry so we first walked around to find a hotel and then got some food.
We used the afternoon to visit the local market, plan a bit further the next couple of days and wonder around town. Late in the afternoon we sat down next to the San river to watch the sunset which was really nice. There were many locals washing their motorbikes in the river, taking a bath, washing dishes and also kids playing in the water.
We had a quiet night: The main reason we wanted to stop in Stung Treng was to visit a weaving co-operative. On our arrival, a lady welcomed us and shown us around the Centre where we could see all the different stages of the weaving process. She was very kind and gave us a lot of information that we found very useful.
The hospice cared for many former soldiers, policemen and sex workers infected with HIV and terminally ill with one or more of the opportunistic diseases associated with AIDS. The effects of poverty and illiteracy played a significant part in the health issues and lifestyle choices made by many of the patients. Twelve months after the conception of the hospice, it became clear that the future focus needed to shift from caring for AIDS patients in their last stages of life to preventing AIDS in healthy young people, particularly vulnerable women, in the Stung Treng region.
Offering training and employment opportunities would provide more employment choices, other than potentially harmful professions such as prostitution, while increasing skills, income generation and improving quality of life. We found very inspiring what Mekong Blue is doing to empower women and help them to improve the quality of their lives.
