It All Takes Planning

Before you do it, you have to plan it. 

The first work day in Hue was spent putting all the pieces together.  Working with the Vietnamese, as well as the MEDRIX staffer who lives  in Hue, the plans began to move off paper and into action.

Of course, sometimes work is tempered with a little pleasure.  Coffee served as a good lubricant for ideas as the Safe Water Team discussed ways to make some of the projects work within the circumstances of Viet Nam.  Ken and Bob confer with a retired American engineer on some possible changes to the systems now in places – changes to improve performance and usability.

(Be sure to click on a photo to see a larger version.)

New equipment has to be set up and tried.  In this case, Ivan and Bob began gathering data on the sunlight available on a cloudy day in Hue – data that may someday lead to an alternative system for  producing safe water in deep rural areas where there is no electricity.

After an afternoon of meetings with senior administrators of the Hue General Hospital, Cindy did detailed planning for teaching a three week class in English medical terminology to a group of physicians.  Learning these terms will help Vietnamese doctors stay current on new research, attend international conferences, and prepare them for further training in English-speaking countries.

All this work, and the real work hasn’t even started yet.