new hope

When I haven't been in contact with Kim San, teacher at Anjali, for a while, I get anxious. Oh how I miss them. And then to see some new photos..! Gah.

Spent the past couple hours browsing through airline sites and accommodation, jotting down ballpark figures of how much it's going to cost me this year.

Focus maz.

This is a video presumably one of the recent volunteers produced which shows what New Hope Community Centre does, and captures a bit of the local village.



It stirs up a certain memory.
Between classes one day, one of the younger girls waved me over to her home that was down the road from the Centre. As I approached her, this dog appeared between us and started growling at me. Another volunteer had a bad experience with dogs not too long ago so warnings about stray dogs were fresh in our minds. As I was slowly backing away, it followed, and my thoughts were pretty much along the lines of oh I am so screwed.

Then the girl comes around and casually - almost playfully - clamps her hands around the dog's muzzle.

As I swiftly ran away I realised this dog was protecting her - protecting her home. And never had I been so reassured by my own fear.