SALSA - Its not a spicy condiment

At VIS SALSA is a week of Seconday Action Learning Secondary Activity. I am spending the week in the Vang Vieng area, about 100km from Vientiane.

The program mixes Science with Humanities and is about disparities.  On the first day we visited a drum making village, a salt mine and a rubber tree plantation.  At the salt mine and rubber tree plantation we interviewed the workers and took soil samples and tested the air and water. Despite the temperature probe saying it was 32 C it felt like 50 + with the humidity.  We all felt for the workers in these conditions.  Many move from their home villages to live in shanties beyond the salt drying area to work at the mine as there is little alternative employment for them.

We took a boat over Nam Ngum lake on sunset to our lovely accommodation.  It was gorgeous and a lovely reward after a hard day for the kids.  Never the less they all appreciated their position and that they were able to swim and relax after the heat but it was never ending for the workers.