After traveling couple of days I felt like talking to people. Yes, I needed that time to warm up, you know, from the cold to the warm. I met Debra at the restaurant she runs, Riverloft. Eight years ago she was an ordinary single mother and a devoted Christian in Pennsylvania. Then one night she had a dream. In that dream was a Lao young woman in a wooden cage, begging for help. Then she knew that God wants her to go to Laos to help this girl. She left her family, packed her luggage, bought a ticket to Laos and since then she has been in Luang Prabang.
Her restaurant employs young Lao women to help them to get their first paid work and get back to the society (if they've ever been there). Some of them are ex-prostitutes, disabled, divorced, unemployed... Debra sees after them by employing and paying the highest salary scale while they are cooking and serving the most delicious meals.
All fruits and vegetables are soaked in ionized water for hours before pealing and cutting, so everything is absolutely safe and fresh. I can recommend home made yoghurt, home made granula with mixed tropical fruits for breakfast and a big fresh salad for lunch. Their local green tea has a light smokey flavor and it goes well with tamarind pastry.
It seems that the restaurant serves as a meeting point for the foreigners in town. I met Dave there. He is a retired British English teacher. He, as the are travelers I have met before, shared same stories about Finns. How they like to drink and they never talk. But that is not true, is it?
I hope God will talk to Debra soon again, because that is what she wants, and if that is needed to make her happy. I may meet her again somewhere, because we don't know where God asks her to move next.
Her restaurant employs young Lao women to help them to get their first paid work and get back to the society (if they've ever been there). Some of them are ex-prostitutes, disabled, divorced, unemployed... Debra sees after them by employing and paying the highest salary scale while they are cooking and serving the most delicious meals.
All fruits and vegetables are soaked in ionized water for hours before pealing and cutting, so everything is absolutely safe and fresh. I can recommend home made yoghurt, home made granula with mixed tropical fruits for breakfast and a big fresh salad for lunch. Their local green tea has a light smokey flavor and it goes well with tamarind pastry.
It seems that the restaurant serves as a meeting point for the foreigners in town. I met Dave there. He is a retired British English teacher. He, as the are travelers I have met before, shared same stories about Finns. How they like to drink and they never talk. But that is not true, is it?
I hope God will talk to Debra soon again, because that is what she wants, and if that is needed to make her happy. I may meet her again somewhere, because we don't know where God asks her to move next.
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| Debra and her girls |
4 comments:
but when Finns are drinking they do talk..
Stereotypes die hard!
Thanks for sharing this story as well, really heart warming that there are people like Debra
Thanks Seija - your Blog will be my adventure and by reading these lovely stories I will survive through this dark season
Morning ! I`m having my breakfast and morning coffee and noticed that I must already be addicted to your blog - as I found myself opening the computer :) Wondering where you go next... Hugs, Pia
Olipa mielenkiintoinen kutsumus, vau! Näiden sun stoorien kautta kyllä pääsee niin matkalle itsekin, kiitos!
t. Heidi L
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