Raising My Babies in a Bamboo Hut (Guest Post)
By Lori Vernon on Nov 14, 2011 in Lori, Ministry Updates, Personal
Yup, I really do live in a hut, complete with bamboo walls and a grass roof. My husband and I are Americans living in Thailand. We’ve been here for 6 years working with an organization that focuses on helping the Akha, one of the minority people groups in the area. There are no Akha language schools and no Akha Rosetta stone, so when we arrived, the only way for us to learn the language and culture was through pure immersion. This is our great adventure: being the only English speakers in a village perched on the side of a mountain in Northern Thailand.
As you can imagine, raising two daughters in this environment presents an entirely new set of challenges for parenting. Here’s what I have learned as a parent in a foreign land…
To read the rest of this article, follow this link over to the mommyhood memos where I had the honor of writing as a guest blogger this week. If you’re visiting from the mommyhood memos… Welcome! Here are some posts from our archives that you might be interested in:
On Cross Cultural Pregnancy, Parenting & Kids:
- My Akha Pregnancy Guru
- The Birth Story
- It takes a village
- A Million Butts Can’t Be Wrong: Elimination Communication
- Diaperless Update: 3 Months
- EC Update: 1 Year
- Our Trilingual 2 Year Old
- A Different Kind of Milestone: Noodles and Chopsticks
Or if your interested in learning a bit more about the Akha people, our work, or our crazy life in the village, here are a few posts you may like:
- About the Akha
- Traditional Akha Vocals
- Vernon Vidcast #1: Our most recent ministry update
- 5 Minute Documentary about the Vernons
- The Akha and the West: Relevantly Traversing the Cultural Divide
- Pulling teeth on our own
- How to take a village shower
- The Rat and the Cat
Whether you’re an old friend or a new visitor, thanks for stopping by! Leave a comment below and let us know you were here! 
I loved reading this! Something that was emphasized at the missions conference this past weekend was to bring your family…Moses didn’t leave his kids in Midian even though there was certain slavery & danger to be had back in Egypt. I pray you are all healthy & well!
Lori,
I always so enjoy hearing of your experiences, especially with your two little darlings!
Love In Christ, Marlene
I had just opened this site as linked from my facebook. It is a great encouragement. That is MISSION. To be with the people and live with the people. God Bless.