Day 3 Walla Walla to Lewiston

Better day today. It was still hot but less windy. We rode through the hilly wheat fields of Eastern Washington. Lots of open spaces with the occasional house. I went up this monster hill right before Lewiston (after 85 miles of riding) and then had a 4 mile descent into town. Lewiston and Clarkston form the border of Washington and Idaho. It is a college community along the Snake River and very pretty. Lewiston has a nice downtown that reminded me of Northfield. We camped next to the river and got up and going early the next morning.

climbing again...

alongside the Snake River.

When we arrived to visit this poor family at their little house without a gate, all the village people are curious and want to hear our conversation. Nguyen Thi Thuy’s house is close to her neighbors, we could not push them away as we had wanted while we interviewed her. We asked a little boy hold up another thatched wall so it wouldn't fall on us as we spoke. He teased her “She likes to get married." The little girl was very shy, she bends her head very low. Her face looks so sad.

Her parents always work far from home. Her father does some fishing work and can see his daughter only once every 2 months. The grandmother stays at home to take care of the girl. When Thuy goes to school she comes home feels very lonely. School is very far from her house, she needs to walk over 1 hour to go there. She was raped when she was 8 years old. The guy had attacked her when she was coming home from school - which makes she feel fear and does not want to go to school anymore.

The teasing from neighborhood children to Nguyen Thi Thuy was shocking...she is so young and in her mind it does not do anything to make her feel better about herself. She is very quiet and shy when we visited her. It is so hard for her to face and overcome the worst experience of her life. On one hand she really wants to go to school, on the other hand she’s afraid this incident will happen again on the road to school.

We want her to believe in her education and get her a bike!

To help provide scholarships for girls like Thuy please visit www.catalystfoundation.org to donate today.