We visited La Qia Fan, a model village, to perform manual labour and a cultural show.

Upon arrival we were welcomed to a home cooked farmer’s lunch.

Preparing lunch in the farm kitchen.

Serving lunch in the farm kitchen.

Enjoying lunch in the farmer’s house.

Enjoying lunch in the farmer’s house.

A 91-year old resident wanted her photo taken with the students.

In appreciation, she sang a song for us (very loudly!).

The song continued for quite some time.

A family comes to look at the foreign visitors - very rare in this remote village.

Eventually the old lady stopped singing and she returned to her home.

La Qia Fan has received government funding to develop its infrastructure.

Our students walk along the village’s unusually good quality roads.

Remarkable for a farming village, it has bins made of recycled plastic.

Village ducks.

Some of the village padi fields, after the harvest.

One of the new farmers’ houses, constructed in 2009.

Many of the houses have biogas to provide clean energy for cooking and lighting.

Pigs’ manure goes into large underground tanks where the biogas is produced.

A biogas stove.

The control panel for the biogas.

Local residents of La Qia Fan.

A young resident of La Qia Fan.

A household shrine on the ground floor of a farmer’s home.

An older home in La Qia Fan, not yet replaced with an infrastructure grant.

Growing tomatoes in plastic glasshouses, La Qia Fan.

Local transport, La Qia Fan.

Channelling irrigation water, La Qia Fan..

Another example of local transport, La Qia Fan.

Terraced padi fields, La Qia Fan.

New and old farmhouses, La Qia Fan.

The students helped this 92 year old lady by removing the corn from their cobs.

Shoes, La Qia Fan.

Bringing corn from the upper storage area for our students’ work.

The students begin their work with the corn.

The students begin their work with the corn.

The work continues.

We are shown a technique to make the job easier - “learning from the peasants”.

The work lasted for several hours, and the result was lots of processed corn …

... and some heavily blistered hands.

The old lady was extremely grateful for the work performed by the students ...

... and insisted on having a group photograph.

The village has a laboratory that develops HYVs (high yielding varieties) of rice.

A new biogas tank is installed in a new house under construction.

Making concrete bricks in La Qia Fan.

The village brickworks in La Qia Fan.

Transporting newly formed wet bricks.

Transporting newly formed wet bricks.

New farmers’ houses in La Qia Fan.

Cutting sweet potato leaves for feeding to pigs.

Cutting sweet potato leaves for feeding to pigs.

Local transport, La Qia Fan.

The students begin their cultural performance for the residents of La Qia Fan.

Residents of La Qia Fan watch the performance.

Residents of La Qia Fan watch the performance.

The students present the deeply moving American cultural song “YMCA”.

Conclusion of the performance of “YMCA”.

Conclusion of the performance of “YMCA”.

The performance of a Bangladeshi dance was a highlight for the spellbound audience.

The Korean song ‘Arirang’ is an expression of a yearning for unity and peace.

“Arirang”.

Our students encouraged local children to join the performance.

Our students encouraged local children to join the performance.

Our students encouraged local children to join the performance.

The size of the audience grew as the performance continued.

A boy from the village sang a deeply moving heartfelt song in response to the students.

A group photo at the end of the cultural performance.