Three Weeks In

Well, I've seen and done a lot in the past several weeks. I've been to all the centers and they all have terrific kids and unique needs. Our team of volunteers this month is terrific. It's a mix of people who have been here for 3 or more months and 8 of us who are new. 9 total are leaving at the end of the month so it'll be me and two others to train the new volunteers as of June 1st.

Here's an overview of the 4 centers:

Social Support - Seems to be my favorite and I'm trying to make it a pet project. There are about 200 people here from infants to elderly. Mostly homeless and abandoned people / kids. About 15 kids have mental disabilities, about 20 others are healthy and most go to school daily. There are about 4 other kids 5 - 11, who have never been to school. We're trying to get a plan together to get these kids an onsite teacher who can get up to speed to join class someday. There isn't much for these guys to do at the center. It's like a large compound actually. Dirty, old buildings with little light and very few working fans. We're taking some of the kids to a local waterpark this Sunday. I'm sure they'll love it.

Red Cross Vocational Center - has about 33 kids, most all disabled. We teach crafts, and 3 levels of English (basic, intermediate and advanced). I've been lucky enough to teach both Basic and Intermediate. The kids are eager to learn although the pace is very slow. The severely disabled kids participate in crafts that 2 other volunteers creatively come up with that are both fun and easy to follow. Ultimately, they'd all like to be outside playing but that comes after the lessons! This center also has an embroidery, beading and sewing area where the kids do some amazing work. I'd like to buy some pieces (they're about $10), ship them home to sell for a profit and send the money back to these kids. They currently don't sell products outside of the center so there isn't much exposure for them. (Need to add that to the follow up list).

Agent Orange Center - There are about 20 kids here. 12 disabled and 8 seemingly healthy adorable infants. (the infants may not have been affected by A.O. but they're at the center regardless). Today, thanks to fundraising from home, I was able to have 2 new cribs delivered to the facility. They are large enough to hold 2 kids each without being squeezed in like the old wicker cribs. The cribs were delivered by a guy driving a bicycle with a flatbed front attached to it. (who said you need a truck here??)

Malnourished Center - There are about 6 toddlers (age 3 - 5 we guess) and 6 infants, plus 2 severely handicap kids with C.P. These tods are running around all day on concrete play areas and hard tile floors. Always scraped and bruised, they seem to enjoy being outside and love it when we show up to play with them.

A couple of volunteers go to a local University to teach English to kids studying tourism. These kids are almost ready to graduate and need to practice their pronunciation and tourism related words. The other centers with the younger kids is where we're focused most.

Our weekends are spent touring around either locally to Hoian and Danang or some have flown to Hanoi, Natrang and Dalat recently. All are on my list. So far I've just been going an hour away to Hoian to visit with local friends, relax, get some time in an air conditioned room and enjoy the seafood.

There is so much to do here for all these kids - they really don't ask for much more than shampoo and washing powder. After meeting with the directors of several centers, we were given a wish list that we're slowly working on. They have asked for fans, cribs, strollers, white boards for class rooms, paint, toiletries and more money for rice which is served at every meal and sometimes it's the only thing at the meal! We're also collecting money from volunteers to get more fruit to the kids at least twice a week.

Our schedule is 8:30 - 11:00 each day and 2:30 - 4:30 Mon - Thursday. There is a lot of down time that we use to shop for the kids (and ourselves), get in some exercise, sight see or take a nap. The heat here wipes us out! Once school is out, I'll probably hang out with the kids at lunch and play some soccer with them.

If you'd like to donate money for these kids, I'll be in the country until October 1st. You can send a check to my mom in CT and she'll deposit it in a special account that I can access via ATM here. Here's the address: Jen Flynn, 40 Ronal Drive, Berlin, CT 06037. Thanks to all of you who already donated. You've made a huge impact on these kids and their smiles are priceless.