October 6 -

As much as I love Vietnam, I'm anxious to get home for a visit! I've booked my flight out of Saigon for Oct 20th and I'll come back 2 months later. I've started a list of all the food I want to eat and it's getting longer each day! Today I came up with thinly sliced provolone and salami on cracked wheat bread with spicy mustard! That, and a home made glass of wine will make me VERY happy!

In the meantime, I'm getting ready to be out for two months. Leaving notes for someone to take my place, last minute shopping for the kids, getting the petty cash lined up so things don't fall through the cracks. Seems like every time we turn around, there's another project here or more kids there. Just today I found out that 3 kids whom we recently got reunited with their family will be going BACK to the orphanage. Seems it's just too much for the parents to handle...

My days are still a blessing - light office work, brainstorming with volunteers on how to make the kid's lives better and my most favorite - playing with the kids whenever I can. I'm happy that I'm coming back for Christmas - that in itself will be a gift for me. I've really learned to appreciate such small things in life - a 35 cent cup of coffee (who needs a $4 Macchiato anymore), really cool pair of jeans for $18 - wait till you see them, families earning $350 a month and living just fine.

I've always loved kids - everyone knows that about me. I never thought I could combine my love of kids with my natural ability of organizing and leadership. It's a perfect match in some ways! I'm committed to working here for a year (Dec 2008 - 2009). I've created a proposal for an income that I'll send to prospective donors who feel management skills help a non profit run more effectively - (call me if you're one of those people!).

Otherwise, my next task is to get myself back in shape - regular workouts again, and to create something big for myself for 2009. There are lots of options: running my own company, expanding this company, building a foster home, finding someone to share my crazy ideas with!! It's all possible - I just need to create it! I think I've been afraid of failing at any one of these ideas so I've been playing small lately. Doing the easy stuff, the stuff I already can do well. A friend recently reminded me that I'm up for bigger things!! (Thanks Cory!)

So, stay tuned - the rest of this year and next year should be a wild ride. I'm looking forward to it!

September 9, 2008

Today I'm in TamKy and I've just received fabulous news! The Scottish couple I met in Hoian last month have agreed to fund our Education Program for a year! Hazel's Footprints is a non profit in Scotland that fundraises and donates to orphanages in India and to educational programs around the world. (For details, see: http://www.hazelsfootprints.org/). They recently agreed to be our exclusive sponsor for our Education Program in Danang and TuyHoa and I'm soooo excited to get this program rolling! More to come once we're up and running!

In the meantime there is always lots to tell: I've been to two new places on the weekends recently. First was Bach Ma about 90 minutes north of Danang. It's up in the mountains with lots of waterfalls - one was 300 yards tall. We hiked down 687 steps to get to the base (then back up of course). Last weekend I went to Dalat which is about a 6 hour drive from TuyHoa, our southern most placement. Viet and I took all the volunteers for the weekend and it was terrific. Wonderful views, a chill in the air (haven't felt that since April!!) and loads of good food!

On the work front - I've been very busy. I hosted a two day training seminar for our Placement Managers. We covered things like our newly created Staff Manual, Leadership, Caring for Volunteers and Fund Raising. It was a lot to cover but everyone did a great job and I'm visiting all the sites this month to continue the training. I love the opportunity of being an Operations Manager and a Coach. Additionally by traveling, I get to work at all the schools and see lots of kids and young adults who are benefitting from GVN. It's a great feeling to walk in to an orphanage after not being there for a month and having kids run up to me with a smile and a hug!

In addition to the structure and standard procedures that we're putting in place, all the volunteers are really pitching in and doing a lot. We've had some huge fund raising success stories and others have been working weekends, brainstorming, using their experience or education to help GVN grow. I believe the program is really taking off in the right direction.

I'm going back to the US for about 7 weeks from the end of Oct to early December. I need to see family and friends. (Especially Ambros!) While home, I'll keep tabs on what's going on here, keep the newsletter rolling and get some fund raising done. I should be in CT first then CA for my last couple of weeks. Planning on heading back to Vietnam out of L.A. around the early or middle of December.

Keep sending those emails. I love them! I'll write more often. I'll have to keep better notes if I ever want to write that book about my experiences to fund the rest of my retirement! ha ha ha!

Whew - Way Overdue

Yikes - it's been over a month. Sorry about that! There is some much and so little going on here. LOL. When it's busy, it's crazy, when it's slow, I'm laying in a hotel with aircon and pretending it's winter!
So - aside from the emergency appendectomy of one volunteer and two of my staff being in the hospital last week - all is well. Nothing more than a 2 month old with acute hydrocephalus to manage this weekend!
The good news is - it rained tonight and dropped the temp about 5 degrees F. The bad news is we've had daily power outages - todays as far as I know is still an issue - At our house if the power goes, the water goes. So I'm sitting at my favorite bar, drinking a cold beer and surfing on their Wifi! Thanks Yim!
The rest is all going according to plan - sort of: I'm working on the first Monthly Volunteer Newsletter to go out to 1000 past Việt Nam Volunteers, also writing a staff manual from scratch, updating the volunteer manual and creating fund raising proposals to create a regular inflow of money for the kids and programs we have here.
I love it all! Where else can I work in shorts, work in a bar (sometimes), play with amazing kids, hug babies who don't cry when I pick them up, pay 40 cents for a Pepsi, 90 cents for a beer and $1 for lunch?
I recently bought 9 pieces of embroidery made by disabled kids at the Red Cross Vocational Center. Mom has them in CT if anyone is interested in donating and getting something in return. If you just want to donate, email me!
I'm building 3 funds currently: Education, Medical and Monthly Wellness (fruit, milk, rice). It's a slow process but I'm committed to making it work. Despite the red tape, hospital incompetence, police harassment and government asking US for money to volunteer in THEIR city '- the nerve, right??? Oh well, that's Vietnam and I'm not planning on going anywhere soon. Call me crazy but it all seems like a challenge for me. If I can stay patient in the midst of corruption, child abuse, school neglect and more, I can do so much to help so many kids! Yep - it's a challenge alright. And why not?
So - attached are a few fun kid photos to share with you. I need to get back to writing my newsletter and creating the funding needed to keep these lil' buggers healthy and happy. I hope you are well and enjoying air conditioning, running water, electricity on demand, family, Mexican food, and whatever else I used to take for granted! (Oh, I did get to see a few Miss Universe contestants in Natrang a week ago - that was a bit surreal considering!) Ha Ha Ha! xxoo

Time flies when you're having fun!

Time sure flies - some of it's fun, some of it not so much. Whew - where do I start? Well, the last several photos you saw were pretty tame - there are many more of kids tied up (due to the 'mom' to kid ratio), kids with mental illness and kids with scabies, heat rash and heart problems. The good news is that we keep on, keepin on! My friends and I have taken 5 kids to the doctor this week - two for rashes, one for scabies and the last two I just left in the hospital with the 'mom', both with high fevers. One is the twin of Baby Kai who is in HoChiMinh waiting for her open heart surgery. Now that Ka, the sister is in the hospital, it's likely we'll need to continue the fund raising to get her treated before she gets as bad as Kai.

I'm teaching more English this month which means I spend more time with teenagers and less time with toddlers. It's ok - I'm getting them to read Vietnamese comic books, playing soccer in the 90 degree heat and trying to enjoy their Summer, despite the fact that their living conditions are horrible. Many of these kids (about 20 of them) are at Social Support where they simply don't get the attention they need. This center should be for the elderly and disabled only. I'm trying to get other organizations that have regular school and vocational training to consider taking these kids in. I'm afraid otherwise, they'll die of boredom or will never have dreams of being outside this 'compound' that they live in.

I had them fill out a survey the other day. One wants to be a doctor, one a journalist, one a businessman, one a seamstress and two want to be farmers. Not bad for kids who eat rice three times a day and rarely get to go outside to explore the rest of the city. They trust me now and give me candy, bracelets and big smiles with a thumbs up when I crack the soccer ball in the back of the net! Today I brought them some used comic books (I bought 35 books for $8) and they were really excited. I created a 'library' so they can sign out books and return them when they're done. I'll have to keep the stock fresh as they seem to read these rather quickly!

One girl is reading Harry Potter in Vietnamese. I found 3 books here for her so far. (She'll be the journalist when she finishes school!) I told the kids I'd gather some volunteers Tuesday night and we'll come back to play some soccer. They're ready to kick our butts!

Meantime, we're fundraising to save Baby Kai who needs heart surgery in HoChiMinh. She should be healthy enough next week. Her sister needs to be looked at soon and the baby with the massive arm tumor is still getting her infection treated. No radiation yet. She might lose her arm if things don't get better soon. (She's only a few months old).

I've been asked by the local VN director to stay on and work for him as is operations manager. There is some much to do here both administratively and for the kids. I'm not sure I'll work with this group beyond July 30th (my initial agreement), but we'll see. I really want to see some of these kids moved into better situations. I saw a fantastic foster home in Hoian last weekend where a very determined Australian woman is raising 30 teenage kids with about 4 VN staff. It's a great operation. I think the Street Kids Program in Danang is set up similarly and GVN can learn a lot from both of these groups.

There is still a lot for me to learn. I'm experiencing red tape, corruption, lack of common sense and plain old stubbornness on a daily basis! But, that's what's so and I just have to learn how to work within the system. It's challenging for someone like me - direct, process oriented and with a compulsion for 'completing tasks on time'. LOL . (My old boss gave me that last one!) But, I started taking VN language lessons this week so hopefully I'll catch some of the conversation soon!

Anyway, I'm getting used to the heat - I'm soaked with sweat by 10 am most days and just ignore it. I played soccer in heavy pants, barefoot, today and loved every minute of it! Thanks for you emails, prayers, donations and well wishes. It means a lot to know you're all out there!
Much love, Jen

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.

First Day at the Orphanage

Well today was our first full day volunteering and it was terrific. My group went to the Social Center first where we play with and entertain about 10 kids from the ages of 3 - 15. These kids are in a facility with about 200 other people who vary in age from infant to elderly. I played catch with two kids for a bit, then we played Hide and Seek for an hour! After that, I was in the infant room with about 10 babies. We all take turns playing, feeding and changing the kids. They don't wear diapers normally - just baby clothes. They are often in their metal cribs but sometimes (and always when we are around), they get out on to the tile floor to hang out. They are all developmentally behind American kids their age. We'll try to get them to crawl (most aren't there yet despite being 8 - 18 months old). roll a ball or just feed them a bottle. Many of them were very animated. They smile and laugh when you give them attention.

After the Social Center morning, we had lunch at the Vol. House and did some brainstorming for the upcoming orphan competition happening on Sunday. The able body kids will be competing in singing, dancing and drawing. In addition to them being taught a Vietnamese song by their teachers, we started teaching them the Hokey Pokey tonight! It was a riot!! They speak very little English but it was a lot of fun and I'm sure they'll have it down pat by Sunday!

After my mid day run around the tiny lake across from the house, we all went to the "Malnourished Center" for our afternoon assignment. These kids aren't necessarily malnourished but they do have some learning disability or have been abandonded. Mostly under 4, these kids were a lot of fun. They are relatively healthy and fiesty. We played with the older ones, then help feed both the infants and the toddlers. After dinner the tods get an unsupervised bath!!About 5 of them were in buckets in the bathroom with water pouring out of a hose from teh sink. They were sitting in little red buckets and just having a grand ole time!! One even doused me with a bucket of water and laughed himself to tears!

Now I'm back at the house and it feels like 120 degrees at 9:30 PM. It'll be tough to sleep tonight. Did I mention we don't have A/C here? Whew!! OK - if the kids can do it, I can do it.
Thanks for all your well wishes. More to come soon.

May 1 - First Day of Training Today

Hoian was fabulous. My friends treat me like a Queen - so do their parents. I've been invited for lunch, dinner, stay at their place instead of the hotel.....They love that I'm here doing charity work in their country and they've rolled out the red carpet for me!

I came to Danang yesterday and met the girls I'll be working with. (All except for my roommate so far). They range in age from 20 - 50 plus. Seems like a good group. I'm waiting to get picked up to go for my first day of training. The house I'll be at has 5 bedrooms for 10 of us. Two big beds in each room and not much else.
Two women are on staff to cook 3 x a day and there is a security guard who sleeps on a mattress in the hallway by the front door. Hopefully I won't wake him up too often. Ha ha ha.

Here's a few insights from my last couple of days. Maybe you'll get an idea of life in Vietnam:

1. Can deoderant really melt??
2. Why wash a glass when you can dump what's in it and leave it in the dish rack for the next person?
3. 'Yes' from someone in Vietnam means: Yes, No, Maybe AND I don't know. It's a fun guessing game. I'm not very good at it yet
4. I can swallow vitamins with orange soda
5. I know how to drive a motorbike and I have my own helmet and face mask
6. Could I live on $100 a month?? I read that woman is living on $0 - getting everything, including room and board on trade. Most people here live on less than $100. Hmmmm
7. I can 'P' while barefoot, squatting over a toilet, standing on a wet floor. (I hope that's water I'm standing in...)
8. BYO. T.P. - Everywhere you go.
9. I ate squid rings but passed on the 'full squid'. looked too much like a huge snail out of the shell.
10. Babies will smile at you - regardless of the language you speak
11. I've become very patient teaching friends English phrases - It took me 3 Damn Days to master - "See you later" so I could be understood.
12. Nobody is in a rush. 10minutes means 20 plus.....
13. Beeping horn on motorbike is for: Passing on the right, Passing on the Left, Hurry Up, Move Over, Hi I'm here, I'm bored what are you doing?
14. I can get a coke for 45 cents. I paid $3 at Riva Grill in Tahoe - those bastards
15. I can teach locals to dance (Cracks up the moms)
16. My new favorite fruit is a Pomello (I have no idea what that is ). It's a 'buoi' in Vietnamese.
17. I can get my nails painted for less than a dollar. (I have to ignore the dog hair on the floor though. Apparently it was his turn for a hair cut)
18. I'm loving every minute of it