Reflections of Tam Ky.

This past month has flown by. We have been very busy with the three orphanages and teaching English to a group of the town's professionals. We have had a number of medical issues for the children that we have been working to get fixed before we leave at the end of this month. Katie just returned from spending a week in Ho Chi Mihn City with two babies that have pneumonia and a virus that has caused their livers to swell. There is also a one year old that has a cleft pallet and lip that needs surgery. Besides for these there are a number of minor illnesses, rashes and colds that require attention. The 120 children spread between the three orphanages all have different needs but they mostly require love and much needed attention. It has been nice to have a home base for the last few weeks. Our cook Mrs. Hahn is more than just a cook she has become a close friend and a provided the cooking that has helped me regain a few unwanted lbs.


Our time on the weekends and after work has been spent exploring the areas around the village and nearby towns. We have became addicted the the cheap clothing that is made to order according to one's exact and expanding dimensions. Since dress clothes are cheap and well tailored we decided this would be the place to add to our wardrobe for our upcoming job searches and interviews. We have visited some nearby towns including Hoi An and Quang Ngai. Each have their unique flares. Hoi An is known for its tailors, ancient Chinese covered bridge and owning the oldest houses in the country. The town with a french colonial flare, sits on a river and is very close to the coast and beach. Quang Ngai is a larger city and is very near the My Lai massacre site. This town has one of the three GVN volunteer programs in the country. We have become friends with the volunteers in Quang Ngai. They even spent last weekend with us in Tam Ky and we all visited a Karaoke bar (a national craze). I won't go into details but if you have seen that movie, "Duets" with Huey Lewis and Gwyneth Paltrow then you get the idea. They can't hold a candle to this bright singing star. Even the worm made an appearance when a dance party broke out when the Footloose theme song started.

Our time here has been memorable and exciting. I just hope the children got as much from us as we did from them. It will be hard to leave but we are hopeful that many of these kids will be leaving soon too with adoptive families.

Surrogate Parent or Pediatric Nurse?

I just returned to Tam Ky after spending the past five days, in Ho Chi Minh City, in the hospital with two sick babies. Both of the babies had spent the past month in the hospital here in Tam Ky which did absolutely nothing for the kids, but provide basic first aid. When we arrived at the FV Hospital, probably the nicest in Vietnam, we immediately learned that the babies have been suffering for some time from a combination of bronchitis, pneumonia, a severe urinary tract infection and both have enlarged livers and spleens.

We had tried to make arrangements for them to go earlier this week, but GVN in Vietnam has little funding for medical care and we had to do some fundraising in order to pay for the hospital bill. Kenny and I think it would be great if we could set up some sort of medical account so that these kids can get medical care whenever they need it, not just when there is money for it. That might be a project for when we get home. Also, the health care here in Vietnam is really not that expensive. For a baby to stay in the hosptial for 10 days and have all the necessary tests it will cost about $1200 USD. However, this is far more than most families would ever be able to afford.

In the airport, on the way to Ho Chi Minh City, most people thought that I was an adoptive mom of twins. I explained that I was only a volunteer and the babies were four and two months old, so not twins. However, little did I know I would be spending the coming days acting like a mom. Apparently in Vietnam the nurses are there to provide guidance and some care. However, the majority of basic care falls to family members. Therefore, the "mother" from the orphanage and I were there to provided 24 hour care and let me tell you it was exhausting. We did everything from give breathing treatments, to taking stool and urine samples and of course all the feeding, changing, and soothing. Of course the sick babies wanted to be held most of the time, which seems to go against the philosophy of Vietnamese child rearing. So, I figure that by holding the babies as much as I could I either created a well attached baby for a western parent to adopt, or I created a nightmare for the "mothers" when this baby returns to the orphanage.

As one would imagine the number of hours of sleeping were very few. As soon as one baby would fall asleep, the other would wake crying, and as soon as they were both asleep the nurses would need a blood sample. At night they took turns keeping us awake and by the time the other volunteer came to Ho Chi Minh City to relieve me I was more than happy to get out of the hospital and back to Tam Ky. The good news is that both boys will be out of the hospital in the next four or five days and at this time they think a virus, CMV, is causing the enlarged livers. They will need monitoring for the next six months to make sure they are doing okay but shouldn't have to go back to the hospital Ho Chi Minh. Meanwhile, I think I will put off having kids until I forget this experience, decide that sleep is overrated and think that screaming babies are music to my ears.

The Cuties!!!!

I thought I would post a few photos for all of you to see some of the kids we get to play with. The kids in this photor are from the Baby Orphange where we go everyday. There are so many kids there that all want attention. Kenny has made it his mission to give as much attention as possible to the kids who are quieter or more shy and don't seem to get quite as much notice as some of the others.

We only go to the Social Support Center on Tuesday and Thursdays but it is one of my favorite places to work. Most of the kids are from minority tribes that live in small villages and since being place here the kids have been learning Vietnamese as their second language. Most are here because their parents cannot afford to take care of them.

What a cheeky little tyke. Quang loves to color and will spend hours coloring or reading whatever books we bring.

Ny, the one in the back, is by far the most smily and easy going child at any of the orphanages we visit. She is willing to share any toy she is playing with and that is a true rarity for these kids who only get a few hours of "toy time" a day. She also is the first to comfort any of the kids who might be crying, most commonly because a toy was snatched from their hands. The other little guy usually falls asleep a few minutes after we arrive which is surprising considering all the screaming from the other kids.

This sweet little girl, Trinh, is a real charmer and loves to mimic the older kids or volunteers. She has a laugh that makes you laugh too and seem to be very smart, although I can't understand a word she says.

Tien is about one and a half and we are trying to make a referral to Operation Smile in order for him to have surgery on his cleft palatte and lip. Van, the other baby, lights up whenever a volunteer walks into the room and tries to take good care of the tiny babies when they are crying.

Lots of Wee in the Land of No Diapers!!

We have almost completed our first week of volunteer work in Tam Ky and it has been an amazing four days. We work at three different orphanages and teach English to a group of 11 adults. The kids at each of the orphanges range in age from one week old to eight years old, but there are a few older kids scattered about. Most of the kids are available for adoption, although a few have parents who are too poor to take care of them at this time but to whom they will eventually return.

When we go to visit the orphanages we take as many toys as we can carry in the baskets on front of our bicycles. This has led to a few interesting incidents when the toys go spilling across the road and we are forced to dodge motorbikes in order to save the toys. The only time of the day when the kids get to play with toys is while we are there, otherwise they seem to disappear and get broken. I am sure you can imagine how eager the kids are when we arrive. At first we thought they were excited to see us but we quickly realized the truth, they just want the toys, fruit and vitamins that we bring them. For the first 30 minutes or so that we are there most of the kids simply try to hoard as many toys as they can get. However, as the time passes they start sharing and actually playing with each other. They are so sweet and affectionate and I just wish they could all live with a family instead of in an institution.

The babies are the most heartbreaking. There are two that need surgery but have not yet gotten it. One for a cleft palate and lip and the other for an enlarged liver and spleen. We have been working with the director to facilitate both of these procedures. The other babies just seem like dolls more than kids. They rarely cry and spend so much time in their cribs that they don't always notice when you pick them up and try to play with them. The workers at the orphanage take good care of the kids and truely want the best for them but there are limited resources and not enough workers. It makes me wonder what the orphanages are like that don't have volunteers coming to help.

I think this is going to be a great month but it will be hard to leave and not bring every single child home with us. We just try to focus on what we can do rather than all the things we can't fix. In the end just being with the kids makes it all worthwhile.

Let's Ride

The past few days Kenny and I have spent the majority of our day sitting on our booties. However, we were also watching the countryside of the Central Highlands wizz by from the back of two motorcycles. Lam and River, our guides, picked us up in Dalat and we spent three days with them driving to Nha Trang. Along the way we visited several minority villages, coffee and tea plantations, flower farms, waterfalls, and an automated silk factory. We also saw many rice fields, dead areas sprayed with Agent Orange, and got lots of "heellloooos" while we drove past. It was a very unique way to ring in the New Year.

It was great to have local guides and get away from the tourist path. However, it did provide for some interesting meals. At one meal Lam and River told us we were eating pork, and although it was flavorful I could tell that something was unusual. It was only when I inquired further that we learned we were eating the tongue, lips, and ears of the pig. Yummy!! Lam and River also explained to us that many people in Vietnam began eating dog meat during the American-Vietnam War when there was little else to eat and it has stuck around as a popular dish. When we asked they told it tasted a lot like goat meat. We got quite suspicious when later that night Lam and River told us they were taking us to a "Goat BBQ." I was convinced they were trying to get us to eat dog meat. It was a great dinner and although they assured us it was goat meat we will never know for sure.

We are now in Nha Trang where we have spent lots of time walking and trying to get the blood flowing back into our legs and bums. We leave tomorrow for DaNang where we will do a one day orientation to the volunteer program and then head to Tam Ky where we will be throughout January. We are really looking forward to volunteering and will try to keep the blog updated as much as possible. For some reason we have not had great success being able to log-in since we left HoChiMinh City.