After that we went to meet Oanh and she took us to social support. It is just as we had remembered, more or less, just so much hotter now. Its heartbreaking because one of the best things that the disabled children in this center had going for them was that they had physical therapy, but that program has been cut. We have decided to put a good amount of the donations towards restoring that program. We haven't figured out exactly how much it will be and the other logistics, but we are hoping that we can have someone (preferably Oanh) come about 3 times a week. These children can have a significantly better quality of life with this attention. As well as the therapy, there are some basic needs that the care mothers have asked us to bring such as new shirts and shorts that we will bring on Monday.
It was incredibly overwhelming seeing these children again. I mean it in a good way, but it really time warps the year and a half since we have been here. So much has happened in my life and there has been so much forward motion, but these children are still in the same room with the same diseases. Dinh, the little girl who captured my heart last time I was here, is doing OK and still just as charmingly naughty, but she needs help. They all do. We're stuck with the dilemma of what exactly is the best way to help since we are only here for a month. How can we implement something that will continue to give once we leave? A year of physical therapy is definitely something, but we are going to see if it is possible to take them all in for assessments at the doctors and see if there is any sort of regiment that can more improve their quality of life. Hoi was another little one who I fell in love with and he suffers from hydrocephalus. It was really heart breaking seeing him. His head is so swollen and he seizes regularly and I just can't imagine the pain he must be in all the time. Last time we were here we got him a custom wheel chair that supported his head so he did not have to lie on his back all the time, but without physical therapy there is no one to help with that. The care mothers work incredibly hard and all the time and there is only so much they can do.
These children are fragile and vulnerable in a way that I have never seen outside of Vietnam. I wish we could spend all day every day there, because on top of actual resources, they also need someone to hold them up and play with them and help them with their exercises. I have faith that we will be able to do something that can help, but I am back to realizing that I will be most useful once I am a doctor.
On top of the inevitable heartbreak that I knew would come, it was amazingly comforting being back in the room with these children. I have missed it here so much. Olivia and I talked a lot about how we were anxious to see what it was going to be like, but it wasn't much different than before. The children are still sick, still need help, but they are still smiling. Dinh still has the incredible laugh that melts your heart. Hoi still gives a faint but true smile when you rub his head gently enough and in the right place. All of the other children outside of the disabled room still run to us when we come, taking our hands and wanting to guide us around the complex while repeatedly showing off their English skills and saying 'hello'. The thing is, there will always be work to do. There will always be projects. Our challenge over the next month will be to figure out what projects we can fund and help with that will provide the most long-term support for these children. Many of them, like providing physical therapy, we can continue to help with from home, but I know that we will want to start planning our next trip the moment we get back to our homes.
Tomorrow we are going to the Pagoda orphanage with diapers and wipes to visit with the babies there and see what they can use us for. Oanh told us that after the baby orphanage closed, the Pagoda starting getting more babies, so we will set up a regular placement there.
It feels good to be here. There is so much to do!
A nice little side note is that our hotel is right on the Great China Sea, so we get to start our early mornings with a swim before carrying on with our day in the incredible heat. It is insane how hot it is here. Its technically similar temperature to Nantucket, but it feels completely different. The sun is stronger and the air is both more humid and stiller. Even in the heat, the Vietnamese still cover their entire bodies to avoid the sun! I do not know how they do it. I was burning up in a t-shirt.
More tomorrow, but here are some photos from social as well as the view we get from our hotel.
go girls, go!!!
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