Reflections on Vietnam – Verse Three: An Overview of the Trip

Over the course of 17 days we traveled the length of Vietnam from Ho Chi Minh City to Saigon and Ha Long Bay. We had four in-country flights and spent hours on buses. We:

• Interacted with social work students at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Ho Chi Ming City
• Delivered donated supplies and played games with children at the De Nhu Nghia Center for the Blind
• Delivered toys, supplies (milk, vitamins), and therapy equipment (feeding utensils, splinting materials, exercise equipment) to the Thi Nghe Orphanage
• Made dream catchers and danced with the girls at the Warm House School for Ethnic Females
• Delivered supplies, helped to till a new garden, move charcoal and brush from a kitchen renovation (disturbing a very large rat in the process), and played with children at the House of Love Orphanage
• Traveled to a rural area to deliver bicycles, rice and cooking oil

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  Delivered supplies and spent time with children and youth at the Danang Red Cross Orphanage and the Danang Vocational Training Center for Children and Young Adults with Disabilities

• Visited a nursing home in Hoi An, delivering lucky money and six packs of a tonic made from birds’ spit
• Sponsored field trips on the beach for children and young adults from the House of Love, Warm House, and Danang Vocational Training Center for Children and Young Adults with Disabilities

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  Delivered supplies, dedicated a soccer field, packed Sunflower Bags, and painted trees at the Ha Tinh Orphanage

• Along with adolescents from the Ha Tinh Orphanage delivered bicycles and Sunflower Bags to disadvantaged youth in a rural area outside of Ha Tinh
• Learned to safely manage crossing very busy streets without cross works or other directional signals
• Experimented with different foods: learned to love pho
• Visited the Cu Chi Tunnels, Marble Mountain, and The American War Museum
• Sojourned in Hoi An, a Unesco World Heritage Site, where we learned about silk-making
• Toured Hanoi, visiting night markets and watching the water puppets
• Took an overnight cruise on Ha Long Bay

  

[Verses 4-5…to be continued]