Life in DaNang......

This blog entry will cover February 23 through February 28, 2010.
We spend Tuesday evening having dinner with our family. We had a wonderful Italian dinner in Portland, with great food, great visiting, and lots of love! We did a little celebrating of my birthday also which will occur in Vietnam.
Wednesday morning Dick and I said our good bye’s at the airport. It was really hard to think of being away from each other for so long. As I have said before his love and support have been incredible. I’m really going to owe him after this!!!!! My flight went from Portland (departure 6 am) to San Francisco for 2 hours – 16 hours to Hong Kong – 3 hours to Ho Chi Minh City – a sleep over on the hard plastic chairs at the outdoor terminal of the airport – then a jaunt of an hour to DaNang Vietnam. Arrival time: 7:15 am Friday, February 26th. Somewhere in there I left behind Thursday which I hope to get back on the way home!
I was met at the airport by Chau, a darling young lady working for Global Volunteer Network (GVN). She drove me to the guest house (sort of like a hotel) I’m staying in while in DaNang. IT HAS AIR CONDITIONING!!! Following the climbing of 3 flights of stairs with some heavy bags, we walked to the GVN house a block away. Had breakfast and a cup of coffee. At this point I thought I’d just go back to my room and go to bed. But the opportunity came to go to a placement where volunteers would be working with children and adults. I changed my clothes and what came after that showed me why I was here.
We went to a place called Social Protection Agency. It is a fenced in compound like area consisting of many small buildings. Within these buildings live people that are homeless, have been taken off the street, are disabled, or just have nowhere or nobody. The government pays a small amount of money for them to live there. They range in age from 12 days old to extremely elderly. The 12 day old little girl was abandoned in a graveyard. Her right hand is not fully developed – and it appears that she has down’s syndrome. She was brought in to be taken care of, and most likely live her life out here.
I helped with some of the disabled children who are probably around 11 or so, maybe a little older or a little younger. I was given watermelon to give out to the children. Following that, I took a young lady to help her brush her teeth. The water for all the children was taken out of a bucket and put into a bowl – the bowls were used by more than one child. Each child drank from the bowl, brushed alone or with help, rinsed and the bowls were used for the next person. One of the young ladies needed to go to the bathroom. One of the helpers took her pants down then and there and she relieved herself on the cement – not to far from the tooth brushing area. There were a couple of the disabled children who were tied to a fence while sitting in a chair because they didn’t stay where they were supposed to.
The children were so friendly and happy. They just wanted someone to walk with them, talk to them, and let them show you their little sleep area. The baby room was lively with about 10 babies, some just abandoned and some disabled. There were ‘mothers’ who take care of them on a daily basis along with several volunteers that were in our group. They had very few toys. The room was lined with metal cribs with only a blanket on the bottom.
Then it was exercise time for the elderly folks. We did a few neck rolls, arms up in the air, toe touch, hip swivel – just about 5 minutes worth. Then I led the group on a walk around the area – a little jog too. There was a pretty old little lady that jogged like a pro – she and I were neck to neck all the way. Upon completion, the ones who smoked got 3 cigarettes and one piece of watermelon. The ones who didn’t smoke got 2 pieces of watermelon. Houng, the GVN employee who was in charge said when there was no incentive to exercise no one showed up but this plan seems to be working!!! (sidebar – the little jogging lady didn’t smoke!)
We spent about 2 hours here. In the baby room, I fell in love with Phihong – a 1 ½ year old little boy. We played, went for a walk outside, he experienced the grass under his feet, watched the people and loved my necklace. He and I bonded very well!! I was attached to him immediately – what’s it going to be like when I’ve been with them a month?!?!?
We returned to the GVN house for lunch and rest. The neighborhood children then showed up to entertain us and play at the house. Several children belong to a lady who lives across the street and they spend quite a bit of time at the house enjoying all the toys that are there. They were lots of fun. Went to dinner down the street with 3 other volunteers – all who work in the DaNang placement and who are all from the USA. We had a very traditional dinner of noodles, meat and veggies – was very good. Dinner was about $5.00 US which included for me 2 coca colas and for the other 3 a beer or two.
Saturday morning began with a breakfast sandwich made by the lady across the street. GVN provided her with a cart so that she could sell her sandwiches outside her very meager home and make a little money. They were on FABULOUS bread about 8 inches long – inside was a fried egg and veggies. She then spooned on a sauce. They were wonderful. And the cost – about .50 US.
Four of us volunteers then ventured off to Marble Mountain. It is a mountain that is full of very uneven stairs, caves, pagodas built into the mountain, lots of buddhas carved from the rock and marble, shrines and lots of trees. We climbed through a cave with an opening at the top which led us up a rock path to the top one of the mountains. It was beautiful with the town of Danang on one side and the ocean on the other.
Our taxi was waiting for us and took us to downtown Danang. We went to lunch at one of the small street businesses. Another form of noodles, meat and veggies were served. We sat on very low chairs at very low tables and ate. A large bowl of these noodles sold for less than $1.00 US.
Downtown Danang reminds me a lot of the old part of Mexican towns. Families have their own storefront – it’s very dirty, crowded, and they work very hard for their money. They will barter with you, as do the cab drivers. There are millions of scooters and very few cars. It is absolutely organized chaos on the roads. I have never seen anything like it. It’s a wonder people live to tell about it.
The Vietnamese women are covered head to toe as they walk or drive their scooters around town. They wear hats, cover all their skin, wear gloves and a lot of folks period wear masks to protect themselves from the bad air and fumes. The women are adamant about keeping their skin white. They do not want it dark at all.
We then did some necessity shopping at a very modern 4 story shopping building. It is a big building with lots of shops on each floor, groceries on one floor, a movie theatre on one floor, and parking on the bottom of it all. I got a phone to use here if needed and to be able to call home. It cost me $30 US to get a phone and the sim card with minutes on it – still haven’t figured out exactly how many minutes I have but it should last me because I hope to use Skype most of the time.
Back to my room for some rest and clean up. It’s very hot and humid here – I have drunk more water on this trip already then I drink in a normal week! So far, so healthy. The mountain climb was good today – the food is light and there is nothing between meals. Have met lots of very nice people who are involved with GVN. Will be a whole new group when we get to Tam Ky.