Saying Good Byes..........

Monday, March 29th – my son Tyler’s 28th birthday! Happy Birthday Tyler – I miss you!

We spent the morning at the orphanage – it was music day and that was the loudest 15 minutes I had spent in a long time! They love the instruments but will not be able to take their act out on the road for a while! It will simply be the orphanage band that will stay at the orphanage!

The afternoon was free so I began the packing process. It seems like I was just unpacking to get all settled in and now it’s almost over. I did shed a few tears during the process. Put together packages of goodies to give to the HOA children and organized my gifts for the folks I am leaving behind who have done so much to make this a month I will never forget.

Taught my last class to the 9 to 12 year olds at HOA. We did lots of review and then just played – they loved their gift bags. They have been a fun bunch of kids who I’m going to also miss. I know they have volunteers come and go so they know the routine about people coming and going so I think it’s harder on me leaving than it is on them!!!

Tonight was karaoke night! We went to a place called One Dream. It is in a hotel and it’s a private room with one wall a big leather seating area with a big table in front of it, just for our group – I guess that’s how they do karaoke in some Asian areas. We had quite a group as the Economic Zone folks joined us, Tin was there as well as the GVN group along with Randall and Lorraine’s son, Stewart. It was very fun!! Lots of laughs and singing – not always good but happy! Mrs. Hanh’s son, Chum, had a great time! We were home by a little after 9 pm so was not a hugely long night!!

Tuesday – March 30th: Today is the first of 2 very difficult days for me. Saying good bye is going to be very hard. Went to Disabled Hospital this a.m. and got to spend my last morning there with my little favorites. I hope their world is OK as time goes on.

Mrs. Hanh and I had a special time together when I came back to the house. She gave me a beautiful green marble bracelet like the ones that so many ladies wear in Tam Ky – perhaps throughout Vietnam. It is meant to bring good luck to your life always and it is supposed to stay on at all times. I have been searching for one but could never find one big enough and Mrs. Hanh made a special trip to Danang last Saturday to get it there at a place she knew would have it. That means so much!!! It was good luck to have met her and to have her in my life so so far it’s working! She also gave me some stuff to use when making Vietnamese food so that’s awesome! I gave her a really cute new helmet for motorbike riding and some money to go towards her son’s trip to Ho Chi Minh City to a special hospital he goes to for his disabilities. He is 8 years old and does not speak. He makes noises and now can say a few more words than he’s ever been able to say. He also didn’t walk for a very long time and is a little unsteady on his feet. He goes to Ho Chi Minh City for a week at a time a couple of times a year for medical help. It’s very expensive, relatively speaking, so between all of us and our donations to her I think we have a week of care and therapy covered for her. In US dollars – it’s about $500.00. They are a wonderful family and take very good care of us here at the house so if we can help we would really like to. Grandma and I exchanged gifts also. It was a time of tears for all of us.

I got to thinking a lot about leaving this morning when I was in my room. I know I will come back sometime. I believe the reason it’s so hard to leave the children is because we are walking away not knowing what will become of most of them we have spent the month with. They have so many strikes against them and they have done nothing to deserve it. I feel good knowing that there are a lot of volunteers and even some of the local business people who do go to the orphanage and take things for the children. It’s not a ‘family’ like we are familiar with, but it’s the ‘family’ that they know. I truly believe that the mothers at the orphanage really love those children and take very good care of them. You can tell that the children love them back. It is a very good feeling to have that knowledge. I hope to get updates periodically on some of the children. Amber will be here another 3 months so I will hear from her. I am not looking forward to tomorrow morning when it will be my last day at the orphanage. There will be lots of tears and lots of hugging!!! I do miss everyone at home a lot and am looking forward to being back home (closer to my Cottonelle Toilet Paper and cold milk) – good byes are just hard!!

I had my last class with the 8 to 11 year olds at HOA tonight. It was fun – did review then played a couple of games. Handed out all my gifts to the children at HOA and hugged a lot. My favorite there is Truc and when I sat down and he was told it was my last night we both shed a few tears. He is such a kind heart – and he doesn’t even realize how very special he is. And he never will.

I have been walking to HOA the last two nights with Bea, our interpreter. She’s a 23 year old girl who is volunteering with us for 2 months as our translator. She is very quiet and had a slow start but has turned out well and is doing a great job. She’s gotten to practice her English a lot on our walks and I understand her lots better. I’m so glad it’s them trying to learn English and not us trying to learn Vietnamese!!! That would be a disaster!!

Tin came by tonight and we went for a cup of coffee. We said our good byes and he gave me a gift that he said to open inside. It is a beautiful maroon silk scarf. I will cherish it. I hope he stays involved with GVN so he can practice his English. He has a real desire to come to an English Speaking Country and live. He is very poor but certainly has the drive and determination to make it work.

All for Tuesday – close to the final posting and the trip home. Stay tuned for the report of the last day! It will have tears all over it.

Wednesday evening – March 31st: It’s here, my last night in Tam Ky. It’s been quite a day. We started at the orphanage which we all knew was going to be the hardest to leave. I did my morning massage, walk and visit with Son and we had our good byes. I know Son will not be here when I come back and know that what is being done for him is to keep him happy in the time that he has. I have pictures that I will keep close to my heart. He has two mothers that work with him and their love and care is fantastic.

Tuan and I spent the rest of the morning together. We played and laughed. Then he got in his usual cuddly position with his head laying on my cool towel around my neck! Off to sleep he went. I held him for about 15 minutes then put him in his bed. That gave me time to play with other children and say my good byes to them. I went to Tuan’s bed and rocked him a little and he woke up slowly. He saw my face as he woke up and his hands reached up to me. We cuddled for a little while longer – I shed my tears and his mother showed up with a bowl of food. He was ready for that. I was glad that I didn’t leave him crying – that would have broken my heart. The mothers were very nice and gave hugs to we volunteers who were leaving today. I know they appreciate all the love and playtime we give to the children. They are not always open to changes regarding the care of the babies. They aren’t as flexible as we might be back home because they are not confronted with changes on a daily basis like we are at home.

It appears to me that what is needed most with all these children are projects to be completed – like clean up and painting at the orphanage. A play area should be built outdoors at the orphanage. A group of physicians should come through and spend a couple of weeks doing checkups, blood tests, etc., for all the children. Dentists should do the same thing. Ophthalmologists could do the same thing. When we come in and try to change the day to day way they have of doing things it causes problems – they have a system and they rightfully should – watching them take care of 45 children every day all day is amazing. The older children are pretty self sufficient. It takes a lot of time and a lot of patience to do what these mothers do at the Home of Affection and at the Baby Orphanage. And they do it for very little pay. I feel good leaving knowing that the children are loved in the situation they are in. I do want to come back someday and see how these children are. They won’t be forgotten.

Back to the good bye – it was hard – tears for 3 of us on the way home. Lots of thoughts going through our heads. There’s only one thing in the world that could make us feel better for a moment – a lunch made by Mrs. Hanh and Grandma. It was wonderful – banana flower salad with greens and shrimp. Fried rice bread – the equivalent of a tortilla chip – was served along with it. This was followed by mango and watermelon. Splendid!!!!!

I did a little more packing and took a little nap – I like that system here!! We left for Tam Tanh Fishing Village at 2 pm and all went well. I had a room of 25 boys which was a little scary at first but ended up being just fine. We did lots of vocabulary and word games so they got to be active and loud. I treated them with cakes of different flavors. It wasn’t really hard to walk away from this placement as the children come and go voluntarily so we didn’t even know names or who would or wouldn’t show up. They were always wonderful children eager to learn more English. They were all very clean and very well dressed. If you were to see this village you would be surprised at that – it is a very poor area.

We came home to an early dinner of noodles with shrimp and squid – fabulous – and lots of MANGOS!! Randall, Lorraine and family headed out to continue their vacation through Vietnam. It was very sad to see them go – they are a wonderful couple and family that I feel honored to have met and gotten to know. I plan on seeing them again in Australia some day in the next couple of years!! We would be so welcome and well taken care of if we were to visit there – put that on the travel calendar Dickster!!! They want us to bring the Bogans too because they want to know if anyone named Bogan will actually get through security at the airport! (FYI – Bogan is a word for a not so nice person, riff raff, etc. in Australia) They actually suggested that they should go by an assumed name while in the country of Australia – we’ll have to come up with a new one for them!!!

Saying good bye to Ms. Hanh – wow – there are no words to explain how hard that was. I can only hope that everyone has a Ms. Hanh in their lives. She is kind, caring, funny, genuine, giving, a fabulous cook, a hard worker, selfless, spunky, energetic, wonderful mother and wife, and the absolute definition of a friend. She can barter prices better than anyone I have ever met. It’s her mission to get everything for the best price for us! She takes us into her heart and soul and makes a big footprint on our hearts that will last forever.

I will publish this blog and do the last installment on my way home with the many hours I will have on the plane to reflect on this last 5 weeks of my life. Hold on – it might be a long one or it could be a short one – you’ll just have to tune in and see!!! And there will be new pictures!!!

Stay blessed – be happy – help others whenever you can in whatever way you can – and always know you are loved!!!