December 29, Monday, Tan Hiep B school (Tra Cu district)

Walking around the market with Phi.

Prices at our hotel.

The lamp in our room.

Our room in Tra Vinh.

Note the woman wearing the mask.

Restaurant decorated for a wedding.

Note the baby's bare bottom.

Water buffalo on the ride back to Tra Vinh town.

Rice fields

The Dental Team

Dental supplies

The 'dental chairs' - tables from the school room with plastic bags stuffed with scrubs for pillows.

Thuy Chicago, Theresa, Sabina, Thuy Dallas, our driver.

Lisa, Maddy, Maddy - from Australia

Paul and the boys celebrating a Tug of War win.

Tug of War.

Paul and Huong organizing a game of Tug of War - girls against boys!

Peace

Children in the school yard during a break. Most love having their picture taken and also really want to see it after we take the picture. Some children are shy. Almost all smile and many flash the two finger peace sign. Interesting that they use the peace sign. My guess is that many young children in the state do not know this sign. Is this a remnant from the war somehow?

Our two vans.

Our bus.

Children watching us eat lunch.

CPR manikins ready for use.

No diaper. They don't use them. Can't affort them. It is probably just as well since there is no place to dispose of them. Makes one think twice before offering to hold a baby though. I never did see any adult running around with a baby peeing or pooping so am not sure how this whole thing works.

The Tra Vinh Area.

Map of southern Vietnam with the Tra Cu district in red.

Map of Vietnam with the Tra Cu district in dark green.

The dental room.

What a smile.

Thuy Dallas and children.

Paul and Maddy from Australia.

Jeff, Colleen, Harriet & Warren

Warren, TH, MH, Huong, Jeff. Part of the support team.

Public Health Team: Harriet RN from Chicago, Maddy 3rd Year Medical student from Australia, Nancy CNM from Chicago, Sabina CNM from Chicago, Colleen RN from Chicago, Thuy RN Chicago, Phi pre-med student from California, Thuy Critical Care RN from Dallas.

A new beanie baby.

The dental room.

Paul at the door of the dental room.

The bathrooms.

Kevin (from Philadelphia) with children waiting for extractions.

Lunch

Sticky rice for lunch.

Questions from the Dads.

Questions from the Moms.

Older school children in uniform.

A new teddy bear.

The joy of a frisbee!

Children and toys. Every child got a toy. I wish I had brought more toys. Kids meal toys, small balls, frisbees, small stuffed animals, small cars. They love them all.

Colleen, Phi and the Dads. Phi is a 4th year pre-med student from California. After this mission with JFC, he is going to North Vietnam for another week to serve as a translator for another humanitarian mission project. Then he goes back to California to finish college.

Cleaning dental equpment. Hand cleaned and boiled for sterilization.

Dads at the safe motherhood class.

Moms at the safe motherhood class.

TH's Journey for Children banner.

Children waiting to see the Dental Team.

Tea waiting for us in our classroom.

Thuy Dallas getting off the bus in the rain. Our wonderful driver is holding the umbrella.

On the road to our first rural school in Tra Vinh Province, Tra Cue District. I am glad I am not driving!

Bringing our own water with us.

Paul, the young guy in the center, is 17 and a senior in High School. He was born and raised in Australia and is here with his sister, Maddy, who is 3rd year Medical Student. Paul is part of the Dental Team - translating, cleaning equipment, playing with the children.

Heading out for our first day with the children and parents.

Breakfast in Tra Vinh City.

Huong, Kevin, Colleen, Jeff at breakfast.

Our Public Health Team at breakfast.

Dental team at breakfast. Tracy is from Seattle.

On Sunday night, Vietnam won the soccer match and there was a lot of partying in the streets. Everyone was so excited. Unlike in the United States, however, there was no damage to anything The crowd was very orderly and polite. I was tired so crashed in our room and missed the party. Oh well! Warren got it on videotape.

Today we went to our first school. It was a drive of about one hour and we had three vans taking us. One bus load of the dental group was planning to leave Ho Chi Minh City at 1030 at night on Sunday but, because of the traffic congestion due to the soccer match, they did not leave until 3:30 in the morning. They arrived in Tra Vinh around 8:00 in the morning and headed directly to the school.

At the school the dental group set up a room for examining the children to see what their dental needs were. One of the dental hygienists did cleaning. In one room there were 5 dental stations to treat the children. Many children needed to have teeth pulled as they were so decayed. But there were also many children who needed restorations - needed to have cavities filled.

All of the children were very good - very well behaved. They listened to what they were told and no one cried. One little girl was afraid to go in to see the dentist - just one child - but she finally did go in. The children loved the toys. Balls and frisbees were really a hit and I already wish I had brought more toys. Stuffed animals and beanie babies were also popular. Even Happy Meal toys. Anyone who eats fast food should get the kids meals and save the toys - the children here are so thrilled with even the smallest item.

We had about 49 women and 12 men who showed up for the Safe Motherhood class. We started out with the men and women in the same class. Then someone said the women probably would not ask questions if the men were present and also that the people would be shy about asking questions in a group. So we gave them paper and pens so they could write their questions. But most of them did not write their questions. We realized that many of the adults cannot read or write.

So, we took the men to another area and Colleen and I, with Phi as our translator, asked them what they wanted to know about pregnancy and babies. The men had very good questions and we tried to answer them as best we could.

In the US and many other countries, as soon as a woman becomes pregnant she goes to the doctor. She starts taking special pre-natal vitamins that have extra iron in them. She starts taking folic acid to help prevent some birth defects. In this area of Vietnam, although the babies are born in a hospital, the mother only sees a doctor about 3 times during her pregnancy, and that includes seeing the doctor when the baby is born. The women do not take vitamins or folic acid. The women do not always have a balanced diet.

We talked about ways for the men to help their wives when they are pregnant. We also talked a little about foods to eat that can help with good nutrition but none of us were really sure which vegetables are available in this area - we wanted to tell them about foods that are good sources of iron and folic acid. We also talked about some safety concerns, including not smoking around babies.

Mid way through the morning, someone from one of the villages brought food for us - sticky rice packets with coconut and peanuts. They were amazingly good! A coupld of hours later we had lunch from a local restaurant - brought in to us. Again, very good.

We did not teach CPR today as none of the women could stay for the afternoon. They all had to go home to take care of their children and cook for their husbands.
The children in this area only go to school for half a day. That is because there are not enough rooms for all of the children So the younger children go in the morning and the older children go in the afternoon. They walk to school by themselves - even the youngest children. They walk an average of 2 Km - that is 1.24 miles - one way just to go to school. And then they walk home.

After lunch we played with the children for a while. Then, the Public Health group (Colleen, Nancy, Sabina, Phi and myself) returned to Tra Vinh City in one of the vans. Warren and Jeff stayed at the school to help the Dental Group.

Phi and I went to the market to see what kinds of vegetables and fruit are available in this part of the country. The markets are so interesting. We also ate some Cambodian soup at one of the small restaurants - very good.

Waren was a star. One of the dental machines lost power - a blown fuse. Warren fixed it. The Dental Team was amazed. We all have our areas of expertise. Teamwork.

The Dental Team returned around 6 PM, having treated 150 children in one day. And no one was complaining. Oh, yes, everyone is tired. But what people are talking about is how cute and well behaved the children are. And how we all wish we could do more.