Tuesday, January 6, 2009

January 6 - Phu Loc Orphanage & School - Day 1

Maddy & Min Min in the Asia hotel lobby.
Singing on the bus.
Jeff & Paul.
Boys with girls.
Jeff S. with girls.
Dr. Duc Pham with girls.

Helmut with girls.
Tam with girls.

Michael with girls.
Warren with girls.
Jeff H. with girls.
Kevin with girls.

Paul with girls. Wait 'till he shows his friends at school this picture!

Yes, she is playing tea cups - on the right. The traditional music at the restaurant.
One of our many toasts on this trip. This one was for Pierre and his wife, Lel.
The Newlyweds - this is how they are spending their honeymoon!

Dallas and TH having fun! As you can see from the pictures, we were all having a great time.
Thuy Dallas

Dessert - the white fruit with the black spots is dragonfruit - very good to eat but very strange looking even before it is peeled.

Dinner - lovely to look at and wonderful to eat!

Dallas, Nancy and Sabina.
The entrance to the restaurant. Raining very hard!
A panorama of Hue city.

Map of Vietnam, showing where Hue city is located.
A very narrow bridge with major potholes and mud holes on both sides. And our bus had to navigate this on the way to and from our hotel and where we were working. Plus, there were motorcycles and bicycles trying to get through the same road at the same time. Wow!! These potholes make Chicago streets in the winter look good!
Sabina singing to us on the bus - in Lithuanian!

Kevin singing
This is a beautiful picture but there is way more water everywhere than there really should be. It has been so rainy and there is a lot of flooding.
Min Min singing. He has a very good voice!
The deaf girls walked the team out to the bus and are signing "I love you". We would all like to be able to do more for them. They are so sweet.
I had to find out what this stuff was - we kept seeing these bottles in road side stands. So Phi went with me to check it out. Medicinal oils - so I bought the yellow one - very strong - I mean very strong - Eucalyptus oil. In an old booze bottle.
Very rainy, overcast skies but also very beautiful.

Min Min resting in one of the vans.
This little boy hung around all day. I was not sure if he was with one of the women or not. But, he noticed the fruit that I had - so I gave him fruit and then some more and more later. He seemed so hungry - immediately would run off a bit and eat whatever it was that I had given him.
This infant was so cute but had such an awful infection on her face. It looks like impetigo. I so wish that we had some way to identify the problem and treat this . I have noticed many children and adults with scarring on their face and am wondering if this is common.

The water buffalo grazing out in the fields that are flooded with water.
This man brought his water buffalo right by where we were teaching, heading out into the flooded fields in front of the public health facility.

The facility where we are teaching, as seen from the road.

Phi, teaching breast self examination. He is so versatile!

One of the Sisters from the orphanage. All of the Sisters were so intent on learning - taking notes and practicing CPR while we were talking about it.
The toddlers are so quiet and complacent. It is as though they are used to just sitting a lot. Some of them did not ever try to move from their mother's arms. They all seem very alert and watch everything that goes on.
The little boy who sat and quietly watched us all day.

Face to Face with a water buffalo. They actually seem quite tame although they are also quite large!
Rain and more rain.
A hospital right near the health facility where we are teaching. We pass this as we are walking to where we teach.
Walking in from the main road to the health facility where we are teaching. The van can drive in here but the bus cannot.

Marcia and Rosemary
This is right outside of where we are teaching. There is a stream or something that feeds into these fields and the water is really rushing fast.
Driving from the Orphanage (where we had lunch) back to the health center to teach.

Taken from the bus - hence the 'drops' on the picture are really on the window of the bus.
Such beautiful children! These are all pictures taken by Juan.

Central processing - the sterilization area!
The Sisters have around 75 disabled children at the Orphanage. These are pictures of their living area.
Carrying supplies in to the Orphanage.
At the entrance to the building where the Dental Team worked for 2 days.
The deaf children teaching Kevin to sign.

Trying to work on Huy. He is cooperative but his mouth is so small.
One of the assistants with Huy. He is 6 years old and only weighs around 10 pounds.
Moms and Dads with their children, waiting to be seen by the Dental Team.
Kevin & Huy. Huy looks like a primordial dwarf. The Sisters said that he is so small due to the fact that his mother was exposed to Agent Orange. He is delayed and so fragile. But also cute and seems to be the favorite of all.
Tracy with a patient & Warren with a machine.
The dental team hard at work in close quarters.
The dental equipment all laid out and ready to go.

Min Min and 3 of the Sisters.
The deaf children with Tam and Phi - teaching Phi sign language. Tam has learned a lot of sign language and regularly spends time at the Orphanage teaching the deaf children.

The sisters have an amazing amount of plants including many varities of cactus. All so healthy and well cared for.
The hay stacks here are very strangely shaped.

The 'guest room' at the Orphanage.

It rained very hard while we were having lunch. It seems as though they have some sort of cistern system. At least, they are collecting water in this trough. Only it has rained so much that the trough is running over.
Phi introducing the Sister who prepared our lunch.
The table set so nicely and waiting for us.
Walking in to the Orphanage from the main road. It is too muddy and the road too small for the bus to go in.
Still have not figured out the toileting issues with the toddlers. They do not wear diapers yet I never have seen anyone running with an infant peeing or pooping. This little boy has a flap over his crotch so he can pee. Very interesting.
Phi on the phone. A common sight!
A coffin maker - on the way to teach.
RAIN
Loading the bus for the day - around 7 AM.
Phi and his favorite poster!
Breakfast at the Asia Hotel - quite wonderful!
Flowers on our bed on our arrival at the Asia Hotel!
In the hotel bar after our arrival on Monday night.
Today the Public Health Team taught CPR and Safe Motherhood at a local Health department. The Dental Team saw children at an orphanage run by the Catholic Church. The children at the orphanage range from orphans to children with cerebral palsy to a group of deaf children of varying ages. In addition, the orphanage runs a day care center. Moms from the community were invited to attend the educational day. Our bus picked them up at the orphanage and brought them to the Health Department. They were supposed to go back to the orphanage for lunch - but none of them wanted to get in the bus. They all get car sick! Most of the people in these areas do NOT have cars and have not ridden in them much. They either walk, ride their motor bike or a bicycle.
At lunch time the Public Health team went to the orphanage for lunch. One of the sisters cooked for us. It was a wonderful meal with this amazing soup that had lotus flower seeds in it. So good. And the tables were all set so nicely.

In the afternoon, part of the public health team stayed at the orphanage and did some teaching (hygiene, nutrition, etc.) with the older deaf students. They also taught the older girls some self defense. These girls are quite vulnerable due to their deafness so it was good to teach them how to care for themselves. And our team learned some sign language. The rest of us went back for more teaching of Moms. Tomorrow we will switch places.
The dental team did lots of extractions today. It is strange that we are in a country where so many people do not brush their teeth - many children have never seen a toothbrush before. Yet in every hotel we have stayed, toothbrushes are provided with the regular shampoo and soap.
In the evening we went out for dinner at a lovely restaurant with traditional music. Afterwards, Warren and I went shopping and bought some silk scarves - beautiful.
It is hard to believe that we are almost through with this trip. It has gone so fast. I wish we could have stayed longer to do some sightseeing. We have not seen the 'traditional' sights that one would see when a tourist. But, what we have done is meet wonderful people and see things that we never would have seen as a tourist. Certainly worthwhile and rewarding. I know that I have been changed by this trip and will look at things quite differently when I return home.

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