Back at the hotel in Khe Sanh for dinner.
Mixing up Dr. Ngan Hirai's favorite dessert. Hmm - it was different!
Dinner at the hotel in Khe Sanh.
Theresa's batteries died - not hers - the batteries in her headlamp. So Warren held a penlight for the remainder of the day - so she could see to clean teeth.
Dr. Hirai, a patient and Jeff Hirai.
Lunch on the patio! 
Tracy & Mong Hang 
Helmut & Marielle relaxing and enjoying lunch. 
Dr. Pierre & his wife with a patient. They just got married last week and are spending their honeymoon with us.
Dr. Lisa Hirai with a patient.
The school with the JFC sign - and the mud!
The children have such great smiles.
Huong and friends.
Paul getting ready to work a puzzle with the children. 
The dental 'office' at Huong Hiep School.Kevin interpreting for Dr. Pierre.
The GCSF banner at the school.
Always hard at work cleaning the instruments.
Min Min - an amazing young man from Burma (Myanmar) who is traveling with us this week. He will be doing work with GCSF in his country.
Huong and the children. We had toothbrushes and toothpaste donated for all of them.
Teresa and a patient. All of these dental pictures are courtesy of Juan.
Mong Hang passing out toothbrushes and toothpaste.
Getting ready to watch a movie on brushing your teeth - as soon as Warren can get things working!
Paul and the children . They are holding their screening exam papers. They will give those to the dentist who is to treat them.
An electrician's nightmare. Note the plug in the middle of the rooms with wires running to each station. Certainly would not pass code in the US!
Dr. Lisa finding out where it hurts.
Warren & Helmut with one of the machines that Warren is keeping running.
Marielle and Tracy setting up trays for the day.
No chairs to sit on so the children are squatting waiting in line to be seen. They are so orderly and well behaved!
Unloading our supplies in the drizzle and mud. 
Huong with the children.
Unloading at the school.
The Public Health Team with the physician (on the left) and the Public Health Officer on the right in between Marcia and Rad.
Phi and his anatomy lesson. Sabina and Nancy do great anatomy drawings.
At least she is wearing a helmut - even if it is on top of her head and without a strap!
Fruit for afternoon snack - along with MSG and salt to put on the fruit! 
Practicing back blows and chest compresions for the treatment of infant choking.
The GCSF banner at the school.
Always hard at work cleaning the instruments.
Min Min - an amazing young man from Burma (Myanmar) who is traveling with us this week. He will be doing work with GCSF in his country. 
Huong and the children. We had toothbrushes and toothpaste donated for all of them. 
Teresa and a patient. All of these dental pictures are courtesy of Juan. 
Mong Hang passing out toothbrushes and toothpaste.
Getting ready to watch a movie on brushing your teeth - as soon as Warren can get things working! 
Paul and the children . They are holding their screening exam papers. They will give those to the dentist who is to treat them. 
An electrician's nightmare. Note the plug in the middle of the rooms with wires running to each station. Certainly would not pass code in the US! 
Dr. Lisa finding out where it hurts. 
Warren & Helmut with one of the machines that Warren is keeping running.
Marielle and Tracy setting up trays for the day.
No chairs to sit on so the children are squatting waiting in line to be seen. They are so orderly and well behaved! 
Unloading our supplies in the drizzle and mud. 
Huong with the children.
Unloading at the school. 
The Public Health Team with the physician (on the left) and the Public Health Officer on the right in between Marcia and Rad. 
Phi and his anatomy lesson. Sabina and Nancy do great anatomy drawings. 
At least she is wearing a helmut - even if it is on top of her head and without a strap! 
Fruit for afternoon snack - along with MSG and salt to put on the fruit! 
Practicing back blows and chest compresions for the treatment of infant choking.
The dog family living at the Health Center.
The building next the the Public Health facility. Our bathrooms are on the left. With all of the laundry, the building looks like an apartment building.
The Mother and her babies.
The building next the the Public Health facility. Our bathrooms are on the left. With all of the laundry, the building looks like an apartment building.
The Mother and her babies.
Learning CPR - back blows in the infant. Mot, Hai, Ba, Bon, Nam.
Some of the women with Rad in the background.
Thuy Dallas looking up things in the Vietnamese-English Dictionary.
Tam translating our CPR video.
An exam room - there are two of them side by side - sort of free standing. And with windows all over.
Looking down at some of the offices that are part of the center. They are in a different building and our bathroom is behind them.
The lay midwives in our class. They are all with us for the whole 3 days.
The women are watching the movie that the kids see about brushing your teeth.
The Public Health Team getting dropped off for work. The bus will go on to the School with the dentists.
As we drove past these rivers and forests, we could not help but think how harrowing it must to have been to be a soldier in this area.
These are taken through the bus window so are blurry and the window was often wet.
We are in Quang Tri - you can see Quang Tri Province on this map.
The green area is Quang Tri Province.
The weather at the start of our day - from the bus.
I had to learn to navigate in Vietnamese as the blog always came up in Vietnamese when I would want to sign in to post.
Warren and the Dental Team were at Huong Hiep School in Dakrong. The Dental Team (Warren is a part of this team) saw 160 children. This was the first dental visit ever for these children. It was also the first time any of them had seen a toothbrush. And they each left with their own toothbrush and toothpaste. And a toy. They did not have the cavities and decay that the team saw previously. That is because this area is so remote that they do not have candy. Actually, this area is so poor that they have nothing. Warren said that one little boy was there in his ONLY shirt. We are all wearing scrub tops, long sleeved shirts, fleece and rain jackets. Many of the children walked to the Dental Clinic with only a T-shirt and shorts and no shoes. Through the mud and water. We had cars going out to bring the children to clinic but, because of the flooding here, the cars could not get through so the children walked. Some walked as many as 4 Km - 2.4 miles - in the cold and rain. One of the dentists said that she had one little girl who had blue hands because she was so cold. The dentist said she wanted to go to the market to buy jackets for the children but the market did not have 400 jackets and that is how many we would need for this 3 day trip. So she plans to buy them when she gets back to the states and ship them over here.
Our last stop before returning home is at an orphanage in this area. We will be leaving clothes at the orphanage as well as the CPR manikins. The Sisters will use the manikins to teach CPR to the people of the village.
Our Dental Team has changed for this part of the trip. Maple Dental Clinic, in Saigon, sent staff last week and then more staff this week. Maple Dental Clinic stores our portable dental machines. They also sterilize all of the JFC owned dental tools and take inventory of them. What a blessing to have them here. We also have 3 Dental Team members from Canada that have joined us for this week.
The terrain here is mountainous and wet with lots of ponds, small rivers, larger rivers and mud. We all keep saying that we cannot imagine being a soldier here during the war.
Many members of our Team are Vietnamese but living in the US, having come here when they were children. But their stories of how they got out of Vietnam are heartbreaking. They have been sharing their stories with us. Leaving on a boat with only one other member of their family, being rescued by a ship, going to a refugee camp, finally getting to the US and then finally meeting up with their family.
We are so fortunate to be able to be on this Journey and I hope we will be able to return sometime.
Some of the women with Rad in the background.
Thuy Dallas looking up things in the Vietnamese-English Dictionary.
Tam translating our CPR video.
An exam room - there are two of them side by side - sort of free standing. And with windows all over.
Looking down at some of the offices that are part of the center. They are in a different building and our bathroom is behind them.
The lay midwives in our class. They are all with us for the whole 3 days.
The women are watching the movie that the kids see about brushing your teeth.
The Public Health Team getting dropped off for work. The bus will go on to the School with the dentists.
As we drove past these rivers and forests, we could not help but think how harrowing it must to have been to be a soldier in this area.
These are taken through the bus window so are blurry and the window was often wet.
We are in Quang Tri - you can see Quang Tri Province on this map.
The green area is Quang Tri Province.
The weather at the start of our day - from the bus.
I had to learn to navigate in Vietnamese as the blog always came up in Vietnamese when I would want to sign in to post.
Saturday - rainy, muddy, cool. Harriet & the Public Health Team headed to the local Health Department for teaching in Quảng Trị Province, Đa Krông. There are 53 midwives - all with some training but not at the level of a nurse. They have been brought in for 3 days of classes. They are getting paid, being put up at the local hotel across the street from the Health Department and are getting meals. Our whole group was to stay at the local hotel but, about a month ago, we got bumped for a very important group - our local midwives! They are staying 6 or 7 to a room (they usually sleep on the floor at home) and all seem excited to be here. So we (the team) have an agenda that changes depending on the flow but includes CPR, Neonatal Resuscitation, Reproduction 101, Safe Motherhood, Health Heart, Children's Health, Domestic Violence, Child Abuse, Hygiene, Injury Prevention, Newborn Assessment, Pregnancy issues, Anetenatal Care, Birth Problems. Whew!
History Lesson:
Quang Tri was the northernmost province of the former Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam). Around 1964, the province became a center for American bases. In 1966, North Vietnamese forces began occupying the northern region heading their way deeper into the province. After the Battle of Khe Sanh (1968), the North Vietnamese moved further in to take the entire province. Offensives were issued, bases left by retreating Americans, and bridges (such as the one in Dong Ha) were destroyed. The most notable achievement of the North Vietnamese offensive in 1972 was capturing Quang Tri. With the incapability of holding its stand against General Vo Nguyen Giap's (commander of the North Vietnamese Army) Nguyen Hue Offensive,the province ultimately fell under the hands of the Communists where the Republic of Vietnam ceased to exist after the end of the Vietnam War. After Quang Tri fell, the North Vietnamese Provisional Revolutionary Government laid their authority over the province. Collective farms were set up and strict rules instilled by the Viet Cong were forced on the villagers, many of whom eventually fled. In 2000, Clear Path International (CPI) was still working to remove unexploded ordnance left by the U.S. in Quang Tri Province. This was at the time the largest unexploded ordnance removal effort by an NGO in Vietnam's history. CPI continues to operate in Quang Tri, providing victim assistance to those injured by landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO).
Quang Trí, city in central Vietnam, the major city of Quang Trí Province. Quang Trí lies near the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), an area that separated North and South Vietnam after Vietnam was partitioned at the end of the First Indochina War in 1954. The DMZ was intended to be an area free of arms. However, during the ensuing Vietnam War (1959-1975), the area around the DMZ was so thoroughly devastated by fighting that the city still bears the effects. The people of Quang Trí are poor, in large part because many farmers cannot use their land for fear of uncleared land mines. The farming that does exist is almost wholly for subsistence. Much of the surrounding land was deforested during the war by carpet bombing and chemical agents; these chemicals have caused a sharp decline in soil fertility. In addition, many people suffer from war-related injuries and postwar injuries caused by exploding mines. De-mining and reforestation programs, undertaken by local and overseas volunteers, are underway. The city is located on one of Vietnam's main north-south highways and is served by buses. Few historical sites remain in Quang Trí, but a moat, rampart, and gates from The Citadel that once dominated the city still exist. During the Vietnam War Quang Tri was the site of several fierce battles, in particular the Easter Offensive of 1972. After North Vietnamese troops took the area, the Province was bombed daily by as many as 40 US bombers, each carrying several tons of bombs. South Vietnamese forces eventually regained the city but lost at least 5000 troops in the process.
Quang Tri Province was the scene of some of the fiercest ground fighting of the American war, especially from 1966 to the end of the war in 1975, and it was subjected to the heaviest bombing campaign in the history of the world, more than the amount of ordnance used in Europe during World War II. At the war’s end in 1975, the entire province was devastated, and most of the population had evacuated. Quang Tri Town, at that time the Province capital and Dong Ha Town were both destroyed. Not a single building remained standing or useable. Of 3,500 villages scattered throughout the province, only 11 remained at the end of the war. The intense bombing, combined with U.S. use of the Agent Orange defoliant, turned the land into a virtual moonscape with only a fraction of the original triple canopy jungle forest remaining after the war.
American and South Vietnamese military units established bases and outposts all over the Province and along the DMZ. Some of the famous battle sites stretching from the seacoast to the mountains bordering Laos included Dong Ha, Quang Tri, Dong Ha Mt., FSB Fuller, LZ Russell, FSB Neville, Hill 126, LZ Vandegrift "Stud", Cam Lo Bridge, Cam Lo Village, Gio Linh, Camp Carroll, the Rockpile, the Razor Back, Mutter Ridge, Helicopter Valley, Da Krong Bridge, Khe Sanh, Hill 881N and 881S, Lang Vei, Con Thien , the DMZ and the Ben Hai River. The perimeters of many of the military bases were heavily mined. Bombing and shelling from ships at sea, which went on sometimes for 24 hours a day, resulted in tons of explosive ordnance being rained down on the Province. The U.S. Department of Defense estimates that about 10 percent of ordnance does not detonate as designed, meaning that much of the dangerous and unstable munitions still lie just under the surface or buried deep in the earth throughout Quang Tri Province to this present day.
Quang Tri Province was the scene of some of the fiercest ground fighting of the American war, especially from 1966 to the end of the war in 1975, and it was subjected to the heaviest bombing campaign in the history of the world, more than the amount of ordnance used in Europe during World War II. At the war’s end in 1975, the entire province was devastated, and most of the population had evacuated. Quang Tri Town, at that time the Province capital and Dong Ha Town were both destroyed. Not a single building remained standing or useable. Of 3,500 villages scattered throughout the province, only 11 remained at the end of the war. The intense bombing, combined with U.S. use of the Agent Orange defoliant, turned the land into a virtual moonscape with only a fraction of the original triple canopy jungle forest remaining after the war.
American and South Vietnamese military units established bases and outposts all over the Province and along the DMZ. Some of the famous battle sites stretching from the seacoast to the mountains bordering Laos included Dong Ha, Quang Tri, Dong Ha Mt., FSB Fuller, LZ Russell, FSB Neville, Hill 126, LZ Vandegrift "Stud", Cam Lo Bridge, Cam Lo Village, Gio Linh, Camp Carroll, the Rockpile, the Razor Back, Mutter Ridge, Helicopter Valley, Da Krong Bridge, Khe Sanh, Hill 881N and 881S, Lang Vei, Con Thien , the DMZ and the Ben Hai River. The perimeters of many of the military bases were heavily mined. Bombing and shelling from ships at sea, which went on sometimes for 24 hours a day, resulted in tons of explosive ordnance being rained down on the Province. The U.S. Department of Defense estimates that about 10 percent of ordnance does not detonate as designed, meaning that much of the dangerous and unstable munitions still lie just under the surface or buried deep in the earth throughout Quang Tri Province to this present day.
Warren and the Dental Team were at Huong Hiep School in Dakrong. The Dental Team (Warren is a part of this team) saw 160 children. This was the first dental visit ever for these children. It was also the first time any of them had seen a toothbrush. And they each left with their own toothbrush and toothpaste. And a toy. They did not have the cavities and decay that the team saw previously. That is because this area is so remote that they do not have candy. Actually, this area is so poor that they have nothing. Warren said that one little boy was there in his ONLY shirt. We are all wearing scrub tops, long sleeved shirts, fleece and rain jackets. Many of the children walked to the Dental Clinic with only a T-shirt and shorts and no shoes. Through the mud and water. We had cars going out to bring the children to clinic but, because of the flooding here, the cars could not get through so the children walked. Some walked as many as 4 Km - 2.4 miles - in the cold and rain. One of the dentists said that she had one little girl who had blue hands because she was so cold. The dentist said she wanted to go to the market to buy jackets for the children but the market did not have 400 jackets and that is how many we would need for this 3 day trip. So she plans to buy them when she gets back to the states and ship them over here.
Our last stop before returning home is at an orphanage in this area. We will be leaving clothes at the orphanage as well as the CPR manikins. The Sisters will use the manikins to teach CPR to the people of the village.
Our Dental Team has changed for this part of the trip. Maple Dental Clinic, in Saigon, sent staff last week and then more staff this week. Maple Dental Clinic stores our portable dental machines. They also sterilize all of the JFC owned dental tools and take inventory of them. What a blessing to have them here. We also have 3 Dental Team members from Canada that have joined us for this week.
The terrain here is mountainous and wet with lots of ponds, small rivers, larger rivers and mud. We all keep saying that we cannot imagine being a soldier here during the war.
Many members of our Team are Vietnamese but living in the US, having come here when they were children. But their stories of how they got out of Vietnam are heartbreaking. They have been sharing their stories with us. Leaving on a boat with only one other member of their family, being rescued by a ship, going to a refugee camp, finally getting to the US and then finally meeting up with their family.
We are so fortunate to be able to be on this Journey and I hope we will be able to return sometime.
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