Wayne is leaving us on Saturday ...

Wayne playing guitar in My Trung and the kids just loved it !!!

Last year we met Wayne and his wife and daughter here at ANAN hotel. Wayne was curious and asked us why we stay 5 weeks in Sai Gon.

We got chatting ... and that is how our friendship started. Wayne is a guitar tutor from Tauranga New Zealand. Wayne is actively involved in youth work and the Equippers church in his home town.

                              At the Peace Village in Sai Gon ... very emotional !!! 

Wayne came to Vietnam for just over a week to follow us in our footsteps and see our mission work first hand. The idea is to create awareness in his church and his circle of friends and get some support for our projects. We have already received US$ 200 which were donated for little Nhu by friends of Wayne.

                                  At the Hope school for hearing impaired children

He and his guitar open the hearts of the children wherever we went. Wayne donated four guitars, one at the Company of Grace, one in  My Trung, Mekong delta and two for "Touch a Life" shelters.  

 Here at Bao and Claude ... playing with the kids !!! 

Handing over a guitar at one of the shelters

Please check out Waynes blog by clicking this link, thanks

Tomorrow, Saturday, 1st of September Wayne is flying back home. We thank him from the bottom of our hearts for his support and we look forward to a long friendship with him, his family and his supporters. 

Safe travels and thank you so much for what you did for us and the KIDS. May God Bless you and your family!!!

YESSS, it finally did happen !!!

The never ending story ... has come to the final chapter!!!

Yes, LITTLE NHU ... FINALLY HAD HER OPERATION TODAY !!! Praise the Lord !!!

Today, Thusday the 30th of August, FROM 9am until 12 pm she was in theatre. She is in ICU now, but has not yet woken up. Will keep you informed ... see if and when we can go and see her ... may be someone can take the camera in ... we won't be allowed in. Not to sure about the mother.

Please pray for her and a speedy recovery !!!

Touch a Life on Wednesday ...

No, it should better read ... Touch a Life Every Day ...

On Wednesday we took Wayne to visit Boa and Claude. Their passion is to safe lives, and they do so very successfully. 

In the five years they have been opening the doors to their house to babies and homeless children they have saved over T W O  H U N D R E D  LIVES. 

      Kids are playing on the computer ... picking Christian songs from U Tube.    

At their house the raise about six or seven children, two are still very young. 

Touch a Life has established links to the major hospitals in Sai Gon. They provide counseling to young girls who want to have an abortion. Viet Nam has one of the highest abortion rates in the world.

The pregnant women shelter has been established years ago. Girls as young as 15 can stay until they give birth, then it is up to them. Some women stay up to eight month, find a job and tell their parents that they have a child. 

The women in the shelters are told about the LORD and they have bible studies every day. Most of them convert, but what happens to them later in life no one knows.

Touch A Life have also established 12 shelters for orphans in Sai Gon and one in Cambodia. Each shelter can accommodate between 15 - 22 orphans. The kids go to school, have one carer who lives with the kids. The kids receive TLC, are fed, clothed, taught the bible and go to school. The older girls also have vocational training ... sewing school uniforms for their mates ! ! ! 

We visited on of the shelters and Wayne donated a guitar. Wayne played easy to learn songs like "If you are happy and you know it" ... Everyone got involved in the action ... Happy faces and clapping. 

We, CVSG support the "Touch a Life" (TaL) project and do what ever we can to assist them to SAVE LIVES and to help the orphans. 

What about you ??? Would you like to support this project by making a donation towards the TaL project. Thanks.

Tuesday afternoon at Peace Village

 

Thao, 7 year old Agent Orange victim

After a quick lunch we took Ashlee to the Peace Village to show her what effect Agent Orange still has after over 50 years. August in Vietnam in Dioxin or Agent Orange month. 

Ashlee was quit at home with the disabled children ... she played with them and took some kids on her arm, like little THAO, 

Thao is 7 years old, weighs about 13 kg ... and has virtually no legs. She is the sweetest little thing you can imagine !!!

 

We were surprised to find our good friend Hoan at home. She is 26 years old, has a job at Nokia and studies IT at night. Hoan has no legs and only one hand, but she has been in the US and she addressed congress and gave a speech about Agent Orange !!!  She is an inspiration !!!

                         Here she is helping another disabled girl in her room !!!

And this is Hoan's bed. She shares the room with 8 other disabled girls. On her bed is her "desk" with laptop (her working area). She mainly studies at night when everyone is asleep !!!

Tuesday ... Meeting at Hope school

Tuesday morning we met at the HOPE School for hearing impaired children. Our friend Wayne came too and we had another guest, 

Ashlee from Brissie came as well. She was volunteering at Hoa van Stone's Company of Grace and had a day off ... and spend it with us. Thanks Ashlee.

At first we just just chatted along and our guest introduced themselves, then we went and spent some time with the kids in different classrooms. It was a lot of fun as the kids started asking questions ...

... about us and our age. Wayne had the best time, the girls thought he was only 30 ... he was a happy as Larry ... 

Later on all the kids who receive educational supported by CVSG came to the meeting room. We had some small presents for them and also some presents from their individual sponsors. 

The girls all got some ear rings ... and Matt asked Nam and Hue if the wanted some ear rings too ??? 

 ... it was so funny ... they were laughing and shaking their heads.

Then the kids all had their lunch while it was poring down rain. Then all students had a nap.

We then had a quick look at the new kitchen cap board and the new rice cookers and gas burners we helped financing. Kitchen is now a much safer place.

The never ending story .... part 3596 ...

Nhu is pulling my ear ... but you must think we are pulling your leg ...
Little NHU is still waiting to have her operation ! ! !
We had a meeting at the HOPE school today. My phone was on low battery ... when I charged it ... 9 % ... max
To cut a long story short, little Nhu was very unsettled, no food or drink on Monday ... preparation for operation. Then in the afternoon, when she was supposed to have her OP the lift to theatre stopped working ... no more operations Monday afternoon. We could not believe it ! ! ! 
Now her operation is planned in two days .. seeing is believing ! ! !  We prayed for Nhu ... now we have to pray the operation will take place this MONTH !!!
Poor little darling !!!

Afternoon visit of Peace Village

Monday afternoon we went to visit the children at the Peace Village again. 

It was Wayne's first time, we walked in and straight away the kids came running towards us, so did little Mt Thanh. 

When he saw Wayne he stood in front of him and looked at me, putting his hands in the air ... like saying WHO is This ??? 

Wayne introduced himself and that is when the fun and games begun. It was not fun and games for Wayne, he saw a lot of children in their beds ... helpless.

Anyway, we had a good time with these kids ... it's sooo good to visit them, we both really enjoy it. By now we know the different characters and can entertain accordingly. 

Little NHU ... Heart Surgery today !!!

Monday, 27th of August

Today is the when little Nhu will have her heart operation.

Please pray for her and the surgeons that everything goes well and for a speedy recovery.

While Nhu is in hospital her family has to care for her ... 24/7 during the day her mother is there, at night her grandmother sleeps on the floor next to Nhu's bed. 

This means a loss of income for Nhu's mother, plus the extra cost ... then after the operation come additional cost in ICU plus the food. 

We just received $ 200 from our friend Wayne. He spread the word and donated some money himself. Every $$$ helps. 

We would like to take this opportunity to say a special thank you to everyone who has in any way, shape or form contributed to our fundraising efforts over the last six months.

Our thoughts and prayers are with NHU today.

A trip to the Mekong delta

On Sunday we were picked up to go to Ty Tho and then to My Trung where we met the 20 children who receive educational support.

This was a special trip in many ways. It was the first for our friend Wayne from KIWI land. Last year we met Wayne here in Sai Gon at the ANAN hotel, the day befre we went to the opening ceremony of the Company of Grace.

We stayed 5 weeks and Wayne simply asked ... 5 weeks in Sai Gon ... why??? We simply handed him one of our business cards and Uli explained. 10 minutes later our phone rang and Wayne offered us to take a guitar to the opening ceremony, and we did. The rest is history.

Over the year we communicated. From the beginning Wayne wanted to SEE our work and the different projects with his own eyes, and that is why Wayne is here with us.

We drove the old route to My Trung, not via the new highway, then a long narrow road along one of the arms of the Mekong, then we had to cross the river in a narrow boat.

The students were already waiting for us on the other side, as you can see we had some light rain. Getting out of the boat was easy ... and everyone was clapping !!!

Kim welcomed us and was sad that Uli could not come.

Then I spoke about how much we enjoyed to come and visit and that we enjoyed being with the students.

Wayne brought a guitar, so he got it out of the cover and started playing ... Jesus loves YOU ... and after some rehearsals we got the kids all singing. Then they sang a song for us ... and Wayne quickly picked it up ...

This year we were able to bring three pre-loved laptops. When we saw and heard the needs here in My Trung we decided to give two laptops to Kim and Thao. 

Kim receiving her laptop, thanks to Paul and Sally Battle !!!

Thao received the second laptop, a donation by our accountant George Isaac.

Both laptops were well received. Then Matt put some photos taken on previous visits and from Australia on both laptops.

Then it was time for lunch ... and what a wonderful lunch it was.

After lunch we visited two families close by. First Van Anh and then Kim's family, it was raining ... but that did not deter us!!!

                                                        Super MAN ...is what the lady in blue said!!!

Here is a photo of Van Anh's family

and Kim's house with her mother ...

                                 Kim cutting a coco nut in the kitchen ...

                                  Kim and her family

                           On the way back to where the car was parked ...

All in all a wonderful and long day, got home by 6:30. Thoroughly enjoyed it and so did Wayne.