Church on Sunday

Sunday, 29. Sep

Went to church this morning ... talking to expats from all over the world afterwards having a cup of tea ... just like at home.
Then we went for lunch with a group of locals and expats. Always interesting to meet new people.
Most people had already left, but I had an urge to talk to the big Texan, his name is Brent. I grabbed a chair and sat right next to him. Brent is a deacon at the church in district 2. We got talking and I was very interested what him and his wife are doing in Viet Nam.
To cut a long story short, I discussed our case of Tram, the girl who suffers from cerebral palsies. Brent is very well connected in the medical fraternity. He knows the top orthopedic surgeon ... from Argentina. We will have an appointment for her either tomorrow or on Tuesday. Praise the LORD ! ! !

 

Guess what ... we DO HAVE and appointment for Tram at 9AM tomorrow (Tuesday, 1st of October) at the orthopedic surgeon ! ! ! It's not what you know ... It's who you know!!! Praise GOD !!! And please pray for a good outcome tomorrow, thank you.

Friday on my mind ...

Friday, 27th Sep

Busy morning, but in the afternoon we went to the Company of Grace to meet with Peter / Hoa to discuss support for four girls. The girls live and work at CoG, but they need to study ... accounting, business management, child care management finish schooling for Hang.

We took photos of the girls ... discussed opportunities and general business.

Here are the profile photos of the girls:

Miss Hien

Suong was born healthy, her foot has turned about 90 degrees over time. This particular illness runs in her family, her sisters had operations but later the problem reoccurred and walking in painful and more difficult.

Miss Suong

Miss Hang

Miss Tien

Later on we were sitting in on English class at CoG. It's an interesting mixture of students, some with disabilities, age wise from 15 to 30. 

Our friend Hoan

 

Visting Tram

Thursday, 27 Sep

Mark Pham from Company of Grace is helping us, working out school fees for Tram and her brother Dung.
We also wanted to see how Tram is going after Patti Lien was working with her in March/April. Tram has got cerebral palsies and is severely disabled. We were surprised to see Tram sitting up. Before she was unable to sit without support.

13 year old Tram

Today we visited the family; with us came Mark and our friend Hoan Candy. Hoan is severely disabled, she has two short legs and only one hand but she is an inspiration to anyone ... she rides a motor bike with support wheels, plays badminton, she has a job and studies English and IT at night. For young people in Viet Nam that is leading a normal life.
The reason of our visit was to convince Tram's parents that some changes around the house are necessary for her to become more independent. 
Hoan spoke about her disability and what obstacles she had to overcome to be independent.  

Our friend Hoan who lived 19 years at the Peace Village in Sai Gon

Wheelchair access to the toilet in Tram's house is impossible right now. We made suggestions how simple changes could easily be achieved. It looks like the message has not hit home. They argued it would cost money ...
Later in the taxi Mark suggested we have to let them know that the supporters in Australia want to see progress ... otherwise they might not be willing to support the family ... If supporters are not happy ...  To tell you the truth, we were thinking somewhere down that line ... but this coming from a local ... and he will also be the messenger ... I think we have to go with his idea.

Trams dad and her two brothers

Mark ... does not like the attitude of Trams parents

Not happy either ...

In 2008 we bought a commercial sewing machine for the parents. This enables them to work from home and have a steady income. Currently assembling leather wallets.

 

Micro economics at work

Wednesday 25. Sep 

Visiting a Hope school student's mum at her new business. In April we were able to support little Nhu's mother by setting her up financially  to open a store in front of her uncles house to sell pork. 
When we first heard it we were critical about it. Miss Diep drove with Matt on the motor bike to have a look where Miss Mai would run her business.

Now six months later we hopped in a taxi to see for ourselfs. Please page down to see for yourself.

Pork anyone ???

Chop chop ...

Cash register the Vietnamese way

Us checking it all out ...

Fresh pork ...

 After we saw the trade and how well it all went, we decided to pay for a fridge so Miss Mai can keep the pork at her house instead of driving to her aunt's house to store it over night.  WIN ~ WIN situation !!!

Wednesday just won't go ...

Wednesday just won't go ...  Wednesday 25. Sep - still Easy Beats ~ Friday on my mind

Another day ... a feeling a little better. 8:30 sharp we had to be at the Hope School for Hearing Impaired children in Binh Thanh district.

Here we met the four additional students. We took on two girls and replaced Ha and Hue who left school earlier this year. Again ... we had to tell the story about the camera ... (see Monday ... below), then we were introduced to the children. As usual, some shy and others very outgoing. We had some little presents from Australia and the kids had fun with the little koalas.
 

Nguyen, Thi Ngoc Ha

Nguyen, Huynh Cat Tuong (left)

Phu, Chi Hung

Tran, Van Tuan

Group photo of four students who now receive CVSG scholarship

   

... comin' Tuesday I feel better ...

 ... to start with an Aussie hit from the Easy Beats ! ! ! 
Tuesday, 24, Sep

It was not the best night sleep, we slept so so ... Our mood was still low, it takes time, but with prayers and loving and caring hugs and messages from our friends we slowly got there.
Now when I hear a motorbike going fast I immediately make sure we are both safe. We went through our wallets and put all the credit cards, atm cards and drivers licenses in our room safe.

Well, we had to rethink ... how do we cover the rest of our trip without photos. Impossible ... but luck we got a one year old smart phone, but we never downloaded photos we took. Now was the time to do it. And surprise surprise the photos are not too bad.
We had an appointment with Claude and Bao who run shelters for pregnant women and orphans. Claude picked up a giant bag full of baby clothes and soft toys. This year her took us the the shelter for pregnant women, taxi ride VND 280.000 from our hotel.

Claude playing with children

This young woman is one of the carers for the children

Kids are having lunch

Downstairs three new babies and their mother

Preparing lunch for the mothers and care givers 

The doctor who provides accommodation for the pregnant woman

Monday ...

Monday, 23rd Sep

We had plenty of admin to do, making payments and working out who gets what, also planning the rest of our stay.

In the afternoon we were invited to the Hope School. A special dinner was prepared, just the teachers and us. It was a beautiful feast ... Matt took plenty of photos, which we are unable to show, see below. 
Later on Ha stopped by, a student who had left the school. It was so good to see her again and to hear what she is doing now. She is doing vocational training to become a hair dresser and beautician. Ha looked great, nice hair style ... after all she is 18 years old!!!

It was about 7 pm when we arrived at our hotel. Later, about half past eight we went for a walk, get some bottled water and yoghurt for breakfast. 
Crossing De Tham Str Matt got attacked by two guys on a motorbike. The passenger grabbed the camera strap and tried to steel the camera. Matt resisted, but the sheer force of the speed of the motorbike was too strong.

Brand spanking new camera ... lucky this lens was not on camera at the time.

In the struggle the camera hit the ground and part of the lens was damaged, which we found out later. Lucky Matt did not fall, so no injuries, which is most important. We went straight back to our hotel, devastated. Mr. Nam gave Matt a hug and said we should go to the police. We were not interested, but then we changed our mind ... went back to where it happened, 150 meters from the hotel. We found some glass and part of the lens on the road.
Mr Nam then went with us to the police station. Everything was recorded and we went back, bought some water ... a very very sad story. After six years and 8 trips ... All in all we spent over 42 weeks in Viet Nam over the years. Picked up the signed and sealed police report the next morning. 


Now we have to look forward, find our positive spirit again and continue to enjoy the country and people we love so much.

Happy Birthday Hien Pham

Sunday, 22nd of Sep

Sunday morning, church time. Went by taxi ... arrived late, wonderful service, no denomination, Christians singing and clapping ... felt great. The message was powerful, really good Kevin.

After church we went for lunch with missionaries from US, living in Cambodia as well as Sarah, a local, Mark from CoG and Sue from Adelaide volunteering at CoG.

After lunch we went to Company of Grace (CoG) to celebrate Miss Hien's birthday. CoG is helping people with disabilities to learn English and IT skills so they will be able to get a job. The whole center is run by people with disabilities. I can assure you, they sure know how to have fun ! ! !

Hien is the lucky girl in the middle ...

Mr. Van ...

Peter .. also having a good time

Candy ... such a lovely smile !!!

More food ... and Vietnamese tea

Mark joking with the birthday girl

Mot Hai Ba .... Jooooo .... or One two Three ... Cheers

Mother milk fruit ... when ripe you squeeze it and a white fruit juice will appear at the bottom of the fruit.

Mr Co ... always happy, always funny !!! He will have an operation on his foot soon !!!

Hien's sister ... and her boy friend

After the meal everyone helped in the kitchen ....