Reflections

www.vietnam-kids.org.nz

Back home again after what felt like a very quick visit with so much packed in. Beautiful children with no mums or dads, people living in conditions  beyond anything here, how far our money can go there. Selfless people given their lives to help, the noise, the busyness of the city, the isolation of the villages. The church in action, God found in all sorts of places.

New relationships built, the blessing of giving, I can't wait to get back there.  Thanks so much to those who gave towards bringing joy to these kids and to those who decided to sponsor the school fees for a village child.  Really, not so much for us, so much for them.  :-)

This is a short you tube video of the effects of Agent Orange today ... some of it is very disturbing.

To the very poor

Saturday was the day we visited our sponsor children in the Mekong Delta.
So humbling, we had 5 children to visit and they initially came to the church that helps them, with their parents. We gave them gifts and felt like the rich westerners, it was a little uncomfortable. Not a scrap of English so my friend Thao came to translate. We then went to visit three of the families and talked to the parents and children. Walking through rice fields, coconut trees all around, very very hot, and quite shocked at how they live :( and their struggle to survive. Yet the kids had dreams, one wanted to be a teacher, another a policeman. And it only costs $160 per year to sponsor their school fees.
We were the first western people one of the kids had seen close up .. What a shock haha
We were moved ...

Bless the children

On Friday we arranged for a fun morning at a pool complex for 30 children from the shelters we give to. All of these children have been abandoned by their parents so this is their home, their love, their security.
'The children never get to do this as money does not stretch this far" the director told me. What a privilege to be able to do this and see the smiling faces , and fight them off in the water :). So happy, so loved, they are learning the love of God in their lives.

Tears in my eyes thinking about it. I feel I can not do enough to make their lives as blessed as mine.

Thank you to all who gave to this special day.

Why war??

Vietnam is a country that has constantly been desired by others and has spent years fighting off the invader.
Now finally at peace the effects of war is evident everywhere.

Today we visited the War Remnants Musuem, mainly dedicated to the American war. We also visited the children at the Peace village, a part of the hospital set up to care for the innocent children of Agent Orange.
3 generations have now been poisoned with very little done by the poisoners. No fault of theirs .. I get angry.

Sponsorship Trip 2013

This month I will be visiting Vietnam with my son.  We will be visiting the children we sponsor in the Mekong Villages and hopefully gaining some new sponsorship.

We will also be paying for a group of 30 'shelter kids' to have a day at the pools and to give them a treat. :-)  and visiting the Peace Village again where the Agent Orange Children are looked after.

Another purpose of our trip is to look for a project for Break Free expeditions to go up and sponsor.  This is a fantastic local organisation that works with young people to give them a 3rd world 'Serving' experience.    http://www.breakfreeexpeditions.com

More to come ........

Back in the land of plenty

Got back last Sunday after celebrating 5 years of the Coolum Vietnam Support group working amongst the people.  They kindly hosted me and allowed me to share in some of the projects they support through ordinary people like you and I

My impressions:

Well a little overwhelmed still and processing, but things like being able to  send a kid to school for $A15 a month which will get them educated and out of the poverty cycle.

To be able to give of our excess that will be treasured in their community, taking up second hand laptops that work just fine. Knowing that laptop goes from our old stuff to being a treasured possession in their Village houses.

Meeting a guy in a wheelchair who has gone back to Vietnam from Australia to start a school to educate disabled young people in IT and English.    www.companyofgrace.com

Holding kids that would not have a chance if kind people had not reached out with God's love and taken on the responsibility of raising them. Seeing them laugh and giggle after being abandoned by their own mum's.

Singing songs and sharing music, such a universal language and barrier breaker.

Walking through a floor of deformed children, having seen things with my own eyes that I never have.

Being in the tiny lobby of my hotel when a desperate lady comes in crying and falling to her knees because her daughter is sick, and she needs help. :-(

So, if all takes time to process, and I am just letting the dust settle.

There is a song that I used to know called "Who will save the children"  and one of the lines says
                       "they bleed like we bleed and they feel like we feel"
You never really truly realise this until you go and feel the feelings and see the sights.

One thing I know, I will go back again and I will do what I can to be of use to these kids. I will try to raise concern and interest, but I know the needs of the world are so great. I think we just need to find our little corner where we can help and just do it.

If you have been reading this, thank you so much, and if you would like to help, whatever I raise will go directly to the kids.

I am going to finish my website  www.vietnam-kids.org where I will continue to link and bring up the projects you can help support.

www.vietnam-kids.org

She is 7 years old

Whatever you did for the least of My brothers and sisters, you did for Me (Jesus)

Today we saw true love in action.  A couple who have given up their comfortable lifestyle to save the lives of Vietnamese kids, but not only that, to raise them as their own when necessary. In the few years they have been there, they have probably worked with over 200 young teenage mums. Can you imagine being able to say that you have probably saved 200 lives??

I can not give many details as the work needs to remain under the radar, but today I visited two of the twelve centers they have established with help from local churches. (not financial .. the church are too poor)

Giving the Center a guitar for the kids

I could only fit about 4 on my lap at once :-)

Singing to us  ... soooooo beautiful

I went into their house and literally had 4 or 5 little darlings all over me, laughing and bouncing around ... such joy!  This couple who are quite a bit older than me at this time have seven pre school children in their immediate care, ranging from about one year to 5 years,  and the one shelter I went to had over 20 kids of school age. They are really orphanages in many ways, cared for, fed, educated, loved.

What can I say? They are showing God's love at grass roots level, literally saving young lives and taking on the responsibility for their care.

We then visited the next shelter which had babies and young pregnant mums, again, in many cases abandoned by their families because they would not abort.  Angry, Sad, Confused, Trying to understand how families can do this to their own. But we don't have  to work it all out, we just have to love regardless.

Here were some pictures that I am allowed to put up.