In the past couple of days I feel that I have passed through many worlds, from the rush and bustle of the city of Saigon where I am staying to the stillness of the villages.
On Saturday we visited the House of Grace which is a house set up for disabled young people, to help give them a chance in life. Vietnam is a country full of disabilities, a lot being due to the war in the 70's where the USA sprayed the jungles with agent orange.
Even 40 years later the effects of this poison are still being seen in deformaties. We will be visiting a project later today which is set up for children with disabilities
The House of Grace was started by a Peter Hoa who was a rescued Vietnamese Orphan brought up in Australia. As a baby he contracted Polo in Vietnam and lost the use of his legs. As a mixed up teenager he turned to a life of heavy drugs and dealing in Australia. An encounter with God turned his life around and he felt called to go back to Vietnam and help those kids and young people who had disabilities. He started the House of Grace, as Grace is exactly what he felt had been given to him, and the project exists to love and train young people to be able to contribute to society by teaching English Skill and IT skills.
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This is Peter in the wheel chair and some of the young people who are finding a community and training through the project. They are always looking for volunteers.
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| Four guitars I am giving away to the kids |
Our friends Matt and Uli have sponsored things such as laptop computors. This year I brought along one of the guitars I bought and gave it to them.
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| This is the house of one of the sponsored girls |
On Sunday I had the honor of visiting the mission that helps families in the rural areas.
After meeting the children, my initial reaction was how well presented and happy they were. I gave them a guitar and taught them a simple song .. in english of course.
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| The only way to the mission was across the river by this boat |
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| The sponsored girl and her mum and dad |
We were then taken to visit two families and I was shocked to see how they live. One house built over the river with wooden planks that had holes in the walls covered by newspaper, and the other with a floor of cracked mud.
If if was not for the mission, then these children would stay uneducated and destined to live from day to day as the families do.
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| Another house .. this is the lounge |
Like World Vision, and other organisations, the couple I went with have a trust and sponsor 20 children to go to school. It is only $15 per month with ALL of the money going there.
I told him I would like to start helping by seeing if we can sponsor 5 children over the next year and trying to find people who would take on one of these.
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| Typical Village house. |
Yesterday morning we visited the Hope School for children with impaired hearing. This is a privately run school with no government help. In Vietnam, if you have a disability you would almost certainly not get an education.
