Reporting from Viet Nam - March 29, 2009

Day 1:

Back in Viet Nam again. This time, only three of us instead of twenty-one people a year ago (still, we carried with us six suitcases filled with supplies for our projects) and the usual packed agenda.

We arrived in Saigon on Sunday morning, in the sweltering heat - 91 degree but feels like 98 with the humidity. After getting to our hotel and cleaning up, we headed out to Go Vap Orphanage. One of our colleagues from California, Cathy Lam with the Our1World (http://www.our1world.org/) nonprofit organization joined our group. We gave Cathy a tour of the orphanage and said hello to the staff and the children, met some new orphans and learned the sad news about some of the sick kids who left us. We then spent the rest of our time with the English class. When we arrived, there was no chance for our volunteer teachers to keep the class going - the students knew study time was over and fun time began. In between all of the excited conversation, the kids ate treats and colored the new art books Cathy brought for them.

As expected, the streets of Saigon were packed on Sunday night. Everyone was out to escape the heat. We had dinner with the STEP travelers. School To End Poverty (STEP) is based in New York (http://www.springvalleyrotaryny.org/S_T_E_P.html) and has partnered with KWB in many past projects. The group celebrated the end of their successful mission to Viet Nam. Many in the group traveled with KWB in past trips, and are sponsoring orphans in our Teach Me To Fish Program (TM2F). During their mission, STEP dedicated a new school in Bac Lieu funded by the organization. KWB supported their mission with arrangements for visits to the Peace Village (rehabilitation center for disabled children victimized by Agent Orange) in Hanoi, the Hoa Phuong Orphanage in Hai Phong, and some of the current TM2F orphans.

We bid farewell to our New York friends and retired to our hotel to deal with the jetlag (14 hours time difference from home in Seattle) and ready for a busy day tomorrow.

'Hello again'. Nhat had his needed surgery in November

and he is another Go Vap hydrocephalus survivor.

Cathy Lam with some new friends.

Studying is so much fun.

Begin on back row second from right: Judy Pham (KWB), Leanne Tran (Melbourne, Australia), and Mrs. Truc. Leanne and Truc are KWB volunteer teachers.