Hey, I hope this works. Sophie's uploaded some photos just should just be able to click on the link;
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=114938&id=503754742&l=4bda43e88b
Thats some from the centre, and this one is from our time in Bangkok, hope you can see them!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=115379&id=503754742&l=967301fdfc
Will write soon x x x
Monday 26 October 2009
Thursday 22 October 2009
Me and Nhi
We've just finished our second week so half way there now. Our good friend Betty has just left, she's 68, an Aussie grandma who swam for an hour everyday while we lazed by the pool! It’s her third time volunteering for CNCF, a great woman.Just writing to keep you up to date with our activities this week.
Me and Soph made an impromptu visit to the hospital, (even as injury prone as we both are it wasn't for us!). Because of language barriers we had no idea where we were going on what was going on. We were given a baby each and lead into a taxi - not very health and safety conscious as we were driving through town with no seat belts or baby seats. We seemed to be fast tracked through this paediatric hospital with hundreds of kids and parents waiting. Interestingly we were each handed a record book for each child and then we found out who was a boy or a girl from the colour! Sophie had Kui who we always call Tufty and I had Kaa who was named Elmo for the day - far easier to remember! So we eventually figure out we were there for vaccinations, they had them very quickly and efficiently and we trundled back to the centre.
I went to a cultural park last Thursday with some kids from the Sunshine School. It’s a primary school set on the ground floor of the centre. It has 3 classroom and 127 kids who go everyday in 3 different batches. Most Vietnam schools are free but if the parents can't afford the uniform then the kids can't go. The difference with the Sunshine School is that the uniform is free so no-one is excluded. We took 15 kids to this theme park/zoo for the day. Some kids dressed in their finery, the majority stayed in uniforms, I was later told this was because that is their 'best' item of clothing. The park like most things in Vietnam (roads, music, fashion) was 20 years behind the time, we saw performing monkeys, elephants and even bears :( no very nice. But it was great to take the kids out and give them a proper meal and ice cream. We still haven't delegated any of the money yet and we only have a week left. I'm looking into getting a wheelchair for a little girl called Nhi (in the picture above). She's very beautiful and looks a lot like a younger Cara. Her legs don't work from the knees down, she stays at the centre in the day to get some respite from home. Her future will be shuffling around on the floor or using a makeshift skateboard when outside like we've seen some of the vendors use when they are selling on the streets. But obviously need to look into her home life and see if it’s appropriate.
Soph should hopefully be writing soon, she went to one of the CNCF province centres for blind children and no doubt she will talk about Ngoc (or Gokky as Soph likes to say) her new friend.
Monday 12 October 2009
Agent Orange
So we had a great party on Thursday, pin the tail on the donkey was very popular! The kids were on their best behavior in their (all matching) party clothes. It was such a special treat for them to have fruit, crisps, coke and birthday cake - something we all took for granted at our own birthdays. (The kids have one en-masse birthday celebration for all over them in the year.) We did pay the price the next day with all the kids grumpy from coming off their sugar high!
In the evening we headed to do some Karaoke, a massive thing over here. They charge you to rent a private room with a massive screen (but unfortunetly no Elton John and Kiki Dee!)
We've had a sight seeing weekend going to the War Remnants Museum, where we saw the horrific aftermath and was happened and is still happening to the people of Vietnam during the war. The main thing to hit home was 'Agent Orange' this was where the Americans literally crop dusted thousands of miles with horrific chemicals. These chemicals are still in the soil and water in some areas even 20 years later. Because of this some of our kids in the centre were born with disabilities, its still affecting the people here.
We also went to the Chu Chi tunnels where 16,000 Vietnamese lived in 200 kilometers of tunnels under the America's noses. There tunnels were so intricate and clever with traps, dead ends and some so small in size they had to crawl on their stomachs to travel around and they lived down there for 20 years!
We've had some thoughts on the generous donations we had. None of the children own anything of their own, the oldest resident Wang, aged 9 was given his own pair of trainers yesterday and went mental about them! Also all of their shoes need replacing. Because of swine flu we aren't allowed to take them out of the compound and the only outside area doesn't have any toys so we are looking into that as well.
Hope everyone's ok, take care x x
In the evening we headed to do some Karaoke, a massive thing over here. They charge you to rent a private room with a massive screen (but unfortunetly no Elton John and Kiki Dee!)
We've had a sight seeing weekend going to the War Remnants Museum, where we saw the horrific aftermath and was happened and is still happening to the people of Vietnam during the war. The main thing to hit home was 'Agent Orange' this was where the Americans literally crop dusted thousands of miles with horrific chemicals. These chemicals are still in the soil and water in some areas even 20 years later. Because of this some of our kids in the centre were born with disabilities, its still affecting the people here.
We also went to the Chu Chi tunnels where 16,000 Vietnamese lived in 200 kilometers of tunnels under the America's noses. There tunnels were so intricate and clever with traps, dead ends and some so small in size they had to crawl on their stomachs to travel around and they lived down there for 20 years!
We've had some thoughts on the generous donations we had. None of the children own anything of their own, the oldest resident Wang, aged 9 was given his own pair of trainers yesterday and went mental about them! Also all of their shoes need replacing. Because of swine flu we aren't allowed to take them out of the compound and the only outside area doesn't have any toys so we are looking into that as well.
Hope everyone's ok, take care x x
Wednesday 7 October 2009
Met Christina Today!
Well we met the woman herself today (and Sophie got thrown up on, but that's another story!) Christina Noble was in the centre today doing some filming for a feature length documentary. She's a very charismatic (and very Irish) lady. First thing she said to us was, "what do you hope to bring here...? You're gonna love the babies right? You know love is the most powerful weapon you've got, use it wisely..." Stuff of dreams my friends, the stuff of dreams! Love to everyone and you can now leave comments so feel free to do so xx
Tuesday 6 October 2009
A week into the big adventure...
897 views, thanks everyone for supporting the blog!
So its just over a week into the big adventure, we reached our destination of Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) yesterday with an early flight from Bangkok. No upgrade this time but a helfy 7956 Baht fee for our extra bags ( I'll let you work that one out!) Serves us right for booking with a budget airline - thanks AirAsia! But aside from that we are now both millionaires: its 20,000 Vietnamese Dong (VD) to the pound!
We've had our first morning in the centreand I sat and wrote this at a very luxurious pool chilling in our lunch hour (11 - 2, beat that Paddy!) for the whole sum of 20,000 VD each!
We are now decked out in our CNCF t-shirts (Sophie is all about the uniform) and our facemasks; the government have stipulated our need to wear them because of swine flu. Which isn't too comfy in the 30 degree heat but the kids can always tell when we are smiling. Also mine was pulled off by a baby 30 secs into helping out in the creche!
We were first introduced to the babies; there were around 30, playing in a pen, others lined up in seats, some in their cots. They are brought in from the 300 some projects in the country becuase they need extra healthcare or are malnutritioned. Some are orphaned and will go back to the orphanges, few are picked up every weekend to go home.
Our roles basically are to play, cuddle and assist with the role of the full time vietnamese employed carers. We help feed, change (reuseable) nappies, brush teeth and put to sleep. There are a few characters emerging early on but we are under strict instructions not to become attached to just one child as when its time for us to leave it brings further disruption to their already hard lives.
We have been shown the middle floor where the children aged 2 - 4 stay. They have a lot of toys, the facilities are very clean and modern. It seems amazing that this was all created by one womean over 20 years ago (hope you've all had chance to read the books...)
Our volunteer co-ordinator Helene was astounded by the bags we brought. We are both glad that they made it to their final home in one piece. Each individual item is registered then delegated to the 300 projects to who need them most. We took out the essential party gear; baloons, bubbles, streamers etc as it is Sophie's and another volunteers birthday on Thursday! We are having a birthday party with the 3rd floor children; the kindergardeners, with games, food, the works - very excited and also it will be such a treat for the kids. It will be maybe the only oppertunity to take photos of the centre as that is prohibited unless its a special occasion. THis is ebcuase there are so many visitors it wouldn't be fair on the children.
That's what we've got to look forward to as well as the 3 hour lunch breaks by the pool! Hopefully I should be able to post photos up soon.
Thanks again everyone, we sill can't belive we are here!
Please visit http://www.cncf.org/ if you want to donate to the charity and also for Sarah's birthday she is donating all her birthday money to buying a bounce for the centre for the babies (to help strengthen their legs) her website is; http://www.justgiving.co.uk/buyabounce/
So its just over a week into the big adventure, we reached our destination of Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) yesterday with an early flight from Bangkok. No upgrade this time but a helfy 7956 Baht fee for our extra bags ( I'll let you work that one out!) Serves us right for booking with a budget airline - thanks AirAsia! But aside from that we are now both millionaires: its 20,000 Vietnamese Dong (VD) to the pound!
We've had our first morning in the centreand I sat and wrote this at a very luxurious pool chilling in our lunch hour (11 - 2, beat that Paddy!) for the whole sum of 20,000 VD each!
We are now decked out in our CNCF t-shirts (Sophie is all about the uniform) and our facemasks; the government have stipulated our need to wear them because of swine flu. Which isn't too comfy in the 30 degree heat but the kids can always tell when we are smiling. Also mine was pulled off by a baby 30 secs into helping out in the creche!
We were first introduced to the babies; there were around 30, playing in a pen, others lined up in seats, some in their cots. They are brought in from the 300 some projects in the country becuase they need extra healthcare or are malnutritioned. Some are orphaned and will go back to the orphanges, few are picked up every weekend to go home.
Our roles basically are to play, cuddle and assist with the role of the full time vietnamese employed carers. We help feed, change (reuseable) nappies, brush teeth and put to sleep. There are a few characters emerging early on but we are under strict instructions not to become attached to just one child as when its time for us to leave it brings further disruption to their already hard lives.
We have been shown the middle floor where the children aged 2 - 4 stay. They have a lot of toys, the facilities are very clean and modern. It seems amazing that this was all created by one womean over 20 years ago (hope you've all had chance to read the books...)
Our volunteer co-ordinator Helene was astounded by the bags we brought. We are both glad that they made it to their final home in one piece. Each individual item is registered then delegated to the 300 projects to who need them most. We took out the essential party gear; baloons, bubbles, streamers etc as it is Sophie's and another volunteers birthday on Thursday! We are having a birthday party with the 3rd floor children; the kindergardeners, with games, food, the works - very excited and also it will be such a treat for the kids. It will be maybe the only oppertunity to take photos of the centre as that is prohibited unless its a special occasion. THis is ebcuase there are so many visitors it wouldn't be fair on the children.
That's what we've got to look forward to as well as the 3 hour lunch breaks by the pool! Hopefully I should be able to post photos up soon.
Thanks again everyone, we sill can't belive we are here!
Please visit http://www.cncf.org/ if you want to donate to the charity and also for Sarah's birthday she is donating all her birthday money to buying a bounce for the centre for the babies (to help strengthen their legs) her website is; http://www.justgiving.co.uk/buyabounce/
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