Thailand Orphanage

I read a blog today from a team that is currently in Thailand. They are working in an orphanage in Ho Chi Minh. It broke my heart to read. I work at St. Lukes Hospital at Children’s Therapy and it really kills me to see how different our countries are in thier healthcare. Even in our society where the economic system is failing, we still have great healthcare compared to this. Here is the LINK to the original post.

 

Mom, Dad…I’m in love…with 35 Vietnamese newborn orphans. My team had the privilege of working at one of the government run orphanages in Ho Chi Minh. This place houses hundreds of orphans ranging from 1-day-old to 17 years old.  Most of them come to the orphanage because they are given up by their parents or have even been abandoned on the street. The majority of the children have some type of disability or malformation on their bodies.

      The other rooms are for the older children….mentally disabled children who have to be tied to their beds to be restrained. As horrible as this sounds and is, it is the ONLY way to keep these children safe from themselves and from others.  I cannot stress to you how different it is here than in the states. Having grown up with a mother who works with special needs children and seeing the facilities in the schools for them, Vietnamese special needs children are not as fortunate. BUT they are fed, cared for, and loved on by the nurses, which is much more than they would receive if they were not here.
      As I walked by each crib ever day, I found it harder and harder to understand why a mother would give up her child. I understand there are certainly valid reasons when a mother does not have any means to support the child, but a lot of these children were abandoned just because of their disability.  Their disabilities and malformations ranged from enlarged heads, lack of motor skills to even paralysis and severe brain damage. Their mental disabilities were across the chart, but the majority will never lead a “normal” life.
      We have seen some very sad situations along the way, but something about seeing a helpless baby can REALLY get to your core and make you question WHY these things happen and WHY these babies and children were left like this…