….Well I can, but not really “type” about it. I don’t want to get the people or organization in trouble. But what I can tell you is this….
This month my team and I worked with an organization that partners with government-run orphanages and a child therapy center, supporting them financially and sometimes voluntarily. They also have a group home for girls who have aged out of orphanages.
The therapy center works mostly with children who haev cerebral palsy, but there are also deaf/mute children, and a possible few with brain injuries or malformations. What’s amazing is that there are full-time therapists at the center who work with the parents of the children, teaching them how to help strengthen and care for their children in their own homes. The light in all of their faces as we would arrive, simply to spend time with them, is not something I could easily forget. While there, we did crafts with them, we played frizbee with them, and sometimes got to talk to the moms through our translator. What’s so different about Vietnam than some of the other Asian countries we have been to is the love that parents have for their children here, especially fathers!
We did many different things in the orphanages we went to. We painted doors, shutters, a metal garage, and even some poles. Those things got us in the door, but what was the best about our time there was having fun with the children, doing V_S with them. By this I mean we taught them stories/passages from the Bible, but we had to leave out reference to God and Jesus. For example, we taught them how mighty and important each of them are using the story of Gideon. We also taught them the importance of forgiveness using the parable of the Unforgiving Servant. So on and so forth.
The group home, as I said, is for young ladies who have aged out of their orphanages. This is a time in their lives when they are so susceptable to human trafficking. The group home is the only place where we were actually allowed to talk about Jesus, because the government has no involvement with the home. With our time with the girls we taught them the same stories we did with the children, which also included the Lost Sheep and the Prodigal Son. We wanted to show them how important they are to their Heavenly Father.
I think I got closest with the house mother, a very kind and loving woman in her 30s who takes care of the home and the girls. She truly loves them as if they were her blood. She has such a beautiful and youthful spirit, and she desires to know The Lord more. I’m surely going to miss her.
Overall, my time with this organization has been a bit all over the place. Almost every single day, we never really knew what we were doing until we were in the moment. This was very challenging for us sometimes, not knowing a definite plan. But we also had some of the best times. Games, storytime, and crafts with the children….sharing our personal stories with the girls at the home….getting to know the workers in the office….these are some of my favorite memories I take away from Vietnam.
