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Published: April 2nd 2008
The Greeting
Hard to hold back tears with a 'hello' like this We traveled from Chau Doc to a village by the name of Hoa Lac, where our school is located. A 7 mile drive took two hours! To say "the road was bumpy" is an understatement. You can ask my cousin Helen who got carsick twice! We began to hand out candy, suckers, balloons and other goodies to the kids along the road through our windows. At one point, the narrow dirt road traveled through a small rice business... one of our buses was too big to fit through all the bags of rice. Everyone had to get out of the bus and rearrange the 225 pound bags of rice so it could fit through. Because the rest of our vans were at a dead stop during the rice rearranging, we were able to get out of our van and hand these kids a few small gifts and really interact with them and their families. These kids have so few personal posessions and something as small as a balloon just absolutely made their day. It just really touched my heart.
Then we finally reached the school! It was so rewarding to finally see it. The entrance way was lined with
Abby in the streets
The dirt road to the school was lined with houses -- when the vans got held up -- the kids went out to say hello to the people gathering there. cheering kids... clapping, drumming, waving flags and singing. I teared up seeing all these kids so happy, and knowing I played a part in making that happen. There was a beautiful ceremony of dedicating the school, where children sang, and representatives from the school spoke. Many people from Kids Building Hope even got to cut the ribbon on the school! It felt so good to see all these people gathered to celebrate the school. After the dedication, the kids lined up and we handed out backpacks, school supplies and the noodles we had bought yesterday with money donated from family and friends. The kids were so appreciative. It was humbling to see each kid bow to us and thank us as they took their gifts. After we handed out the gifts, we went into one of the classrooms where the younger children sang for us. Then my brother and cousin along with a Friends of Danang member started a four square game with the boys. My sister and I talked with the kids. Most of the older kids spoke a little english, pretty impressive. They knew enough to answer your standardized small talk questions... we learned eachother's names and ages...
narrow passage
See the rice warehouse in the background -- one bus was too wide to pass. People pitched in to move rice bags and get the bus through. and smiled a lot. After about an hour of hanging around these sweet kids, we bid farewell to them and their school. As we pulled out in the vans, the kids formed a line waving good-bye to us.
I felt sad to leave, but filled with hope... which I guess is pretty fitting.
Carly
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Mars. Gruber
non-member comment
So Happy for You and PROUD!
What a wonderful day for your group! You have been on our minds all day. We said special prayers for all of you today and the kindergarteners and the second graders from Our Lady of Peace went to Mass today to pray for all of you and especially for the children at the new school! We will be eager to see you!