Volunteering with the Orphans

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Well I have finished the 2 weeks volutneering in Hai Duong (about 1 hour from Hanoi) with the orphans and with disabled children at the social welfare centre. When we arrived it was a bit surprising to find that we got bunk beds to sleep on (versus the floor in Hanoi) but I was told there were sleeping mats which there were in Hanoi but not in Hai Duong. So we sleep on wood beds with a straw wooven mat, I guess that is what they call sleeping mats perhaps?!!?. It is an art form for sure to sleep on a wood bed, and although most of us were actually starting to show bruises on our sides, in the end I was able to actually get a decent nights sleep! We also had no pillows but someone left a airline pillow which I snatched up and used. I also just used some clothes to add extra bulk and it was smooth sailing.

The second day there i became quite ill with a fever, headache, nausea etc. The room was about 35 degrees and only one ceiling fan in the room so it was not a very fun first few days, but the other volunteers took very good care of me and were very concerned for my health. One of the Belgian girls (Jelene) gave me her sleeping mat which was so so amazing of her. that is the only way I could stand laying for 2 days in wooden bed! So thank you thank you Jelene, you are my hero!! Although sleeping like the locals is part of the experience (i.e. when in rome...right!) so we all survived no problem!
The Vietnamese volunteers kept wanting to take me to the doctor but I declined, took some of my anti-biotics and was better in a few days. Although the chest cold has hung on and I am still coughing 2 weeks later but I think that the pollution contributes to that a bit.


So we stayed at a social welfare center which houses an orphanage and also residence for some disabled children (mostly deaf, some with Downs Syndrome, other developmental problems) and older orphans. Some just come to the center for school and go home for weekends and holidays and others live here. In the morning I taught english to the disabled/orphaned older children, then in the afternoon I took care of the babies in the orphanage. It was so so emotional at times. The kids were very challenging and sometimes they didn't listen to us when we are teaching. We did have a local volunteer who translates for us and she says the kids sometimes say rude things and they misbehave. But they were just being kids, and some of them have a lot of problems so we tried not to let it get us down. It is hard to be told to just "teach english" when we are not teachers, have no supplies except for a chalkboard and chalk, and no curriculum or guidelines or anything. It is pretty recently that this place started taking volunteers anyway but it is pretty disorganized at times.

The babies are so so cute...I want to bring one home...well not really but I wish I could find them all homes. There are so many babies in the world who need families to love them. It is sad...the babies sleep on the same kind of beds as we did and since they spend so much time on their backs they have bruises on their backsides and hips...not because they are abused but the nannies do the best they can. They are loving and attentive. When we were there, there were 3 canadian families adopting which was really cool, although sadly I didn't get to meet them becuase they had left already by the time I got there. So it was sad to see the babies leave but happy because we knew they were getting a much brighter future ahead. The babies also have flat head because they lay so much. I cried, more than once. So I hold them as much as I can for the time I am there. The don't have diapers just cloth to wrap around them, but they get changed really quickly usually. But I have been pooped on, peed on, puked on...but it is great. They are so sweet and when they smile or laugh, my heart melts just a little. The social welfare center was really tight with security and it makes us feel like we are in prison a little bit. We had to schedule a week in advance where and when we were going out. But it worked out ok.

In the town we were in (Hai Duong) there are never any foreigners so we felt a bit like celebrities because the locals would constantly stare at us...in the grocery store, on the street, in the internet cafe. It was a bit much at times to be stared at because you think "what, do i have something in my teeth" but no. Miranda a fellow Canadian, was asked to shake someones hand and he didn't want to let go. He had never touched a white person before we think...it was a bit bizzare but we just went with it! When Becky and I were in Angkor Wat some Asians asked to have a photo taken with us in it...a little weird but slightly flattering i suppose!


The other volunteers are amazing. I met great people from Canada, Belgium, the USA, Korea, and Vietnam. The 2 girls from Belgium were....get this...OT students!! So amazing...no one I ever meet knows what OT is, let alone are one!! They were Jelene and Liesbeth and were so so nice and I miss them already! I taught english with a great Korean named Miri who was so sweet as well. Communication was again sometimes interesting and at the end were were not sure if the Vietnamese volutneers were correctly translating simply because they misunderstood what we were saying. I think I am speaking in very simple sentences and really slowly now out of habit of speaking with so many non-native english speakers!

Oh...the food...is awful. Truly...these people eat the same foods all day, everyday. And that is not an exaggeration sadly, and it is not good. They cooked for us at the orphanage so we didn't have a choice. We bought stuff at the grocery store and that helped. The other canadian Miranda and the american girl Julia, we went and bought (don't laugh) a jar of spaghetti sauce (we were SO stoked to find it) and a baguette (which of course was sweet...all Asian bread is sweet...ugh) and some Laughing Cow cheese and dipped the bread in the sauce and put cheese on it for supper one night...it was the best thing I had ever tasted in about 2 weeks! Sad...but we enjoyed it so so much...we really should have taken a photo. Then we did ask them and we had an "Italian Night" which was pasta with tomato sauce and garlic bread. In Hanoi this week we cook for ourselves but buy everthing at the local market so it is again the same foods. I am glad I like rice!

So I finished up at the orphanage last friday and am now in Hanoi at the Children's hospital. I will write separately on that later on. I have posted pics from the orphanage on facebook...it is too hard to do it 2 places sometimes so please check out facebook for pics.

Keep the messages and emails coming...I love hearing what is going on at home.

Miss you all and much love!

Still rockin' it and livin' the dream...
Carla
xxoo

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Comments

[Cindy]

Volunteering with the Orphans
YOU are my hero...thank goodness there are people in this world who care to make a difference! Teaching english, being with the kids, buying some new toys for them...I know I've said this before, but...YOU ROCK! I am proud to be your friend! Miss you lots! Cindy