there's a lot to be happy about, so here's a short list:
>Not firstly, but most immediately, I'm wearing jeans for the first time in almost ten months, you really don't know how good that feels!
>And as of today, The Fundraiser is over. Which means C-dawg will be returning to VN verrrrrrrry soon with tons and tons of cash. And we get to see her again, that will be amazing!
>We're on the brink of exterminating scabies from the Baby Orphanage, I hope. And the nits are on their way out of both orphanages too. I think that's something the kids will appreciate!
>Although I will be heartbroken leaving here, I'm going home soon. And I can't wait to see everyone.
>My worms are gone! Happy happy days. And judging by how well I've been feeling the last week or so, I'm guessing I may have had them (or whatever it was) for quite some time - maybe seven months?
>The Four Agreements.
> It's St. Patrick's Day on Tuesday, and I might be getting some Guinness...!
Fin.
Friday, 13 March 2009
Sunday, 8 March 2009
happy women's day
it's big news here, so it got me thinking about all the amazing women I know.
*the woman who seems to be made entirely of love. who has gone above and beyond the call of duty in every role she has ever had and left everybody she's ever cared for or helped with a feeling of actually being cared about.
*the woman who, although she is not a single mother by choice, has raised four of the most beautiful children I have ever met and has always loved them, not just with the strength of two but of hundreds.
*all the women who have chosen to be single mothers. and two in particular, one almost twenty years ago and the other after years of heartbreak and suffering.
*my two designer friends who took the chance the recession gave them and have showed a woman's true flexibility - one's now a college lecturer and the other a logistics manager.
*the woman who packed up all her glitter and skipped to LDN in a bold act of faith.
*the movie maker/journalist woman of all-round-awesomeness who I wish I'd been more like back in the day.
*the woman who will celebrate her son's first birthday this week, who took a potential tragedy and has turned it into a fountain of information, support and love for anybody who wants it.
*the woman who made one of the biggest aesthetic sacrifices any woman can make and lost all of her hair for the benefit almost 150 children - and inspired many more adults in the process.
*the woman who left her heart behind in VN to go home and earn money to make her dreams come true and was brave enough to fall in love anyway.
*the woman who rarely takes even an hour off from her work to change and improve the lives of almost 400 children in VN.
*the women who haven't let past heartbreaks break their hearts forever. and particularly the one who had the faith and courage to hold on to hope from somewhere in Brazil long enough to not let it slip through her fingers, long may it last!
*the woman who finally got 'round to getting to university in her forties and get the degree and the job that she was always meant to.
*the woman who took a risk because she could, saw the troubled times through and who I now think, and hope, can say it really was worth it.
*the woman who has been a surrogate mum to hundreds of children and volunteers and taken care of me every day for the last four months - always with the biggest heart and smile!
that is to mention but a few of the exceptional women I have the honour of knowing.
you have all inspired me and I hope you are all inspired by the exceptional women you have in your lives.
and then there are all the women who will never read this. the ones I have met since I got here, those who have lived through not just one war but a lifetime of them. who have lost husbands brothers and sons but yet retained their dignity, beauty and will to live. the women who grew up in the midst of war but have not let hatred taint their lives. and of course, the little women of the future, the ones who inspire me to get out of my bed every morning.
I can only wish for them, and every young girl and woman in the world, a role model - at least one woman to inspire them to be strong, independent, loving and everything else they have the potential to be.
*the woman who seems to be made entirely of love. who has gone above and beyond the call of duty in every role she has ever had and left everybody she's ever cared for or helped with a feeling of actually being cared about.
*the woman who, although she is not a single mother by choice, has raised four of the most beautiful children I have ever met and has always loved them, not just with the strength of two but of hundreds.
*all the women who have chosen to be single mothers. and two in particular, one almost twenty years ago and the other after years of heartbreak and suffering.
*my two designer friends who took the chance the recession gave them and have showed a woman's true flexibility - one's now a college lecturer and the other a logistics manager.
*the woman who packed up all her glitter and skipped to LDN in a bold act of faith.
*the movie maker/journalist woman of all-round-awesomeness who I wish I'd been more like back in the day.
*the woman who will celebrate her son's first birthday this week, who took a potential tragedy and has turned it into a fountain of information, support and love for anybody who wants it.
*the woman who made one of the biggest aesthetic sacrifices any woman can make and lost all of her hair for the benefit almost 150 children - and inspired many more adults in the process.
*the woman who left her heart behind in VN to go home and earn money to make her dreams come true and was brave enough to fall in love anyway.
*the woman who rarely takes even an hour off from her work to change and improve the lives of almost 400 children in VN.
*the women who haven't let past heartbreaks break their hearts forever. and particularly the one who had the faith and courage to hold on to hope from somewhere in Brazil long enough to not let it slip through her fingers, long may it last!
*the woman who finally got 'round to getting to university in her forties and get the degree and the job that she was always meant to.
*the woman who took a risk because she could, saw the troubled times through and who I now think, and hope, can say it really was worth it.
*the woman who has been a surrogate mum to hundreds of children and volunteers and taken care of me every day for the last four months - always with the biggest heart and smile!
that is to mention but a few of the exceptional women I have the honour of knowing.
you have all inspired me and I hope you are all inspired by the exceptional women you have in your lives.
and then there are all the women who will never read this. the ones I have met since I got here, those who have lived through not just one war but a lifetime of them. who have lost husbands brothers and sons but yet retained their dignity, beauty and will to live. the women who grew up in the midst of war but have not let hatred taint their lives. and of course, the little women of the future, the ones who inspire me to get out of my bed every morning.
I can only wish for them, and every young girl and woman in the world, a role model - at least one woman to inspire them to be strong, independent, loving and everything else they have the potential to be.
Thursday, 5 March 2009
this minute
what's going on
I think my blogs are sometimes not exactly stories from my travels so much as questions raised and random thoughts...
So, here's a really quick update of what's going on here.
We're about to eradicate scabies from the baby orphanage hopefully. Damn, it's been a long time coming seeing as we can't get the appropriate treatment in Viet Nam but some of this month's volunteers brought some with them and hopefully it will be sorted soon.
We're working on a plan to get rid of the head lice at Home of Affection. How? They all go out every day to school, where most of the other kids have nits too. But we can't do nothing.
The library at Home of Affection is going amazingly! The kids love reading so so much, it's amazing we never thought of it sooner. I worry how it will go when I'm gone seeing as it's a difficult enough melee to manage but the kids know the score at this stage so I guess they'll be able to help the future volunteers.
The daily activities at Baby Orphanage is rocking their socks! Mondays we do music. Tuesdays are sports days. Wednesday is crafts. Thursday is dressup and then Friday is catchup on a day we ended up missing or a random mix of everything or 'spa day' or whatever. They love it so much. I think dress up is the one they love the most. But we're hoping that sports day will teach them some games they can play together when we're not there. It's not as common as you might think for them to play together. There are a few couples of best friends but mostly they sort of seem to hang out alone, or in the babies room helping out. It's a pity really.
My class at Home of Affection are doing so well with their English. They were actually scarily quiet and attentive this evening. Usually I have to do a little pleading to get them to sit down but they were all up for it tonight. And they've almost got Three Blind Mice down pat. Apart from Khanh who is just too cool for singing.......Gah!
Sofia reached her $10,000 goal for her headshave, amazing, wonderful and beautiful! Her hair is growing at the rate of knots. Although Tam, a most beautiful four month old girl at BO still has longer hair than her after getting her crazy mohawk chopped off.
We're spending that dosh like you wouldn't believe too. Buying cribs, mattresses, new kitchen utensils and bowls/spoons etc. Nappies, babywipes and all that jazz are on the monthly expenditure list now and well, it won't last forever but it's going to go a long long way.
And my calendar, designed by the lovely Ems and sold by my awesome folks, has brought in approx $5,000. When I think about it, it's crazy! When I decided to stay I really didn't have the money to pay for my accommodation etc. But I figured that I was coming here to do a good job and that the universe is perfect and I would trust that it work out ok. I was hoping to raise about $1,200 maybe, if I was lucky. Man, was I lucky! And the kids too, that money has bought so much, you wouldn't believe. I have a list of everything though!
The kids at Disabled Hospital are continuing to make progress and make us believe in the baby massage and physio goals that Roz taught us all while she was here. It's amazing to see some of them improve so much in such a short space of time. Sinh is actually focussing on faces now and not just his fingers and he's talking and moving and getting really angry at the hot weather!
Although I don't have favourite kids, or at least don't show favouratism, I'll give a wee rundown on a few of the mitchers.
Hieu seems to be over his bellyaches. It was really getting him down for ages but he's not nearly as clingy as he used to be, happy days for him. He's a three year old version of Brad Pitt as far as I'm concerned. Gorgeous!
Choi is now getting ready to start walking. I took her into training for it a few weeks ago and they've had to move her into a bigger crib to stop her climbing out now. Nice work!
Han, the beautiful five year old little lady with CP is going great guns wth her new family in Texas. She's even going to school now, which with her attention span and demand for attention I can imagine is difficult but I'm sure she loves it.
Thao has started calling round to the house a lot. I worry it will do her more harm than good when I'm gone, incase the volunteers don't let her in but she's just such a sweetheart I can't refuse her. Maybe I'll start shortening her visits soon. But combing all the lice out of her head on Monday afternoon and letting her take a shower here was just to easy to not to. She's nine and she really don't smell so good usually, it couldn't hurt for her to have a hot shower once in her life could it?
And of course, it's never all good. The scabies has really taken it's toll on all the kids, it's so awful. Listening to Sofi articulate how bad she feels and then comparing how her skin looks to theirs made me realise how awful they must actually feel. They had blisters and everything. Covered.
Sofi and Mr Tuan had to take a six year old girl to the hospital today - she's been sick for a year and her poor poor parents in the mountains didn't realise there was anything they could do for her. It might be too late to really repair the damage, her spine is curved right over from lying in pain all day every day not moving. It doesn't bear thinking about - her pain or the helplessness her parents must be feeling. They're from so far up in the mountains they don't even speak much Vietnamese, (they have their own language in many hilltribes). It must be so difficult for them.
For all the good work we're doing it's still never enough for some kids. In Da Nang, four kids have run away from the Social Support Centre in the last week. GVN needs to set up it's own foster home asap, but that's going to be very diffcult. Paperwork will be the least of the worries.
Ok, so if you're not bored by now, I'll update this with some pictures soon.
As always, thanks y'all for reading.
I think my blogs are sometimes not exactly stories from my travels so much as questions raised and random thoughts...
So, here's a really quick update of what's going on here.
We're about to eradicate scabies from the baby orphanage hopefully. Damn, it's been a long time coming seeing as we can't get the appropriate treatment in Viet Nam but some of this month's volunteers brought some with them and hopefully it will be sorted soon.
We're working on a plan to get rid of the head lice at Home of Affection. How? They all go out every day to school, where most of the other kids have nits too. But we can't do nothing.
The library at Home of Affection is going amazingly! The kids love reading so so much, it's amazing we never thought of it sooner. I worry how it will go when I'm gone seeing as it's a difficult enough melee to manage but the kids know the score at this stage so I guess they'll be able to help the future volunteers.
The daily activities at Baby Orphanage is rocking their socks! Mondays we do music. Tuesdays are sports days. Wednesday is crafts. Thursday is dressup and then Friday is catchup on a day we ended up missing or a random mix of everything or 'spa day' or whatever. They love it so much. I think dress up is the one they love the most. But we're hoping that sports day will teach them some games they can play together when we're not there. It's not as common as you might think for them to play together. There are a few couples of best friends but mostly they sort of seem to hang out alone, or in the babies room helping out. It's a pity really.
My class at Home of Affection are doing so well with their English. They were actually scarily quiet and attentive this evening. Usually I have to do a little pleading to get them to sit down but they were all up for it tonight. And they've almost got Three Blind Mice down pat. Apart from Khanh who is just too cool for singing.......Gah!
Sofia reached her $10,000 goal for her headshave, amazing, wonderful and beautiful! Her hair is growing at the rate of knots. Although Tam, a most beautiful four month old girl at BO still has longer hair than her after getting her crazy mohawk chopped off.
We're spending that dosh like you wouldn't believe too. Buying cribs, mattresses, new kitchen utensils and bowls/spoons etc. Nappies, babywipes and all that jazz are on the monthly expenditure list now and well, it won't last forever but it's going to go a long long way.
And my calendar, designed by the lovely Ems and sold by my awesome folks, has brought in approx $5,000. When I think about it, it's crazy! When I decided to stay I really didn't have the money to pay for my accommodation etc. But I figured that I was coming here to do a good job and that the universe is perfect and I would trust that it work out ok. I was hoping to raise about $1,200 maybe, if I was lucky. Man, was I lucky! And the kids too, that money has bought so much, you wouldn't believe. I have a list of everything though!
The kids at Disabled Hospital are continuing to make progress and make us believe in the baby massage and physio goals that Roz taught us all while she was here. It's amazing to see some of them improve so much in such a short space of time. Sinh is actually focussing on faces now and not just his fingers and he's talking and moving and getting really angry at the hot weather!
Although I don't have favourite kids, or at least don't show favouratism, I'll give a wee rundown on a few of the mitchers.
Hieu seems to be over his bellyaches. It was really getting him down for ages but he's not nearly as clingy as he used to be, happy days for him. He's a three year old version of Brad Pitt as far as I'm concerned. Gorgeous!
Choi is now getting ready to start walking. I took her into training for it a few weeks ago and they've had to move her into a bigger crib to stop her climbing out now. Nice work!
Han, the beautiful five year old little lady with CP is going great guns wth her new family in Texas. She's even going to school now, which with her attention span and demand for attention I can imagine is difficult but I'm sure she loves it.
Thao has started calling round to the house a lot. I worry it will do her more harm than good when I'm gone, incase the volunteers don't let her in but she's just such a sweetheart I can't refuse her. Maybe I'll start shortening her visits soon. But combing all the lice out of her head on Monday afternoon and letting her take a shower here was just to easy to not to. She's nine and she really don't smell so good usually, it couldn't hurt for her to have a hot shower once in her life could it?
And of course, it's never all good. The scabies has really taken it's toll on all the kids, it's so awful. Listening to Sofi articulate how bad she feels and then comparing how her skin looks to theirs made me realise how awful they must actually feel. They had blisters and everything. Covered.
Sofi and Mr Tuan had to take a six year old girl to the hospital today - she's been sick for a year and her poor poor parents in the mountains didn't realise there was anything they could do for her. It might be too late to really repair the damage, her spine is curved right over from lying in pain all day every day not moving. It doesn't bear thinking about - her pain or the helplessness her parents must be feeling. They're from so far up in the mountains they don't even speak much Vietnamese, (they have their own language in many hilltribes). It must be so difficult for them.
For all the good work we're doing it's still never enough for some kids. In Da Nang, four kids have run away from the Social Support Centre in the last week. GVN needs to set up it's own foster home asap, but that's going to be very diffcult. Paperwork will be the least of the worries.
Ok, so if you're not bored by now, I'll update this with some pictures soon.
As always, thanks y'all for reading.
Wednesday, 4 March 2009
the future
and how old do you have to be before you're called a 'grown up'?
I'm leaving Viet Nam soon. Well, it's still almost eight weeks but it feels like it's very soon. I'm finishing up with GVN at the end of this month and then spend April in Hoi An helping Carrie to get herself set up for her work in her new foundation.
Then I go to Saigon for Mrs Hanh's brother's (possibly the most handsome man in Viet Nam, Sofi and I are sorry to see him go from our grasps!) wedding at the end of April and sometime soon after that, home.
I can't wait to go home. Although, I really do think it will break my heart quite a lot to leave here. And I'm very sure I will be more homesick for here than I ever was for home. I think a part of that is that I have no idea when I'll get back here, although I know without a shadow of a doubt that I will sometime. There was always the definite fact that I would be going home, even though the dates kept changing.
And then when I get there, wow, I've no idea what happens next. With no job and no real career, no car, no money, no house I don't know where I'll start. At least I guess, I won't have any debt so that's something. I had always thought as a teenager that at 25, I would have some of this stuff sorted...!
But/
I start my new 'job' here tomorrow as an English teacher at the local university. It's three hours a week at $15 an hour. That's $45 a week! Do you know what I could do with $45 a week?! Wow!
Tonight, I gave Lorraine, one of the new volunteers, a massage and she said afterward that it " was the best massage I've ever had (she's 63), it's all I could ever want or need in a massage". How cool is that? And then when Carrie gets back here, I'm going to be helping her with some design concepts for her new restaurant she's setting up here.
So, I could maybe teach English, I could maybe study massage/physio or something in that vein and practice? I could maybe, hopefully work as a designer in there somewhere but really, I have no idea. First things first, I think I'll be going to spend some time with all the people I've missed so much while I've been here and hope that the homesickness for this new home doesn't bore all of them!
Oh yeah, and I suppose, eventually, I'd like to actually work overseas like this and get paid for it for a year or two. That would be fun.
Having Randall (69) and Lorraine here this month is leading me to believe I might actually do all of these things in time. You should see this pair go, they're awesome! Lorraine can't cycle because she twisted her knee badly a few weeks back coming out of the surf but Randall took to the crazy Vietnamese traffic yesterday morning to make the 10km round trip to baby orphanage without a bother. I love it!
And I want to be like them when I grow up, whenever that may be!
I'm leaving Viet Nam soon. Well, it's still almost eight weeks but it feels like it's very soon. I'm finishing up with GVN at the end of this month and then spend April in Hoi An helping Carrie to get herself set up for her work in her new foundation.
Then I go to Saigon for Mrs Hanh's brother's (possibly the most handsome man in Viet Nam, Sofi and I are sorry to see him go from our grasps!) wedding at the end of April and sometime soon after that, home.
I can't wait to go home. Although, I really do think it will break my heart quite a lot to leave here. And I'm very sure I will be more homesick for here than I ever was for home. I think a part of that is that I have no idea when I'll get back here, although I know without a shadow of a doubt that I will sometime. There was always the definite fact that I would be going home, even though the dates kept changing.
And then when I get there, wow, I've no idea what happens next. With no job and no real career, no car, no money, no house I don't know where I'll start. At least I guess, I won't have any debt so that's something. I had always thought as a teenager that at 25, I would have some of this stuff sorted...!
But/
I start my new 'job' here tomorrow as an English teacher at the local university. It's three hours a week at $15 an hour. That's $45 a week! Do you know what I could do with $45 a week?! Wow!
Tonight, I gave Lorraine, one of the new volunteers, a massage and she said afterward that it " was the best massage I've ever had (she's 63), it's all I could ever want or need in a massage". How cool is that? And then when Carrie gets back here, I'm going to be helping her with some design concepts for her new restaurant she's setting up here.
So, I could maybe teach English, I could maybe study massage/physio or something in that vein and practice? I could maybe, hopefully work as a designer in there somewhere but really, I have no idea. First things first, I think I'll be going to spend some time with all the people I've missed so much while I've been here and hope that the homesickness for this new home doesn't bore all of them!
Oh yeah, and I suppose, eventually, I'd like to actually work overseas like this and get paid for it for a year or two. That would be fun.
Having Randall (69) and Lorraine here this month is leading me to believe I might actually do all of these things in time. You should see this pair go, they're awesome! Lorraine can't cycle because she twisted her knee badly a few weeks back coming out of the surf but Randall took to the crazy Vietnamese traffic yesterday morning to make the 10km round trip to baby orphanage without a bother. I love it!
And I want to be like them when I grow up, whenever that may be!
animals, animals, animals
and none of 'em pets.
So, we've got scabies at Baby Orphanage. Sofia's got the scabies.
We have nits at Home of Affection, Meghan got nits just before she left at the end of last month.
And me? I've got worms. Apparently. (eugh, the thoughts of it are too much, I can't link a picture...sorry!)
Either that or I'm pregnant, which, I think it's safe to say, is unlikely.
They're stealing dogs on the streets to sell for meat, now that the economic crisis is effecting this country in a way I hope my friends and family at home will never experience or understand. I'm not sure that I even really do.
And we don't even have a pet here in Tam Ky since the goldfish died...
So, we've got scabies at Baby Orphanage. Sofia's got the scabies.
We have nits at Home of Affection, Meghan got nits just before she left at the end of last month.
And me? I've got worms. Apparently. (eugh, the thoughts of it are too much, I can't link a picture...sorry!)
Either that or I'm pregnant, which, I think it's safe to say, is unlikely.
They're stealing dogs on the streets to sell for meat, now that the economic crisis is effecting this country in a way I hope my friends and family at home will never experience or understand. I'm not sure that I even really do.
And we don't even have a pet here in Tam Ky since the goldfish died...
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