Thanh Xuan Peace Village, Hanoi. Nov 2011 Pictures By Kate Loring (AUS)
Our wonderful Australian representative & volunteer Kate Loring joined our combined Vietnam Volunteer Network & Reaching Out mission to Hanoi.
I am so grateful to Kate who worked hard creating the animal projects for this mission, which enabled the special children (who have been tested & are afflicted with Agent Orange related disabilities) to learn about animals from around the world in Vietnamese & in English!
As you can see the kids also enjoyed the 'colouring in part'!
If you would like to donate or volunteer to help the Agent Orange children & projects we support, please email info@vietnamvolunteernetwork.com.
http://www.vietnamvolunteernetwork.com/donate.html
Together we can make a difference!
Love & light,
Kim xox
Kim Nguyen Browne
CEO & Founder
Vietnam Volunteer Network
E: knb@vietnamvolunteernetwork.com
W: http://www.vietnamvolunteernetwork.com/
UK T: +44 (0) 7813 112216
Skype: VietnamVolunteerNetwork
I am so grateful to Kate who worked hard creating the animal projects for this mission, which enabled the special children (who have been tested & are afflicted with Agent Orange related disabilities) to learn about animals from around the world in Vietnamese & in English!
As you can see the kids also enjoyed the 'colouring in part'!
If you would like to donate or volunteer to help the Agent Orange children & projects we support, please email info@vietnamvolunteernetwork.com.
http://www.vietnamvolunteernetwork.com/donate.html
Together we can make a difference!
Love & light,
Kim xox
Kim Nguyen Browne
CEO & Founder
Vietnam Volunteer Network
E: knb@vietnamvolunteernetwork.com
W: http://www.vietnamvolunteernetwork.com/
UK T: +44 (0) 7813 112216
Skype: VietnamVolunteerNetwork
Reaching Out Joins The Vietnam Volunteer Network At Thanh Xuan Peace Village, Hanoi Nov 2011
Thanh Son Buddhist Orphanage, Nha Trang. Dec 2011 By Kieu Huynh (UK)
Our fabulous volunteer Kieu who is also a returnee volunteer & our rural project manager joined the VVN & Reaching Out team in Nha Trang to teach & play games as well as deliver aid to the kids at the Buddhist orphanage.
Here is Kieu's journey, written from her her heart, of volunteering with the Vietnam Volunteer Network first & second time around.
If you would like to donate or volunteer to help the children we support, please email info@vietnamvolunteernetwork.com.
Together we can make a difference! http://www.vietnamvolunteernetwork.com/donate.html
---------------------------
It was raining heavily and was hiding out at the local supermarket for the rain to subside, all I could think about was the fact that I was running late for my scheduled appointment time to meet Kim and the Director of Go Vap for the first time, I was so worried that I was going to miss her! I remembered before applying to volunteer I was sitting at home watching YouTube videos and crying!! Then staying up worrying about EVERYTHING…what do I have to offer these children? Will I be any good..? Will I emotionally cope? What if I had to face a child….dare I say it….die?!...Would my fears get the better of me? After months of convincing myself that it will be fine…”it’s something you’ve always wanted to do Kieu” that’s what I kept telling myself…and now sitting here telling you all of my experience I can say..I did it and it was worth it! :D
Eventually arriving there I was so nervous, I didn’t know what to expect!! All the fears in my head re-submerged as I entered into the orphanage building that evening. I took deep breaths, convincing myself to be brave. Trying to hide my weakness I entered the office and suddenly all my fears went away. Kim was just as friendly as could be, Co loan the director was so warming; her natural motherly ways just made you feel so comfortable. I knew I was going to be more than fine ...not for long though…
As we began the tour and approached a small room, not even setting foot into this first ward, I was attacked!! BY CHILDREN! It was so overwhelming!! They would just charge for you, grab you for hugs and pickups!! As I held my first orphaned child…I knew that this was it, this is what it’s all about..Love. The main thing that these children WANTED was to be loved..to be hugged and played with..They craved attention so badly that they would push their way through each other just to get that one look..or touch from you…Children that you have never met before running up to you, a complete stranger..as if you were their sister…that’s just come home to visit..That’s what It felt like and at that point it was impossible to see them as JUST ORPHANED CHILDREN that I didn’t know. They are so much more than that...they were definitely special.
Moving onto the new born baby ward was where my emotions kicked in. Babies…cute, innocent babies…abandoned...why? I didn’t understand…it just didn't seem to process… Then as I picked up my first baby, understanding didn’t matter anymore. I just wanted to give them a cuddle…just wanted to see if I could make them smile…that was all that mattered at that time. Thinking nothing could possibly touch my heart more than abandoned babies, I was wrong.
The terminal and disabled ward…this was it…these were the places that broke me...I no longer could hold onto those brewing tears…yes..Tears did fall...my heart did break...BUT...I had to force myself to be strong…to hold myself together!! These children wouldn’t understand my tears…why would I feel sorry for them? This is all they know…This is their life...They don’t know any better…this was the sad factor of their life…they all craved love and attention but probably not sure why…? To see children with all sorts of conditions being refined to a small metal cot, some being too big, some never leaving their cot, to think that these metal bars were all some of their eyes would see…some covered in their own vomit for the nurses haven’t had enough time to go round to mop it up…
This is where Kim’s volunteers are needed…to talk, to smile, to give a loving touch to these terminal children that too many people has given up on. The way the children smile at you when you’re by their side and the way they cry out and long for you as soon as you depart their side…
I continued to visit the orphanage a couple of times a week for 6months, fitting it into my teaching schedule. Though wishing I could have spent more time there I was happy as each time I visited the children that they would remember me and be excited that I had come to spend time with them!! Feeding them, cleaning them, giving them massages and letting them know that I cared. Though it never feels like you’re doing very much at all at times…you come to realize that to them, maybe it is enough… Throughout the 6 months I also did translating and inductions, trying my best to express with passion what Vietnam Volunteer Network is all about and trying to achieve.
With the VVN we also visited peace villages and travelled to Da Lat and Nha Trang where I furthered trying to reach out. I also took it upon myself to go to rural areas to hopefully find more places VVN could reach out to…that need us...that needs me…the search continues…and will probably always continue, there are always places that need us and I hope that I will slowly but surely find them and even if we are only able to make a small difference ...It will be something and it would be fulfilling.
I am proud to say after leaving Vietnam I returned 6months later as I knew I would. This time I was joined by a lot more VVN volunteers, brought a couple of friends along, made a few friends...it really is so much more then volunteering. Though I couldn’t stay long the second time round it was for some reason harder to say goodbye than the first...getting attached emotionally is always a struggle but I know that I will visit them again and that it isn’t a goodbye.
I cannot express how different orphaned children are to those who have grown up in a regular family, you would probably notice straight away. The way they cry, the way they smile...you can hear it, see it…Their happiness grabs onto you physically and emotionally and their sadness of emptiness goes straight to your heart and its worse when it’s a silent cry for affection (seen in the orphanage rock where the rock back and forth to comfort themselves because they know that when they cry that there is a chance that no one will comfort them). Both the younger and older teenage children posses something that I do not see every day, the way they touch you and hold/grab onto your hand...cheekily smiling and looking at you with glee. It is as though they are silently saying “thank you, I am so happy you are here”:D… In fact I know that that’s what their saying…these children do not ask for anything, are GRATEFUL and happy…for..Just LOVE…this is what makes them different and profoundly special.
Kieu Huynh x
Here is Kieu's journey, written from her her heart, of volunteering with the Vietnam Volunteer Network first & second time around.
If you would like to donate or volunteer to help the children we support, please email info@vietnamvolunteernetwork.com.
Together we can make a difference! http://www.vietnamvolunteernetwork.com/donate.html
---------------------------
It was raining heavily and was hiding out at the local supermarket for the rain to subside, all I could think about was the fact that I was running late for my scheduled appointment time to meet Kim and the Director of Go Vap for the first time, I was so worried that I was going to miss her! I remembered before applying to volunteer I was sitting at home watching YouTube videos and crying!! Then staying up worrying about EVERYTHING…what do I have to offer these children? Will I be any good..? Will I emotionally cope? What if I had to face a child….dare I say it….die?!...Would my fears get the better of me? After months of convincing myself that it will be fine…”it’s something you’ve always wanted to do Kieu” that’s what I kept telling myself…and now sitting here telling you all of my experience I can say..I did it and it was worth it! :D
Eventually arriving there I was so nervous, I didn’t know what to expect!! All the fears in my head re-submerged as I entered into the orphanage building that evening. I took deep breaths, convincing myself to be brave. Trying to hide my weakness I entered the office and suddenly all my fears went away. Kim was just as friendly as could be, Co loan the director was so warming; her natural motherly ways just made you feel so comfortable. I knew I was going to be more than fine ...not for long though…
As we began the tour and approached a small room, not even setting foot into this first ward, I was attacked!! BY CHILDREN! It was so overwhelming!! They would just charge for you, grab you for hugs and pickups!! As I held my first orphaned child…I knew that this was it, this is what it’s all about..Love. The main thing that these children WANTED was to be loved..to be hugged and played with..They craved attention so badly that they would push their way through each other just to get that one look..or touch from you…Children that you have never met before running up to you, a complete stranger..as if you were their sister…that’s just come home to visit..That’s what It felt like and at that point it was impossible to see them as JUST ORPHANED CHILDREN that I didn’t know. They are so much more than that...they were definitely special.
Moving onto the new born baby ward was where my emotions kicked in. Babies…cute, innocent babies…abandoned...why? I didn’t understand…it just didn't seem to process… Then as I picked up my first baby, understanding didn’t matter anymore. I just wanted to give them a cuddle…just wanted to see if I could make them smile…that was all that mattered at that time. Thinking nothing could possibly touch my heart more than abandoned babies, I was wrong.
The terminal and disabled ward…this was it…these were the places that broke me...I no longer could hold onto those brewing tears…yes..Tears did fall...my heart did break...BUT...I had to force myself to be strong…to hold myself together!! These children wouldn’t understand my tears…why would I feel sorry for them? This is all they know…This is their life...They don’t know any better…this was the sad factor of their life…they all craved love and attention but probably not sure why…? To see children with all sorts of conditions being refined to a small metal cot, some being too big, some never leaving their cot, to think that these metal bars were all some of their eyes would see…some covered in their own vomit for the nurses haven’t had enough time to go round to mop it up…
This is where Kim’s volunteers are needed…to talk, to smile, to give a loving touch to these terminal children that too many people has given up on. The way the children smile at you when you’re by their side and the way they cry out and long for you as soon as you depart their side…
I continued to visit the orphanage a couple of times a week for 6months, fitting it into my teaching schedule. Though wishing I could have spent more time there I was happy as each time I visited the children that they would remember me and be excited that I had come to spend time with them!! Feeding them, cleaning them, giving them massages and letting them know that I cared. Though it never feels like you’re doing very much at all at times…you come to realize that to them, maybe it is enough… Throughout the 6 months I also did translating and inductions, trying my best to express with passion what Vietnam Volunteer Network is all about and trying to achieve.
With the VVN we also visited peace villages and travelled to Da Lat and Nha Trang where I furthered trying to reach out. I also took it upon myself to go to rural areas to hopefully find more places VVN could reach out to…that need us...that needs me…the search continues…and will probably always continue, there are always places that need us and I hope that I will slowly but surely find them and even if we are only able to make a small difference ...It will be something and it would be fulfilling.
I am proud to say after leaving Vietnam I returned 6months later as I knew I would. This time I was joined by a lot more VVN volunteers, brought a couple of friends along, made a few friends...it really is so much more then volunteering. Though I couldn’t stay long the second time round it was for some reason harder to say goodbye than the first...getting attached emotionally is always a struggle but I know that I will visit them again and that it isn’t a goodbye.
I cannot express how different orphaned children are to those who have grown up in a regular family, you would probably notice straight away. The way they cry, the way they smile...you can hear it, see it…Their happiness grabs onto you physically and emotionally and their sadness of emptiness goes straight to your heart and its worse when it’s a silent cry for affection (seen in the orphanage rock where the rock back and forth to comfort themselves because they know that when they cry that there is a chance that no one will comfort them). Both the younger and older teenage children posses something that I do not see every day, the way they touch you and hold/grab onto your hand...cheekily smiling and looking at you with glee. It is as though they are silently saying “thank you, I am so happy you are here”:D… In fact I know that that’s what their saying…these children do not ask for anything, are GRATEFUL and happy…for..Just LOVE…this is what makes them different and profoundly special.
Kieu Huynh x
Claire Templeton & Josh Alkemade @ Go Vap Orphanage Dec 2011 - Jan 2012
Thank you so much to our Vietnam Volunteer Network Australian volunteers Claire & Josh for your fabulous commitment & hard work, love & care to the children at Go Vap Orphanage!
Claire & Josh are in process of writing about their volunteering placement.
If you would like to donate or volunteer to help the children we support, please email info@vietnamvolunteernetwork.com. http://www.vietnamvolunteernetwork.com/donate.html
Together we can make a difference!
Love & light,
Kim xox
Kim Nguyen Browne
CEO & Founder Vietnam
Volunteer Network
E: knb@vietnamvolunteernetwork.com
UK T: +44 (0) 7813 112216
Skype: VietnamVolunteerNetwork
Claire & Josh are in process of writing about their volunteering placement.
If you would like to donate or volunteer to help the children we support, please email info@vietnamvolunteernetwork.com. http://www.vietnamvolunteernetwork.com/donate.html
Together we can make a difference!
Love & light,
Kim xox
Kim Nguyen Browne
CEO & Founder Vietnam
Volunteer Network
E: knb@vietnamvolunteernetwork.com
UK T: +44 (0) 7813 112216
Skype: VietnamVolunteerNetwork
