After staying for a week in Ho Chi Minh to spend time with the kids at Lang Hoa Binh, Pres and I flew to Hanoi to see our dear dear friend Trung (God bless him!) and to meet his Mom and also to visit the SOS Children’s Village in Cau Giay, Hanoi.
For close to 30 years, SOS Children’s Village has been providing children at risk with a loving home and a good chance to attend school. From childhood up until adulthood, it extends support to these children that they turn out to be independent and responsible, enabling them to be contributing members of the society.
This was what welcomed us when we entered the gates of SOS Children’s Village Vietnam.
We brought this huge 50×70 cake for everybody! The Village houses about 150 children and we prepared school kits for them so they could top up their supplies for school. In the morning of our visit, the coordinator informed us that the kids had to be in some school event but one group of kids was willing to see us before they head to school!
The kids could hardly believe their eyes – their first time to see such a huge cake! We made sure that the cake design was translated in Vietnamese so the kids could read what’s written on the cake!
Kids quietly queued up for their turn to get a slice! WE ALL LOVE CAKE!!!
This is one smart young lady (the one in tangerine top) – she actually noticed that the design on the cake and what both Pres and I had on the shirts we were wearing were similar! If only we could speak Vietnamese! That’s our next project 🙂
This boy was asking Pres if he likes football – Pres noticed the boy was in an AON jersey!
While the kids were enjoying their cake slice, Pres and I started giving out some of the school supplies we prepared for them.
The boys are crazy about Pres haha! They’d ask Pres something in Vietnamese, Pres would try and respond in English, and they’d all just laugh!
This tiny lady in front of me kept asking for her mẹ.
The kids gifted us with these super cute 3D origami swans they made for me and Pres! Thank you very much! We will see you again soon!
Kids’ smiles are truly priceless!
Within the SOS Children’s Village, there are quaint homes (with about 10 kids) and each would have one lady volunteer who stays with the kids so they could have someone they could call their mẹ.
This is Hoa Lay On Gladiolus, one of the homes where the kids stay in, with a volunteer caretaker they call their Mommy! With donations from benefactors, the kids are able to attend school and to have a home, despite their being abandoned by their families.
We can never thank you enough, Trung for all your help and support and for making our first time in Vietnam truly meaningful – such a beautiful country and the people are very warm and kind-hearted. Friends make life beautiful!
“Friendship is the hardest thing in the world to explain. It’s not something you learn in school.
But if you haven’t learned the meaning of friendship, you really haven’t learned anything.”
― Muhammad Ali
L❤️ VE makes life beautiful! 