Part 1: Visit to Huong La Orphanage in Bac Ninh Province Vietnam (10 December 2017)

Located in Bac Ninh Province in Vietnam some 50 minutes away from Hanoi, Huong La Orphanage is home to children and adults with mental and physical disabilities.  A group of Catholic sisters, headed by Sister Hai runs this orphanage and with a current headcount of 50 residents, the sisters receive no regular funding from the government and rely mainly on donations by volunteers who visit the orphanage.

We were greeted by the happy smiles of these lovely kids!25298970_1892558574106620_7800658512247405337_n

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Sister Hai with a few kids at the orphanage.  The older girls, the “big sisters” help out in taking care of the younger kids at the home.

 

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This young lady was dancing non-stop the entire time we were there!

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This boy is 14 and is unable to move his legs.  Both his parents are disabled too so a relative brought him to this home when he was still an infant.

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This young boy is unable to walk and is almost always strapped to his bed.  During our visit, Sister Hai sat him on some special chair and he was very happy and excited to see other kids playing in the garden!

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Such a cute little boy, enjoying his warm blanket!

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This boy is very cheeky!

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There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children.” — Nelson Mandela

Update 7:  Little Angels’ Cemetery in Nha Trang, Vietnam (8 October 2016)

Mr Tong spent his savings for a piece of land, turned it into a cemetery, and since 2001, he has been giving proper burial to aborted foetuses from abortion clinics in Vietnam.

Day time, he works as a construction worker. Nighttime, he makes his rounds to the hospitals to collect remains of aborted babies so he could bury them in his cemetery.

Some two hours away from the orphanage is this beautiful and quiet garden, the resting place for our little angels.

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We lighted joss sticks for our little angels

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Most of our little angels here would have names given by Mr Tong

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Some of our little angels here are lucky – they get to be visited by their Moms and Dads once in a while

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With two of our girls from the orphanage, we lighted incense sticks for our little angels

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Some babies from stillbirths and miscarriages are also here.  Their parents had requested Mr Tong if their babies could stay here and be playmates with the rest of our little angels

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Mr Tong has this little corner in the orphanage.  This is where he prepares our little angels for burial

IMG_7062Both aborted on 7 October 2016, babies Maria and Guise sat quietly in their clay caskets.  Our prayers are with these little angels and their families.

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Babies Maria and Guise were both buried on the day of our visit to the cemetery

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The cemetery at nighttime

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I feel the greatest destroyer of peace today is ‘Abortion’, because it is a war against the child.  A direct killing of the innocent child, ‘Murder’ by the mother herself.  And if we can accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another?  How do we persuade a woman not to have an abortion?  As always, we must persuade her with love.  And we remind ourselves that love means to be willing to give until it hurts.” ― Mother Teresa

Update 6: Bringing LOVE to Mr Tong and the Kids at the Orphanage (5-8 October 2016)

On our last day in Nha Trang, we had asked Mr Tong if we could attend a Sunday mass with the kids.  He said they typically go to the 4am mass and encouraged us to join them.  We could hardly sleep the night before – we kept watching the video clips they took of us dancing with the kids!  Such a fun thing to do at our age and we noticed the kids kept laughing at our weird dance moves!

We arrived early and it was still dark but the architectural beauty of the Nha Trang Stone Cathedral welcomed us.  We explored the church vicinity as church-goers arrived.  The ambience was  serene.

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It was our wedding anniversary and Pres and I were very blessed to have My Tong, his family, the kids, and a few volunteers celebrate this special day with us!  Many thanks, everyone!

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Right outside the Stone Cathedral, we saw these ladies in their colourful áo dài.  Thank you, ladies for posing with us in this photo – very nice!

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Our group photos before we headed for breakfast!  After the Sunday mass, Mr Tong recommended that we take breakfast at a local noodle stall right across the Stone Cathedral.

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Our little ladies are looking very pretty in their Sunday dresses!

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We were sooo full (and sleepy!) – the best beef pho in Nha Trang!  We then returned to the orphanage after breakfast.  The kids had to come back for their tuition!

 

Help others without any reason and give without the expectation of receiving anything in return.” ― Roy T. Bennett