Tuan and his mother Loan at Ba Ria Hospital

Tuan and his mother Loan at Ba Ria Hospital

At the Annual ANZAC Friendship Match in Vung Tau, we raise money for both Swim Vietnam and the Vung Tau Orphanage.

Ron and Ailsa Vernon, friends of the Swannies, have a great passion for supporting My Huong who does an amazing job running the Orphanage.

Below is an excerpt from their January Newsletter.

Welcome to 2013. We hope that everyone has enjoyed good health and happiness over the holiday period…

There has been a great deal of activity at all Centres since we left in October…

We went to the hospital at Ba Ria to visit out little friend Tuan who had his operation to remove the steel rods which were inserted to push out his rib cage. He is doing very well and he and the family expressed their thanks to those who have helped make this possible for him. The hospital is quite a different set up to that to which we are accustomed. Each patient must have a carer stay 24/7. This means two people are sharing a bed at night and the carer has to go out to the little stalls at the front of the hospital to buy their own food. The operation and hospital care must be paid up front before it can proceed…

Sadly, one of the sick little boys aged about 8 passed away before Christmas. He was HIV and had a tumour and was in a very sad state when we visited in October. He is at rest now and in a far better place. He was a real live wire and one of the personalities and it was heartbreaking to see him so sick.

We did not see a lot of the older children from P Centre in October as most of them are now in government school or the local Buddhist pagoda school. Quyen Ngu (Princess) is happily going to pagoda school. She goes to school at 7 am, has her lunch and a sleep at school and does not get back to the Centre until about 5 pm. We think she is pretty bright but the school think she should be more advanced at her age. Poor kid this is the first year she had been able to have an education outside of the Centre. We think she is doing marvellously. She still treats us as her personal possession and gets a bit protective of her territory…

Much has been achieved over the past year and it is thanks to the support and generosity of so many that this work has been possible. For our children living at our centre who have no family to call their own it is a reminder of how important we are in the lives of the children and how much our children value the love and care they receive.

Thank you again for your valued support over the year and I wish you and your families every blessing for 2013.

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