TV excitement

July 28th, 2009 by Elizabeth

Well, my time in Vietnam is beginning to wind down now, and my fellow volunteers are beginning to disperse from GVN house and return to their home countries. Alison left this morning to do some travelling on her own, before returning to Canada. Nadia returns to New Zealand tomorrow. Most others leave at the end of the week. New volunteers will be arriving on Friday and Saturday for August orientation, and I am glad to be sticking around to help the newcomers get acquainted. I am grateful that I still have 5+ days to spend with the children!

I was interviewed by a Vietnamese television station today at Social Support Center. Apparently some local non-profit organization is making some donations to the center, in support of the individuals that take shelter there. It is not too clear to me when/how/where this interview will be broadcast on Vietnamese television, since the language barrier was a little overwhelming. But I spoke for about 2 minutes to a TV reporter and answered her questions while covered in paint, with stickers on my face, holding a childrens book and some lego blocks. I’m sure I looked VERY professional.

A translator will translate my dialogue into Vietnamese and the interview will be dubbed. I would love to hear the voice of the Vietnamese woman who dubs my voice. The questions were a little difficult to understand, given the language barrier, but I mostly spoke of my specific work at Social Support and why I volunteer there. Of course I only had good things to say in the interview, as Social Support is one of the most challenging and rewarding places I have ever worked.

Dung at AOV2 continues to do well and was especially smiley today! He just melts my heart. The other children seem to all be relatively healthy at this time (knock on wood) and not suffering from any major illness (double knock on wood). We did baths today and had lots of playtime. I was covered in baby and loving every second!!!

Of course there are always more supplies that are needed at the orphanages, and today was no different. I received a report that the babies need pillows, new nips for bottles, nappies, and baby wipes. We have an assortment of these supplies at the GVN house, but I find myself shopping downtown DaNang once or twice a week for more supplies. I would like to give a SHOUT OUT to Kidro and Jay, whose monetary donations have gone towards pillows, nappies, bottle nips, and some topical medications! Thank you for your donation!

I would also like to take time to advertise for a little fundraising happening here for GVN-Vietnam. The children that we work with at Red Cross Vocational center (a home and school for disabled adolescents) have made some Christmas cards that they are selling as a fundraiser for their home. The children designed the cards and screen-printed them by hand. There are 5 designs in a package of 10. Each package is $10. They are multicolored angels, hand prints, Christmas trees, etc. Pretty simple designs, but take heart in knowing they were designed and drawn by hand. Each card has the GVN logo on the back, as well as our website. If you would like to purchase a package of Christmas cards, please email me and I will bring them home to MN for you, and you can pay me $10 at that time.

A little more info about Red Cross center: There are 40+ children that live at the center, each has a different physical or intellectual handicap. They attend the Red Cross center to get an education and learn a trade of some sort, so they are able to make a living later on in life. They do needlework, sew, screenprint, etc. all while mastering their English skills. They are tremendous children that love to learn, play, and make new friends. Their profits from fundraising will go towards basic living needs: shampoo, clean clothes, toothpaste, and breakfast!

I’m in good health and good spirits and continue to fall in love with Vietnam more and more every day.