Vietnam Red visited an orphanage for children with disabilities and the Cu Chi tunnels today. All students were asked to write two sentences about their day: the responses we received were exceptional and extensive (and a little too long for the blog) so we are posting a few here and the others in the next few blogs. Please note that we will be building a house in the Mekong Delta region for the next few days without internet so we may not post during this time.
Cristian: visiting the orphanage proved to be a real eye opener as I had never faced children with disabilities on such a scale before. Ultimately it was a an experience worth encountering, and brought out maturity in all of us to be able to work with all the kids.
Owen: Today brought home feelings for me, knowing a lot about, and working with disabilities previously, today’s experience visiting the orphanage was inspiring and beautiful. Working with the kids one-on-one made me realise how fascinating their behaviours were how happy many of them seemed when they saw us.
Toby: The orphanage was very confronting at first because I had not worked or interacted with someone with disabilities but, after 5 minutes I realised that these people are very friendly, intelligent and full of joy. I will forever use this experience in further interactions with people and have realised how lucky I am.
Harrison: Growing up in the ‘Brighton bubble’ I believe that you never are challenged to extent I was today, with seeing multiple confronting ways innocent men had been killed, to young orphans with diverse disabilities. Although, it was evident that skills were developed today, such as learning to manage emotions when interacting with younger people.
Mia: Today was definitely a highlight of the trip so far. The orphanage where we interacted with severely disabled children was amazing and interacting with the children was very humbling. It was amazing how happy the orphans were that we were here and to see them smile straight back at you made me realise how little we need to be happy. We also went to the Cu Chi tunnels which was incredible and we got to experience how some Vietnamese people lived during the war. Today was really humbling.
Lauren: the highlight of my day today was visiting the gorgeous kids in the orphanage. It was a wonderful experience which clarified how privileged we are to live the life we do and challenged us to communicate not through verbal language but through facial expressions, body language and the universal language of physical touch. It is simply an indescribable feeling to make a child smile or laugh when they have little reason to and makes you wonder; with the amount that we possess, why do we find it so difficult to smile at times? This further enforced the importance of gratitude and the fulfilling concept of appreciation. It was extremely hard to walk away from the orphanage but doing so, I felt humbled and moved.
Matilda: The orphanage was truly an amazing place to visit, although at first I felt awkward and out of place, as I had no previous experience with disabled children. I was not sure how to interact with with them, however that soon faded. To see and interact with children who have so little, however find in their hearts to smile, was truly humbling and through this it enforced my perspective on how privileged we are to live in a place like Melbourne, where health care is easily available. We were able to build strong connections with the children we played, fed them and shared countless laughs. This led to a lot of tears from both us and the children when it was time to say goodbye.
Photos: spending time with the children at the orphanage; testing out one of the original Cu Chi tunnels; and a group shot on one of the tanks.
