Lance and Kristen Baker

This past weekend the Da Nang Street Children’s Program put on a special two-day camping event for 6 orphanages in the Da Nang area and they invited Kristen and I to join.

Each orphanage or “family” had a special tent that they set up and decorated.  These tents were set up around a main stage which was where most of the events and activities took place.  The whole event just had such a fun vibe to it.  Kristen and I felt like camp counselors and all of the children seemed so happy.

During the day they had cooking contests, drawing contests, sang songs and did fun games for all of the children present.  Because of the heat, there was a lot of down time were we would just sit and hang out with the Promise House kids in the tent.

Lai (left) and Minh (right) made a new friend with this girl from another orphanage.

Afternoon swimming in the river.

In the evening, they had a special sort of talent show.  It started off with the lighting of a huge bonfire and we enjoyed an opening show by a Vietnamese illusionist who was really good!  For the following two hours, various groups from the different orphanages performed songs, dances and fashion shows.  The theme of the weekend had to do with protecting the environment.  The kids from Promise House did a fashion show and wore costumes that were made out of materials that should be recycled rather then thrown on the ground.  We were so proud of them, they looked so good!

Lai and Long in their newspaper outfits.

Waving to the crowd.

Girls from the Dai Loc orphanage performing a dance.

Lai from Promise House also sang a song.

I can confidently say that our night at the camp was the worst night’s sleep I have ever had.  The picture below isn’t that great but it shows the general sleeping condition.  The sides of the house were open, we had no mosquito nets, for safety the overhead light was left on all night and we didn’t have anything to sleep on.  Most of the children didn’t seem to mind and fell asleep rather quickly.  Kristen and I on the other hand… we probably slept about 3 hours total.

This is a picture from earlier in the day during nap time.  Those wooden slats don’t really help with getting a solid night’s sleep.

Despite the rough night, Kristen and I were so glad that we were able to share such a special and unique event with the children.   It was fun to have a lot of down time and sit together enjoying the day and we were so proud to see them up on stage performing.

Diep jumping for joy

This past Saturday we took all of the children at Promise House to the beach to play games (too cold for swimming!).  There aren’t really any good recreational parks in the city so the beach is the perfect place for the kids to freely run around and play.  We had a few organized group games, which most of the children really got into.  Some of the other children collected seashells.  Thue (in the picture below) found a plastic bag and had it completely full within the first 30 minutes. Some played frisbee, soccer, football, dug holes and played in the sand.  So below are just some of the fun things you can do on the beach (aside from swimming).

Shell collecting was a popular activity of the day.

The group games were full of laughter.

Some of the children buried themselves in sand.

Thue planted flowers in the sand.

Diep, Nghia and Nam used a frisbee to sort shells.

Phi drew a picture in the sand.

Minh was jumping in the sand.

Nghia and Vuong had just done simultaneous cartwheels and landed on top of each other in laughter.

Phi and Lance

Hanh and Kristen

Thank you again to our friends and family who support us and make the work we do possible.  We appreciate you so much.

If you are interested in making a donation,  please visit our donation page  here.

The school at Western River is located on a hill in the bend of a nearby river.  A narrow suspension bridge connects the two sides of the tall banks just outside of the school grounds.  Many of the children from the school go out and collect a certain type of tall grass that is dried and used to make brooms.

Kristen and Linh crossed paths with some of the girls.  They were really sweet and giggly.

(Lance Writing)

Three hours west of Da Nang, high up in the mountains near the Laos border is a district called Tay Giang (Western River). This week, Orphan Voice visited two schools in the area to deliver blankets, pillows, shoes, pencils, books and toys to the 1,000 children that go to school there. Many of the children are from minority villages and they come to these more centralized schools for their high school education. Some of the children board at the school while others board with families in the local community. The communities in this region are very poor and the facilities at the school are very minimal and primitive.

View of the mountains on the way there.

One of the hundreds of rice fields we saw along the way.

The children at the school were extremely shy. Living most of the childhood in remote villages and only being at the bigger school for a few years, they rarely (or never?) see a western face. The children would shyly huddle together and bashfully hide their face when I tried to approach them. I would ask them a question in Vietnamese and they would run away laughing and smiling. After a few hours, they warmed up to us and would answer a question or two before running away laughing.

It’s hard to know exactly where to start in helping improve the life of the children at the school, but helping them keep warm in the cold mountain air is one step toward a healthier life.

We also brought a pig as a gift to the children. The pig was prepared for the evening dinner. Meat is a rarity for these children, so being able to have some pork with their rice and vegetables was a great blessing.

The school kitchen.

We went from classroom to classroom delivering the various gifts to the children. At one point, I noticed that a lot of children were peeking out their classroom door down the hall. Their teacher stepped out for a minute and I went down to talk with the children. I finally got some of the boys to shake my hand. They were all giggles. I left and came back a few minutes later. Their teacher was still gone, so in Vietnamese I said, “OK, today I am your teacher. We will study English, ok?” Half of them knew I was joking and the other half sat down with a serious look on their face. Soon they all realized it was a joke and everyone started laughing.

In the classroom.

Waiting their turn to get their new shoes.

After a full day at the school, we headed back to our hotel. I know you probably think that Vietnam is always hot, but this time of the year, high up in the mountains it is freezing! At night, it got well into the low 50s (we think, there wasn’t a thermometer). Our hotel room only had wood shutters with open slots (no windows) so it was just as cold inside our hotel room as it was outside. Doing my best to stay warm with my blanket, hoodie and socks on, I couldn’t help but think of the children at the school sleeping on their straw mat with a little blanket. It just doesn’t seem fair that some people have so much and these children barely have what they need to keep warm. But, that’s what we are trying to do here in Vietnam. We are reaching out to the poor and/or orphaned children and hopefully make their life a little bit better.

Trying to stay warm in our hotel room.

We spent two nights and three days in this mountainous district. The following day, only three of us were able to go to the other school, another three hours up into the remote mountains. I will tell you more about that trip in the next post.

Some video from the trip:

For part 2: http://www.lanceandkristen.com/2011/01/western-river-part-2/