Dr. Lehoand holding a child

On the morning of March 31st 2012, twenty six of us, all starry-eyed at 5am, departed Saigon for a 4 hour bus ride to Lagi, Ham Tan where our orphanage is located. Our group included six medical doctors, two pharmacists and many eager volunteers. 

At the orphanage, we were greeted by the welcoming children who serenaded us and performed a wonderful dance for our group. They must have practiced this performance numerous times as they showed a professionalism unusual for their age.
We got to work right away. While two doctors examined the children from the orphanage, the other four took care of the handicapped and sick patients from the village. Medicine was distributed. A lot of these people travelled far on motorcycle to be seen by us. We saw a total of one hundred fifty patients. Each person received a gift bag of rice, cooking oil, instant noodles, towels, tooth brushes and tooth paste, candies and five dollars in Vietnamese money.

Afterwards, we were treated to a delicious home cooked meal by the nuns. I am sure we will remember this lunch for a long time. We then went to visit the piece of land purchased three months ago. The property measures 1 hectare and is located about a five-minute walk from the old orphanage. We have plans to build the dormitory for the boys and a large auditorium that can also be used as a medical examination area. We would like to provide privacy to the patients while they are being examined by the doctors.

Our initial plan was to proceed to Mui Ne in the town of Phan Thiet, a 70 km ride to spend the night. However, because a large typhoon was fast approaching the coast, we had to hurry to return to Saigon. We came home tired but were happy to be able to see how well the children at the orphanage were doing and how happy they all looked. They are growing up fast and we hope to implement a new program to teach the children English and later on, some computer skills to get them ready for a new world.