A Promise

Contact Tong Phuoc Phuc
56/3 Phuong Sai, Nha Trang
Tele 0935088378

Several years ago Phuc and his wife were expecting a baby (Light Blue Shirt right side). The unborn baby had complications during the development stages. His wife was ill and they did not know if their baby was going to survive.

Phuc stated he made a promise to God. "If you give me a healthy baby I will dedicate my life to taking care of the babies of this area." His baby was born without any complications. His promise to God exist with him taking care of orphans and unwanted babies in the area of Nha Trang. Phuc offers an alternative to young mothers thinking about having an abortion. Phuc offers his home to the babies that he would care and love them free of charge.

Today his home is filled with babies that would have otherwise would have met another outcome. Phuc is a hospital worker in Nha Trang. He provides burials for babies that had been aborted. All on his own accord and driven with a promise to keep with God.

Phuc takes care of 16 infants in the home with his wife. He gets assistance from family and friends. We heard about Phuc through our friends in Nha Trang. We purchased approximately 40 lbs of baby formula on our visit with Phuc. A supply that should last several months.

Please stop by if you are in the area.

Being Blind

We were very fortunate to discover a group of visually impaired in the city of Da Lat. The place is a shack located near the Da Lat lake. They have about 4o blind individuals ranging in various age. Our group dropped off much needed supplies for them. They were living in a shack with blue tarp as walls. It was extremely dirty inside. Living quarters were substandard. This will be our follow up site to assist in our blind friends of Da Lat. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Sold twice

What can you buy with $100? To fill up my tank of gas its about $50 and get about 350 miles out of it. I can go have sushi with some friends and the bill comes out to $100 with 4 of us. A pair of expensive shoes can cost $100. How about your designer purse that you are carrying.

Ly unknown last name, was sold twice by her mother. The neighbor's saw that she was sold by her mother twice. The 3rd time around when she was returned back to her mother the neighbors told Sister Vinh about the situation. Sister Vinh went to Ly'mother and persuaded her to give custody over. Ly has been living here at the orphanage for the past 4 months. A new addition to Be Tho. She has a spontaneous spirit with a resilient spirit to survive. She lights up the room with a smile when you are around her.

Bien Hoa

The city of Bien Hoa is located outside of Ho Chi Minh City aka Saigon. We have been staying at the Ha Trinh hotel which is located in the industrial zone of the city. The orphanage is about 10 minutes away. Its a good base for us to launch from with out worrying about traffic.

Today we are heading into Da Lat and will be working with the orphanage that contains about 40 indigenious kids.

H2o system completed

Some of the photos you are viewing is the water sytem. Duke and I (yellow shirt) worked on the system for about 4 days with the help of the older kids at the orphanage. From right to left is Duke, Khanh (studying to be a cell phone tech), myself, Hung (studying to be a electrician), Thanh (at the local University), and Sister Vinh. Is is a big relief to know its working. We are dealing with electrical issues and basic plumbing stuff. We managed to all figure it out together collectively.

For me it was nerve racking with the electrical conversion since the UV sterilizer is sensitive to the power it takes. After several phone calls to Professor Paul Curtis at Saddeleback College, we were able to work out the electrical issues.

It is with much relief and joy to know that the issues has been running for the last 2 days. Knowing that Thanh, Khanh, and Hung were trained in how to operate the system brings me confidence it that they would know how to trouble shoot it when we are not here. We try to promote a system of sharing and learning when we come into contact with the locals. Never enforcing our standards or imposing ideas. We leave it up to them to change or incorporate new ideas.

The system was installed in the kitchen area. It is an irony on January 1, 2007 we celebrated the New Year working well into the dark. They had butchered a pig in the kitchen and what comes with it is bio hazard. Here we are working with a sterilization water system with blood on the floor and etc. As you can see with the photo it is mounted high so the little children of the orphanage does not accidently play with it.

We taught them basic cleansing agents such as bleach to wash the blood away on the ground and other surface areas. The inside of the 100 liter water tank also needed to be cleaned. We filled up the container with cleaned water and used bleach to sterilize it. They had just wanted to fill up the container and start using it. Its unknown if a rat had been in it or other health threats.

Touch Down

Arrived all safely. No problems with luggages or checking in at the hotel. Fresh juices and fruits at the market when we arrived. Air temp is approximately 80 degrees. Quite fesitive and crowded since the new year is arriving. Lots of tourist from Europe and USA.

Everyone is resting and jetlagged. Time here is 3am. Kirby and Grandma Jeanne are sleeping.

In the morning after a tai chi work out and couple laps around the park we'll have breakfast of fresh orange squeezed orange juice. Then head off to Be Tho, orphanage.

aloha

DN

Agent Orange

Here are some photos of the Agent Orange Victims. This was part of the rainbow herbicides used during the War. Agent Orange was just one of the chemicals used to defoilant the vegetation. It is still in the ground water. It is in the genes of those that were in contact with it. It will continue to be passed down to the next generations to come.

Some of the children I was unable to photograph out of respect for them. Some have skin conditions that you would see out of the movie X-men. Their skin are blackened through out the body.

It was and still is a clear example of mankinds potential to be wicked and evil.