Montanyards

Montanyards are the natives of Vietnam. They are your equivalent to our Native American Indians. They have been historically discriminated against quite harshly. Conditions worsen after the war since they were recruited by the CIA during the War to fight against the North. We will be building several water wells for these Montanyard Indians. Since most of the water duties are reserved for young girls that commonly walk 4-6 kilometers a day to get water.

The pictures are from a Montanyard orphanage outside Da Lat city in the highlands of Vietnam. Its approximately 40 kilometers outside the city in a remote area. There are approximately 40 orphans there. It is run by 2 nuns. They do not get much attention from visitors since they are in a remote location. The area is a agricultural based economy. This orphanage is also a central location for poor families that do not have enough to feed their babies or young children. The nuns would take the mal nourished children and fed them until they are stable of enough to be back with their parents. The children there speak their own dialect and also Vietnamese. They resemble the natives of Guatemala and the Philipines. You would not be able to tell the difference if they stood side by side.

The children have a unique spirit among them. They are really friendly children and naturally curious to outsiders. All well behaved and disciplined. The last time I was there we bought them soccer balls, kites, hoola hoops, and of course....baseball. Prior to that we witnessed them playing with rocks because they didn't have jumping jacks to play with. Literally...small rocks.