The Nguyen That Family's New House

We first encountered the Nguyen That family in October,2008. We had asked the local Agent Orange organization to help us meet some families in the rural area near Salem's family home. They prefer events where families are gathered at the commune government offices with speeches and presentations, while we prefer to visit families at home where we can assess their situation. So a compromise was forged; we would meet the families at the public hall and then visit the homes. After the group meeting we mounted our motorbikes and headed for Nguyen That's home. The (then) seventy-two year old just beat us there, having run the 1/2 mile plus from the hall to his home pushing his son's rickety wheel cha ir along the bicycle lane of busy Route 1, reversing the trip he had made less than an hour earlier to get to the meeting.



Nguyen That lives with his son, Rit, who is 100% physically disabled by severe palsy, and an adult daughter who works intermittently at a local factory for the family's only cash income. The father does some small scale farming and sells coconuts from the many trees on their land. His wife died 23 years ago, when Rit was 8 years old. While we noted the condition of their 65 year old house at the time of our first meeting, we decided then to donate a cow which we hoped would improve their economic situation. That cow was subsequently sold with some of the proceeds used to buy a second cow pictured below.









The old house has a lot of "character" but also requires a lot of maintenance which That is increasingly unable to keep up with. When these old style houses start to deteriorate, they can go very quickly because they really aren't much more than mud on a framework of sticks. When we revisited the family in the Fall of 2009, we decided the time was right to build a new one. The work was completed just before Christmas, with the new house standing right next to the old one. Their sparse furniture hadn't been moved yet when we visited. We intend to go back soon because we have some health concerns for Rit, who appears to have some skin problems, and possibly bed sores.

A New House and a Dilemma

The same day Orange Helpers dedicated the Tran family house, we also dedicated a house for Le Thi Dao, a mentally challenged 42 year old woman in La Hai, Dong Xuan district. Her father was exposed to Agent Orange in the war and died of cancer years ago. He left her only a dilapidated room attached to an old house occupied by her sister’s family.

The new house was built on a small plot of land donated by the commune near her old residence and a young nephew will live with her to help her cope. At the dedication, Dao was a little bewildered and unable to speak, but her sister gave a tearful word of gratitude.

Later that day we visited Nguyen Thi Thu, a 35 year old whose story is almost a direct parallel with Dao’s. Her father was also a participant in the war who died many years ago of Agent Orange related cancer. Thu is severely mentally challenged and occupies her day drawing water from a well and pouring it into a big filter jar. She too was unable to converse with us. Her home is one of the worst I have seen here. The mud walls are riddled with cracks and collapsing at the corners of the building. The thatched roof has large missing areas and is at all effective only because of plastic sheeting draped over it. The floor is dirt and the inside is dark but for the light streaming in through the holes in the roof and walls.

We inquired about building a new house for Thu but were told that the land her house stands on has been set aside by the state for future road widening. There are no plans to do this at this time, but new construction or even repairs of the existing house, are forbidden at this location. Further, Thu depends on the kindness and watchfulness of her immediate neighbors for her day to day survival. In order to have a new house, she would have to move away from her lifeline. This is not the first time that we have been stymied in trying to find a way to assist an AO family, but we will be keeping an eye on Thu’s situation as we pass by frequently.

Moving Day for the Tran Family

Yesterday we went over to Song Cau to dedicate the new house for the Tran Family (see previous blog below). The home site is on the mother's family's hilltop property about 1 kilometer from the road. Several tons of materials for the construction had to be hand-carried along the winding, uphill, dirt path.



The upside is that the site provides a lovely view of the surrounding rice paddies and mountains in the distance.

In contrast to the one room, dirt floor shack they previously occupied (see previous blog), the new house has 3 rooms, a sturdy roof, and a dry cement floor. The family chose cement over tile for the floor to allow for some other design features they wanted. There are a living room and two bedrooms, each with good lighting and ventilation, with all rooms connected by an indoor hallway.




As usual for these dedications, there was a brief ceremony with dreadful speeches being read verbatim from papers (typical for ALL speeches in Vietnam), a banner thanking Orangehelpers, a plaque on the house, the giving of housewarming gifts (cash and a case of dry noodle soup), and lots of photos.


We learned that in addition to the maladies described in the previous blog, the little boy also suffers from total blindness, but as in the case of a lot of the kids we meet has the sunny personality of a giggly 9 month old baby.

It was wonderful to see the change of accommodations for the family and the joy on their faces as they came into their new first home - just ahead of the rainy season. Thanks to everyone who helped make it happen.

A House for the Tran Family

Tran Minh Tuan has cerebral palsy, a deformed rib cage and withered limbs because his grandfather was exposed to Agent Orange during the Vietnam War. His uncle is also affected, but not his father. Such is the randomness of this affliction.
Tuan and his two healthy siblings live with their mom and dad in a shack made of bamboo and palm thatch with a dirt floor that gets muddy when it rains. Last rainy season, the shack they were living in collapsed around them. Their only furniture is a bed, a hammock, and a little plastic stool that holds their small electric fan. Tuan lives in this space 24/7 while his dad is out seeking work as a day laborer on construction sites (when available) at about $3 a day. As you can see, Tuan smiles a lot when company calls and his dad surrounds him with love and patience and dignity in spite of the meager surroundings and life.
Orangehelpers is building a new house for the family and will try to provide some simple furntiure. If the dad will build an enclosure, we will also get some chickens to boost the nutrition in the family.

Mommy, why am I not handsome? Updated

We met Tien and his mom, Mai, a year ago.


He is the little boy with Agent Orange-related Lymphangioma whose face is distorted by malformations in his lymph system and who looked in the mirror and asked his mom "Mommy, why am I not handsome?" (see earlier blog below) For months we have worked with Mai looking for a effective treatment for Tien. We have taken him to Ho Chi Minh City, first for CT scans, then, when those were inadequate, back for MRIs of his head. We started with wonderful NGOs like Operation Smile. Although they did not deal with problems like Tiens, they were very cooperative in directing us to other groups and individuals who might get involved. After dozens of leads in 5 countries and hundreds of emails, I have to admit I was starting to doubt whether we were really getting anywhere or just going through the motions and making OURSELVES feel better. Then about a month ago, Facing the World, a UK-based NGO working with kids in several countries on cranio-facial problems of all kinds told me they would be bringing a medical mission to Vietnam in August, and although they couldnt deal with Tiens problem there, they would be willing to have their team examine Tien if we could get him to DaNang. We bought Tien and Mai train tickets and sent them on their way.

We heard nothing for a couple weeks and then this morning I got an email announcing that Facing the World would like to bring Tien and his mom to the UK early next year, where he will be treated by a team of specialists in various fields relating to his problem. Facing the World will cover transportation costs, medical costs, an apartment for the family, attendance at a school at the hospital, etc. We just have to get them ready for the trip.

Our joy and relief is indescribable. For the last year we have put Tien and his mom through so much; building hope thorugh 3 or 4 long train trips to Saigon, countless requests to come over to our house so we could take more pictures to send out, etc., all the time worried that their patience and trust in Orangehelpers might lead nowhere. And we have suffered through our own frustration, wanting so much to change this little boys life but lacking the knowledge and resources to do it on our own. So today we made a lot of noise along with all the other people who were involved along the way.

We are so grateful to Facing the World (FTW) and Children of Vietnam (an NGO that partners with FTW in addition to other wonderful work in Vietnam). Its nice to know there are such caring and effective people in the world and humbling to be able to work with them.

"My Right Foot" - May 29, 2009

Toward the end of the month we spent on the Orange Walk 2009, we spent a day visiting with 5 agent orange affected families in Ha Giang, the northernmost province. We were told that we are the first foreigners to come to the border provinces to visit agent orange victims, and we were received with some surprise and much gratitude.

The first two families we visited were an interesting contrast. At the first, there was an older boy lying alone in a back room of the house. He lay on the hard floor with only a straw mat for comfort. This is common when incontinence is a problem, but frequently results in bad bed sores. We were advised that only a few of us should enter the room at a time because he might get loud or upset with a large group. We were told that he used to be taken out in a wheelchair, but for the last 9 years was kept in this bare room. He was able to express himself a bit, but lacked any significant mobility. I don’t doubt his family cares about him, but we left with a feeling that they had given up trying.

At the second visit, we met a girl lying in a wooden platform. But she was in a room with the family and received constant attention and encouragement. Our first reaction to her was “here we go again”, but then it became clear that something very different was going on here. I don’t want to imply that her disabilities are identical to the boy’s. She clearly suffers from severe cerebral palsy. One of the women in our group told her “You’re very pretty.” We were able to make out her response “So are you.” Then a most remarkable thing happened.

First, her parents took her from the bed and tied her to a chair. We weren’t sure what was happening, but they asked for our phone numbers and put a phone at her feet. She proceeded with no help, but a lot of encouragement, to dial each of our numbers with one toe on her right foot, correcting her mistakes with the delete button as she went. Her dedication to the task and joy at her success were incredible. I share the whole series below.

Again, without claiming that these two kids start with the same disabilities, they are still a good illustration of the reason behind our goal of working with families of agent orange victims living at home. The kids who are in the formal care centers receive a lot of care and stimulation and encouragement to achieve what they are capable of. The kids living at home, unless they are lucky enough to live near one of the few day care centers (in DaNang, for example), have much less even results, due to poverty, parental exhaustion, or lack of knowledge. We encourage the development of day care centers, but in the many places where that’s not possible, we strive to bring resources to the families to improve care on site.