Baby pictures are normally a source of joyous nostalgia. As we sat in the front room of the Ly Van Hay family, we watched their 12 year old son Thanh as he flailed around on the blanket where he spends his days. In spite of his age, he appears to have the cognitive and motor skills of an infant.
During the conversation, I noticed the picture of a happy, healthy infant on the wall and inquired who it was. “Oh, that’s Thanh”, the mom answered. “When he was four months old he was a perfect baby in every way. But soon after that I noticed some problems in his development. And now you see him today.” Thanh is not the only Agent Orange (AO) kid we have met who appeared normal in his early months but then somehow got derailed by this terrible poison.
Seven year old Vo Tran Quoc Sinh (below) giggles and waves his balled fists whenever we pay attention to him, but he never progressed to the crawling stage. His mom is incredibly tender and loving; feeding him, cuddling him, entertaining him with all the energy of the mother of a six month old. But her efforts will not yield the cognitive development a parent hopes for from such attention. He is permanently stalled as a sweet six month old. As with Thanh above, there is a picture on the wall that commemorates an early celebration when Sinh was apparently normal. Ironically the balloons are imprinted with “Happy Birthday” and “Get Well”.
I wonder what the mother thinks when she looks at his baby brother who looks hauntingly like the older brother at the same age (below).
Orangehelpers can’t help make these kids develop normally. What we are able to do is try to make the families more self sufficient and better able to stand the stresses and strains that confront an AO family. In the case of the second family, when we first interviewed them 6 months ago, they didn’t have a plan that would allow us to assist them with an economic grant. Six months later they brought us a business plan for a duck and duck egg hatchery that they wanted to start with an in-law in their common home. Our small grant has helped this family partner in the business and increase their daily income.
If you want to help bring justice to these families, please share Orangehelpers stories, to increase the awareness of people around the world about the plight of these unfortunate kids and families.
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