"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.