CHILDREN OF VIETNAM
(A Photograph Album)

Yesterday was one of those special days that seem to always linger in my memory for all time. On Wednesday, November 29th, I spent the day with good friends visiting special kids around the city. We (Bao Anh, Ha and myself) began the day by visiting a very wonderful family here in Ho Chi Minh City

Before saying more, I should say that this Buddhist charitable organization, established in 1989, provides for the welfare, feeding and training of around 100 children with absolutely no formal funding. If anyone would like to donate, the address is:

The Education Center for Handicapped Children
Account #007 137 2167942
Vietcombank

or you can mail a check to:

The Education Center for Handicapped Children
91 Nguyen Khoai Ward 1, District 4
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

We were told that the kids at the Center suffer from slow mental development, physical limitations, epilepsy and malnutrition, down's syndrome or those who are deaf mutes. What we saw were children who were filled with love. They weren't Buddhist, or Vietnamese, or political people... they were all just kids.

Bernie "Doc" Duff - November 29, 2006

Notes:

  1. We had the honor of meeting with Oanh and her wonderful family, who introduced us to a bunch of awesome kids at The Education Center for Handicapped Children (District 4). The teachers at this center were very helpful to us and opened up their classrooms to our group of five people.
  2. Following our trip to the Education Center for Handicapped with Oanh, Ha, Bao Anh and I stopped off at a wonderful restaurant called Memosa near my apartment. It has become a stopping off point for us and if you are looking for a friendly place to eat with great food and prices to match, this is the place!
  3. After getting something to eat, we all decided that we still had enough time to visit our other friends at The Center for Education. We've been going there enough times now that the kids know our names and get excited when they see us coming. That alone is a wonderful feeling! Ha was particularly happy when they already remembered who she was and she spent much of her time on the floor spending great quality time with the kids. Bao, who was also flicking pictures for much of the day, took the time to feed one young girl who loves her from her many other trips to the center. Coming here is even more of a treat for us, than it is for the kids!