A Place of Love

The miracle of love

Vietnam Friendship Village currently has 5 big families which are cared by 8 sisters. Most of the sisters have their own families, but in addition to their love for their husbands and children, they also have love for 20 other less fortunate children. All of them have some kinds of illnesses, such as: blind, deaf and mute, mentally retarded, disabled, autistic, mentally ill, etc. Only by witnessing their daily work can we fully understand their hardships. In the morning, the sisters wake the children up, instruct them to do personal hygiene. Some children can\'t brush their teeth by themselves, or even swallow the toothpaste, the sisters have to use their hands to scrub their teeth; then they make the beds, prepare their breakfast and take them to school. After that, they patch their clothes, clean the house.... They only stop until they drop. Work never ends.

Among the 20 children, some just can’t feed themselves. The sisters often put them in a row and then scoop them up one by one. Many children are mindless, they often spit rice out, even hit, punch themselves in the face. Someone suddenly had a seizure and convulsions when they were eating, forcing the sisters to act urgently so as to prevent them from biting their tongue...

In the evening, the sisters often teach the children with intellectual disabilities, helping them recognize colors, numbers from 1 to 10, body parts, etc. Those boring and repetitive classes easily let ordinary people down, but the mothers here are not discouraged. Not only teaching the children to live consciously and integrate into the community, the sisters are also their confidants. When Le Van Do in Yen Bai heard his brother\'s death, burst into tears and told mother Dang Thi Toan: \"Mommy, now I only have my father left. One day when my father dies, who do I live with?\". Looking at the skinny boy in the wheelchair, who had lost both his brother and sister because of the legacy of the evil Agent Orange, Toan comforted: \"You still have me beside you!\".

Toan shared, her family is very happy because the children are all good and very affectionate. At night, they often urge me: \"Mom, go to bed or you\'ll be late, I\'ve prepared the bed for you.\" When I don’t feel well, they gather around, ask about my health, or even do me a massage. Nguyen Ba Hai Dang (from Dong Anh district, Hanoi) has Down\'s disease, comfort: \"Get well soon, mom. When I become a doctor, I will treat for you\". That\'s why, every time Toan comes home and they go to the gate to wait for her. A child confided with Toan after coming home that: \"When I am here, I miss my mother at home, but when I came home, I miss you, mom, here\".

Contributing to alleviating the pain of the soldiers

On their first day here, seeing the children living in pain, struggling, constantly tearing their clothes, banging their head against the wall..., many sisters burst into tear. They cried because they love the children; they cried for the pain and unhappiness of the children; and they cried because they are afraid that they won\'t be able to fulfill their tasks of helping the children. But then, they thought, crying won\'t help, it\'s best to try to be friends with the children, grasp their illness and temperament, and then find a way to help. The persistence of the mothers at the Vietnam Friendship Village has improved the lives of many children, such as Nguyen Gia Bao, Pham Duc Minh Hai, etc.

After 15 years of working with the disadvantaged children, hardship seems to have imprinted on Ms. Tran Thi Ban\'s face who is 55 years old and in charge of the T6 house. Ban shared that: “All the children here are children and grandchildren of veterans who have devoted their entire youth for the independence and freedom of the Fatherland. Therefore, I wish to contribute a part of my strength to comfort the pain of the soldiers. Most of the children are their third generation. Some children have very poor circumstances, as their father died, their mother left. They are only visited occasionally by their grandparents. Some people came to visit the children but couldn’t afford for their transportation fee back, then the sisters gave them money to travel back home. Although their awareness is poor, every time their relatives come to visit, the children are very happy. The most pitiful ones are the children who do not have relatives to visit all year round.

Ms. Dang Thi Toan and Ms. Le Thi Bich Hop shared that: “We can only help the children\'s family a very small part, but their grandparents and parents really suffer because they all have some children like that. Take Tran Duc Tai\'s family for example. Having sequelae from his grandfather, his father now lives at the Hanoi Care and Nurturing Center for the mentally ill No.2, his mother has passed away, he is almost senseless; his sister is also very sick”…

Also because of their great love for the children, they even come home shortly at Lunar New Year, then came back with the children because some children’s home are very far away, as far as Ha Giang, Bac Kan.... Moreover as their families are poor, they are not brought home on Tet holiday. Not only that, many women, even though reaching retirement age, still want to stay and take care of the children.

Thanks to the perseverance and patience of the sisters, most of the children have become more disciplined and obedient. Their mind is partly awakened, and their own world is revealed. Since their guilt about unhappiness is gradually removed. This success is attributed to the sincere love, the efforts of the whole social community, especially the women who are called “mothers” who have helped the unfortunate children enjoy a normal life like any other child.