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Friendship Village
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During two of my four weeks in the Hanoi area I volunteered at Friendship Village--a residential, educational, and medical village that helps victims of Agent Orange |
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I first learned of the village from my Olympia friend Dan Ryan, who is on the board |
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Today the village houses 120 children, and treats veterans and other victims of Agent Orange |
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My liaison at the village was Ms Ha (left), the volunteer coordinator
Here with Hien, one of the house mothers
Ms. Ha assigned me to help in two special education classes |
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In the first class, the children are severely developmentally disabled
Much of their day is taken up with singing, simple art projects,
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and physical activity |
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ably taught by Ha, teacher extraordinaire |
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The second class can do simple arithmetic, |
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mostly with the help of counting sticks Here's Hoa "Mot hai ba bon" "One two three four" |
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presided over by Huyen |
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Then there is the computer class, with many of the kids doing lovely Powerpoint projects |
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and an embroidery class |
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and sewing |
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with Thuan |
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and a medical facility, well-staffed |
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with a well-equipped physical therapy room
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During my time there, only two other individuals came as volunteers But several groups came A dozen or more students from the International School in Prague spent a week at the village, visiting classes, playing with the kids, staging festivities, ... |
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...and painting this lovely mural just outside the classrooms |
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Another group came from a nearby university--again playing with the kids, adding energy to the village |
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Yet another group came and painted lovely murals in the classrooms |
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My first day at the village I was privileged to dine with the administrative staff On my immediate left is the director of the village, Dang Vu Dung |
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This ends the more formal section of this blog segment On the next page is a compendium of photos from my time at the village, in no particular order, and will be of more interest to people closely associated with the village than it will be to the casual visitor Nevertheless, you're welcome to browse
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| Friendship Village Photo Gallery, Part 1 | |
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