March 10 Ho Chi Minh City to Dalat - The Scramble for Spilled Rice

This morning we rose early to have our bags outside our room door by 7 AM so the porters could take it down and put aboard the bus. Departure was at 7:30 as we had a humanitarian project awaiting us.

There are a number of "leprosy villages" in the area and we were headed for one TOP had not visited before. Medical and food supplies had been purchased in advance locally and our 25 passenger bus was full to the roof with all our bags plus the large bags of sugar, rice, and multiple cases (about 300) of noodle dinners (like cup of noodle at home but they feed their whole family off one). We literally were perched atop supplies for our 90 minute drive there.

When we arrived, we were greeted with a number of village residents to help cart (literally) the goods about 3 blocks back to their village meeting area. Each of the 150 families had been issued a coupon and told to send one representative to the gathering to receive our donations.

Gary is still having great difficulty walking so he was driven by car back to the village while the rest of us walked back up the small alleyway. I lagged behind and had such a wonderful time interacting with the families and children in particular who gathered along the way to greet us. I delighted in the spirit and happiness of these innocent individuals who are making the best of their meager life.

Mothers brought their babies out for me to take their pictures and then giggled as I showed them their images on the scren of my digital camera. I cried as I photoed the young toddler who scurried back up the narrow side alley littered with rubble...that's his home...oh heaven help my aching heart.

I was so glad for the T-shirt I had on...it has a big red heart on it and says "I (heart) my veteran".

As I attempted to communicate with them I bowed slightly and held my hand over my heart and the big red heart on my chest. As I told the women how pretty their babies were and complimented the children on their smiles...the response was so moving...I will remember it for the rest of my life.

Upon arrival at the meeting area I was overwhelmed by the excitement of the people gathered. We were escorted inside a small room where we had the TOP presentation to the village chief...giving the medical supplies to him specifically for disbursement as appropriate.

Leprosy bandages are cherished. They are specially crocheted out of cotton in a special stitch that allows application of ointments but yet lets the wound breathe and retards the ravages of the disease. I can see a new volunteer project for me working on those in the future. There is already a brigade of ladies making these for TOP to distribute and we had 75 to present on this trip.

We had lots of excitement at this site when the Vietnamese police and authorities showed up.
Evidently they had misunderstood our intent and did not obtain the correct government
approval prior to our arrival. This was not good but it was promptly resolved once they realized we were not there to distribute propaganda or insight an uprising amongst the Vietnamese people.

Finally our TOP volunteers assembled in a line to distribute the donations (including 120 toothbrushes we personally brought over). Each of the 150 family representatives got a couple cans of milk, two cases of the noodles, a 10 pound sack of rice, one toothbrush and two small sacks of sugar. After everyone had filed through and at last all the sacks and boxes removed from the raised porch we were on...we began to say our goodbyes.

Suddenly I spotted the small boy beneath our feet, he was perhaps just 2 years old but he was crouched low on his own picking up every small piece of rice on the concrete floor. The innocence of youth has been replaced with a survival instinct...knowing the importance of every small morcel of rice!! The tears streamed down my face as I snapped the couple of shots I knew I must have.

Then as it sunk in I was furious...furious at how much we have that we do not appreciate. Furious that I have lived such a wasteful life ignorant of the basic needs of others. It has always just been so easy to write a check or say "I gave through United Way" and feel so proud of myself when in reality I was doing so very little. I hope that God will now grant me the time and resources to start from this day forward to truely make a difference for others who are so needy.

I hope that does not come across like I have been "born again" or think I can save the world but I just know now that I can do so much more than I have done in the past.

Life is an adventure...now it is time to share it!
Linda