Scholarship/Orphanage Day 3 (7/21) || Claire Nguyen

Today was the day 3 of scholarship/orphanage, and we went to a remote orphanage called Thien Binh in Dong Nai province. Our call-time was 7:45am (15 minutes earlier than usual), which caused some sighs, but I think we all were able to catch up on sleep on the long drive there and back. We were driving on the bus for around an hour and a half when we stopped and realized that the bus driver was given the wrong address, so we had to drive another hour to the right location. This did push the schedule behind a bit, but we were still able to meet the kids and spend time with them.

When we first arrived, the kids were finishing up their lunch, so we helped clean up the area by sweeping, cleaning tables, and washing the dishes. I especially enjoyed washing dishes because it was basically like an assembly line with 3 big bins of water and involved a bunch of people working together. The first bin is where we soap up the dirty dishes, the second one is where we clean off the soap, and the third one is a final wash before putting it on the drying rack. It was a great team effort!

We then gathered everyone together to pass out cute toys to the kids. Of course, being kids, they definitely loved getting the jelly bean jars the most!

After lunch, the children have to take a nap til 2pm, so we had lunch and went on a tour of the orphanage with one of the teachers. For lunch, two of the dishes they prepared for us were morning glory and pork belly with fish sauce. These happen to be some of my favorite Vietnamese dishes, so of course, I couldn’t resist eating (praying that I wouldn’t end up with a stomachache) and ended up being really full.

As we walked around the orphanage, I was so surprised at how big the whole establishment was! We first passed by the area where the 2-3 year olds live, and I have to say, this may be one of my favorite age groups for kids because they were just so cute!! Unfortunately, I did not get to carry one because I was busy taking photos, but the interactions between the children and MEMObers were so heartwarming to see. We also got to go into a greenhouse where they grew all the vegetables that we ate today, and it was really cool to see how everything was grown.

After the tour, we went to the field to wait for the kids to wake up from their nap so we can play with them. The end of their nap was signaled with a school bell ringing, and this gave me flashbacks to middle school. When the kids came out, we played volleyball and soccer with them! Unfortunately, they beat us 8-0 in soccer (they were just that good).

Finally, before we left, the kids sang us a goodbye and thank you song. They even waved to us while we were leaving on the bus, and it was so adorable.

soccer game with the kids!

our dish-washing assembly line!