Scholarship/Orphanage Day 3 (7/21) || Kai Gan

Waking up bright and early this morning, I double checked the schedule I had sent my team for the day. Today we were embarking on a full day trip to an orphanage called Thien Bien - Thay Trong to distribute toys to the children there and interact and play with them. It was about 7:00am and call time was 7:45, so I had time to make my way downstairs to enjoy the breakfast offered at the hotel before we got ready to leave for the long drive ahead. I sat next to Sophie, and we got to talk for a bit before inevitably succumbing to our tiredness from the early morning and falling asleep. Unfortunately the long drive became even longer when we had discovered an hour into the drive that we were not going to the correct location, which caused us to arrive at the orphanage an hour later than intended. That's ok though - Sophie and I got to take another nap on the way at least!.. Once we got there, we got the toys out and organized them a bit before hearing from Dr. Bui and the people from the orphanage.

Afterwards, we helped the children, who had been eating lunch, wash their dishes and clean their dining area. The process was honestly heartwarming to watch, seeing everyone work together with the children to make cleaning easier. I wanted to join with washing dishes, but all the stations were crowded, so I decided to help at the dining areas to help sweep and clean up tables instead.

Next, we moved on to giving the kids their toys! We walked through the different sections of the orphanage, meeting and taking photos of the kids who wanted to play and interact with us along the way, before finally meeting back at the front, where the kids stood eagerly awaiting their toys. They were all very patient in receiving their gifts, but you could tell they could hardly wait any longer. I think the kid who got the teddy bear I had was very happy because he went around afterwards showing it off to all the other kids. It was so cute to see all the children so eager and excited to see and receive their toys. It made me think of how excited I used to get seeing new toys myself. Some of the kids even went back to the table for seconds which I found both funny and adorable.

Lunch came next, and I thought it was really good. I ate pretty much everything except for the raw vegetables, and I really liked the pork belly and egg dishes. After lunch we toured more of the orphanage and saw their greenhouse, and then moved on to the main event, which was the soccer match between us and the kids. I was too engrossed in taking photos and videos with Claire of the match to think about participating, but maybe it was for the better, considering they ended up obliterating us in the end, so at least I can say it wasn't my fault! After a very convincing defeat, we had to wrap up to say good bye as the day was over. The children sang a song to us and said thank you before we all left which was very nice too.

The bus ride back thankfully was not as chaotic and we made it back in a timely manner. Overall, I had a really fun time being part of the activities today and getting to witness another part of the good we do as an organization in MEMO. The kids seemed so excited to have new faces to interact with, and new toys too of course!

MEMO students and kids washing dishes together!

Some soccer match photos B)