AE2008 - Return to Vietnam

Picture Links AE2008 Vietnam

2008-04-23T06:48:00.003-04:00

We have had many pictures from all participants of the trip added to the Internet:
Here are the links

Kien Giang:
http://catalystvietnam.smugmug.com/gallery/4571568_jCuZo#269455688_nesjA

Dong Thap:
http://catalystvietnam.smugmug.com/gallery/4611888_rexGn#272021823_eEdGu

Dong Thap - Saigon bike ride (I was the official photographer for this trip)
http://catalystvietnam.smugmug.com/gallery/4635386_X9nUJ#273604966_jHDgW

Final Numbers:

2008-04-10T10:48:00.002-04:00

This post is copied from our fearless leader - Caroline

Our expedition is over - most of us are home now and going through some culture shock and of course dealing with jet lag. For such a huge group, we were an amazing team that worked hard with an exhausting schedule in just 8 short days. We want to thank all those that have followed our blogs, donated money, toys, stickers, hats, t-shirts and everything else. Your generosity is amazing and so much appreciated.

Here are our final numbers:

over $53,000 raised and priceless in-kind donations

350 children & 40 chaperones went to camp (including transportation, lodging, meals & clothes) to see the ocean and have fun! (they traveled by bus up to 14 hours to get to camp!)

250 bikes given to every child in our scholarship program in 5 different towns

10 kg. of rice, 10 kg. of dried beans, 5 kg. of sugar, 1 box of instant noodles and some candy :) to 280 families (that's enough to feed a family of 4-6 people for a month!)

700+ "fun bags" given to school children in 5 different villages - the fun bags were 100% made with donations of toys, clothes, stickers and drawings (mostly from school children in the U.S.)

350 "fun bags" given to all the children that attended camp.

2 new houses started in Rach Gia (Kien Giang)

2 houses renovated in Tan Hoi Trung (Dong Thap)

1 new house started in Tan Hoi Trung

1 house renovated in My Hiep (Dong Thap)

1 new house started in My Hiep

2 houses renovated in Sa Dec (Dong Thap)....all in 5 days*

we also funded the construction of 2 new houses (1 in My Hiep and 1 in Sa Dec)

for medical check ups:

in Rach Gia (Kien Giang - day 1 - 82, day 2 - 275, day 3 - 182, total= 539

47% were treated for parasites, 100% of the patients work and live in the garbage dump

in Tan Hoi Trung (Dong Thap) day 4 - 277 total (192 under age 18, 2 needed follow up)

in My Hiep (Dong Thap) day 5 - 313 (203 under age 18, 5 needed follow up)

in Sa Dec (Dong Thap) day 6 - 231 and 7 kids at our orphanage...

a grand total of 1367 patients in 6 days

after flying thousands of miles to get to vietnam we then traveled:
120 miles via plane to Rach Gia (Kien Giang)

70 miles from Rach Gia to Cao Lanh (Dong Thap) by bus and two ferries - 6 hours

10 miles from Cao Lanh to Tan Hoi Trung (Dong Thap) by bus and tuk tuk - 1 hour

15 miles from Cao Lanh to My Hiep (Dong Thap) by bus - 45 minutes

25 miles from Cao Lanh to Sa Dec (Dong Thap) by bus and one ferry - 1 hour

85 miles from Sa Dec to Saigon/HCMC by bus - 4 hours

15 miles from edge of Saigon to our hotel by bus - 1 hour

75 miles from Saigon to Long Hai (for camp) by bus - 3 hours

80 miles from Long Hai back to Saigon by bus - 3 1/2 hours

*our bike team traveled 100 miles from Cao Lanh to Saigon in 12 hours and survived!We're already looking forward to the next expedition (I think!)...thanks again for all your support! More pictures will be posted soon!THANK YOU for being the Catalyst for positive change for the children of Vietnam!

Saigon & Taun

2008-04-01T05:58:00.004-04:00

What a surprise we had arriving in Saigon, to the area I had spent most of my time in during my four previous stays in Vietnam. So much has grown, been built, and the people in the area appear much more prosperous. The sidewalks were even, not the previous hazard that they presented 8 years ago. It is actually looking like a combination of Times Square and 5th Avenue. Signs of poverty still exists, such as a man I watched with flip flops on his hands dragging himself across the street, unable to walk and no wheelchair available to him. Even the "chachkeeze" in the shops are a bit higher end.

My first "mission" was to find my friend Taun, who was an 8 year old boy I met and fell in love with on my first visit to Vietnam. He worked the streets by the tourist hotels selling post cards to support himself, his two younger siblings and his Mom. I would take him to dinner and lecture him to learn English and work in the tourist industry. I had kept in touch with him for a few years by sending his picture and money with families going to Vietnam to adopt. I would ask them to just show his picture to anybody near the hotels and ask them to find him...believe it or not, it never failed. I would send a picture of myself and him so he knew who was sending him the money.

Sadly, adoptions from Vietnam stopped for a few years so my sources ran dry and we lost touch. I arrived with an 8 year old photo of Taun. I showed it to a woman on the street who did not understand, however a man near by came over and asked what I was looking for. I showed him the picture and explained it was 8 years old and Taun would be 18 now. He studied the picture and said "I know him". I gave him a few bucks and 20 minutes later a woman came running off a scooter crying and hugging me at the hotel. It was Taun's mother! I was given his phone number and called him. Hearing his voice, realizing that he is now a man and not the young boy I knew was a shock, not to mention that he had a cell phone. He promised to arrive the next day at 6:00pm.

The next night at 6:00pm sharp "my" Taun walked through the doors of the hotel. I can't put into words how happy I was to see him. he looks fantastic and best of all, his English is amazing and he works at a tourist resort in Phu Quoc island....He is doing very well, has overcome the poverty he was raised with and still helps support his family. He traveled 9 hours to come to see us! I have worried for years about what ever happened to him and can finally sleep well now knowing his is fine.

When I asked him where he would like to have dinner, he replied "let's go to Lemon grass, the first restaurant you ever took me too". That was the first restaurant we went to however nine years ago as we walked in, the management pushed him out and told us he was not welcome to eat there. We explained he was our guest and just took him right in. Today, the staff held the door open to us and him alike! The other boy in this picture is a very special friend of Long's (Noah) and us as well named Phat!

Please note the women off to the left of the picture. We have named her "Gladys kravit's" after the nosey neighbor from the show Bewitched. She stared at us throughout the entire meal as it was obvious that we all knew each other well and she just could not stand knowing how we all fit together. As we left, she finally asked if we were all an adoptive family and I told her "yes, I suppose that you can say that". What a great night this was.

Lots of stuff and pictures

2008-04-01T05:31:00.003-04:00

Well, the expedition has ended and we are back in Saigon for the last few days. I have not been up to par on my blogging as in past trips and I apologize. The schedule we kept was amazingly busy and by the time we returned from work, and had dinner, our heads would hit the pillow and that was the end.

It was a successful expedition, ending with all 350 catalyst sponsored kids from three provinces all coming with us to a 1 day 2 night "camp" at the beach. We had to give all of the kids Dramamine as they have never ridden in a vehicle before and the two hour ride to the beach made most of them sick. Not to mention that they had never been to a hotel or seen the ocean. The "garbage dump kids", (how I wish we had a different name for them) wanted nothing more than to stay in their rooms and take showers as they have never had a shower before. Our minds really can not wrap around what these kids were going through.

We had stations set up for the kids. I had the fun job of taking a Polaroid picture of each child, again many have never had a photo of themselves. Then they went to the frame station where they made a frame for their picture. We had a twister station, a mask making station, a nail station, and many more.

We made a "rope" out of people to section off part of the water and everyone went for a swim and of course these kids did not know how to swim so our nerves were shot fairly quickly but the smiles and squeals made it all worth while. The kids were wonderful and I finally have learned some Vietnamese that can be understood. The girls had a great time figuring out what I was trying to say, having a Hugh laugh, corrected me and then got so happy when I finally said it right. Now I am speaking a bit on the street and people understand.....

I am fairly certain that our family will be back for AE2008 and welcome anybody to join us. If you have ever considered any type of humanitarian efforts, this is a fantastic opportunity. We did end with a day yesterday just for the workers at a hot spring resort where we treated ourselves to $ 8.00/hour massages, foot rubs, Chinese herbal foot treatments, and much more. We had our farewell dinner and an auction. The catalyst sponsored kids each entered artwork into a contest which prizes of scholarships were awarded. The winning pictures were auctioned off and with emotions being so high, they had big price tags. the auction netted $5,000.00 from the volunteers which is to be used for 200 school scholarships for the boys who are now facing trafficking into Cambodia as the girls were in the past. The work never ends, but great progress is being made. We purchased a picture that Jesse wanted however unfortunately the picture Noah wanted went for $1,100.00....way out of our price range.

For more information and stuff that happened, you can check out other volunteers blogs. Click on my link to the catalyst blog and anybody who blogged on this trip has a link to their blog, I promise you will enjoy the reading.

The picture feature is not working so will add more later. I have about 350 pictures uploaded to Kodak gallery and if you would like to view them, E-mail me and I will send you the link.

Kids distribution team and today's stuff

2008-03-27T09:44:00.005-04:00

I have not posted much about the kids so far as I am not with them during the day. Martha who is with the kids team was kind enough to give me her camera chip so I can post kid pictures. They have been working hard, very hard. Noah was pulled today form distribution to packaging as they needed heavy stuff done and he is a work horse. Jesse appears to be having a ball during the day with her new friends but when she is exhausted at night she says she wants to come home. I suspect she is having fun but would not be disappointed to leave tomorrow. Here are kids sorting and delivering bikes to the catalyst sponsorship kids.The kids have distributed 250 bicycles to girls in the catalyst sponsorship program along with a months worth of food to hundreds of families.

The building team has almost completed two houses in Kien Giang, and have completed three homes in the Dong Thap province in 1.5.days....go builders. The families who the homes are for are working right along with the team.
Caroline is briefing the kids distribution team.

The medical team I don't have a full count, but today alone we completed 313 medical exams. It was a brutal day, the crowds became ugly as people begged to be seen, stole tickets that had been handed out to those who had been chosen to be seen and numerous other ploys to get in. it is so sad to turn people away however there are only so many of us and so much time. I had a women begging me to get her 5 year old in who looked about 2-3 years old. She put my hand on her head to show me she had a fever. I admit I found myself calculation how to sneak medication out of our pharmacy, but really we just can't as the needs go on and on and we must stop somewhere. It is just so heart breaking. I was on crowd control today and ended up doing comic relief for the waiting masses....the Vietnamese think i am REALLY funny, or they were just laughing at me. Either way, I had a ball, made some adorable little friends who followed me all day. Two girls actually rode home and changed into their best clothing and came back just for me to get a picture. I took their address and hope to get the pictures printed in Saigon and mail them the pictures.

I am eating so much, a big difference from my previous four trips, I figured I was sick on every trip as careful as I was so why starve and get sick anyway. I must say I have had some of the most delicious meals and have no had one stomach issue. many on our trip have not been so lucky. Last night, we were served rabbit, okay, I draw the line and the waiter did not know what to do as I went running off screaming with Jesse screaming at my side. Jesse and I have moved to the vegetarian table permanantly. Above is our kids visiting a school and playing duck duck goose with the kids from the school.

Tuk Tuks and pork chops

2008-03-26T10:30:00.010-04:00

We got on the buses this morning, drove a short distance and pulled up to a line of Tuk-Tuks. The buses could not make it into the area we were working in so we had to take the Tuk-Tucks. We crammed ourselves and supplies into and on top of them and off we went, over wood planked bridges that we watched the planks jump up after we crossed. It was really a highlight. Our Tuk-tuck group laughed the entire ride over yesterday when the kids returned from the beach. Jesse has not eaten anything except white rice since we arrived. Martha happily told me that Jesse really enjoyed lunch and ate very well. My first thought was, "wow, they must have found pasta". Wrong, they found PORK CHOPS!
I am not sure what part of the last name Connelly- COHEN Martha seemed to have missed. Once my heart stopped pounding out of my chest, and I realized the lightening bolts were not stiking, we had a good laugh, which continued onto the Tuk Tucks this morning. Possibly next time Martha could add a bit of shredded cheese to them and add a milkshake on the side!

Once we arrived, we took a medical team photo and then we set up our stations and saw another 300 or so people. One woman was waiting for the nurse and was spitting up blood. We raced her to the front of the line to the doctor in a panic. Turns out, many people here chew Betel nuts, sort of our equivalent of chewing tobacco. They chew it and spit it out but it looks like blood....not to mention how it turns their teeth black.

Our next unexpected event was the arrival of five men who were building another charity house and the roof collapsed in on them. This was the one day that due to bus confusion, Katherine did not have out main "for the team" medical bag that contained sutures. After much searching, a suture was found, lidocane was gotten from the dentist and out neuro-surgeon sutured up the gashed head wound. The other guys were badly bruised.

This is the hospital we were working out of. The FDA would shut us down if they saw us counting pills out of plastic grocery bags sitting around on dirty tables....

Went for a walk around after lunch and decided to try my hand at rice picking, the field workers laughed at me, go figure.

This house had dinner ready and waiting which has a different meaning here. Hey, this solves the lack of refrigeration problem....falling asleep now, will be back tomorrow.

Lastly, this is Gina, also from CT., who appears to be "switching teams". Sorry jean, I am only the messenger....

By the way, these are the only facilities available to us and it is awful! I had to put the photo up, one slip in that place and I would need a bullet to my head.

This is a bank of homes in Dong Thap where we are working.

The road to Dong Thap

2008-03-26T10:06:00.006-04:00

We wrapped up our work in Kien Giang, packed our numerous bags of supplies, loaded the bus and headed out for the province of Dong Thap on Tuesday March 25th (I think). We left at 4:00pm and 5 hours and two ferry rides later we arrived.

The kids were enjoying the ride, being silly, singing songs until it got late and we had to get off the bus two times, walk through crowded markets and onto the ferry, cross, walk and re board the bus. It got tiresome. The sights along the way were fascinating. Life revolves around the Mekong delta, the homes are built on stilts hanging over the river. All aspects of life get done in the river. Food and water come from the river and human waste is deposited into the river, and bathing is done in the river - yes people, the SAME river. AND, the Mississippi is clean compared to this water!

Ooops, don't know how this got in but this is a group waiting to be seen by our medical team.

The kids had a day off of work today and were taken to a beach. Evidently, it is a rare sight for people in this area to see 8 white adults with 25 predominately Vietnamese kids spending a day at the beach. From the moment the group arrived, they were followed by locals who watched their every move, the watched them eat, watched them swim and watched them play and of course in true Vietnamese style the laughed at everything. A good time was had by all, well all on that team anyway, the rest of us were busy at work!

Moving on...

2008-03-26T05:54:00.002-04:00

We finished up in Kien Giang today, Tuesday 3/22/08 I think it is. we packed up our stuff and and moved on to Dong Thap province. What we have seen and witnessed has us baffled how people live at all here. At least 85% have parasites, not to mention multiple other medical issues. Although we treat them and they go back to the same conditions, we are at least able to provide a six month reprieve from the parasites so their bodies can catch up and grow a bit. We will also use the data from our exams to provide statistics to another organization in hopes that they will see the need to come in and put in a fresh clean water system for these people. More severe cases will be referred to Red Cross and/or other organizations.

Kien Giang work done....were on the move!

2008-03-25T18:06:00.006-04:00

As the lines finally dwindled, our work today, Tuesday 3/28/08 (I think),is coming to an end in the first province of Kien Giang. In 2.5 days we

saw about 550 patients. Our patient flow has been tweaked to maximum efficiency and we finished a little before expected leaving us a few minutes to play with some of the kids. We really had to beg them to let us take pictures - NOT! We have multiple Polaroids and were delighting moms and kids alike as they waited with photos of themselves, most of the people here have NEVER had a photograph of their kids.

The stories are heart breaking. The amount of physical abuse of all kinds is overwhelming. The medical team doing "histories" were hearing the same stories of abuse over and over. So sad and nothing we can do at this point to curb that. I suppose as the catalyst work continues and the poverty decreases as the education increases this will hopefully change however it is so hard to not be able to have an immediate fix. Poverty manifests in so many way's other than hunger.

One funny story was a woman who came in and out team member at the first station announced she was coughing up blood. I grab her and raced her past the line to the doctor. Turns out, the women chew these beetle nuts, may be a different word, but they chew them and spit part of it out which looks reddish. Okay, so who knew!

You may notice in many of the photo's the boys have dyed there hair....these are known as the "bad boy's" of the dump. they find peroxide in the dump and use this on their hair. Bad or not, they are full of giggles and cute as buttons.

We packed up all of our supplies and took a lunch break while waiting for the bus. Keeping supplies organized and knowing where everything is has been a challenge, but we have made it work.

Another boxed lunch from the back of a car....day six and I have yet to puke my guts out as in the past so I'll keep my fingers crossed.

The kids had a day at a beach today and had a ball. I was delighted (hear the sarcasm) when they returned and my friend Martha who went with them told me how great the kids did. I of course asked if Jesse ate anything as this has been a hugh issue 9along with her outright refusal to take her malaria pills). Martha delighted in telling me that Jesse loved her lunch and ate almost all of it.....thinking "where did they find pasta", I asked, "oh great, what was for lunch. Martha delighted in telling me "PORK CHOPS".....one big "OY VEY" pretty much sums that up!

At the beach, it seems our group was quite the sight as throngs of Vietnamese crowded around the kids and watched their every move laughing at everything...groups just stood and watched as they ate, swam, and played. I guess seeing 20 Vietnamese kids, five white kids, and 8 white large adults are not a common sight in these parts. Actually, many kids around here and seen very few white people as they call us. The kids on the beach did play and interact with the group a bit I understand. I will try to get Martha's disc later and post some of those pictures.

The garbage Dump

2008-03-25T11:25:00.011-04:00

Today we had a visit to the "Garbage Dump" otherwise known as HOME to 300-400 families. The dump actually charges rent to these people to live and work here. The "houses" with electricity are $30.00 per month and $10.00/month without electric. Entire families work through the night picking out plastics, metals, and anything recyclable that the dumps then pays them on a good .35 cents.....children from ages 5 on up work from 3:00pm till 3:00am. The kids are running among the garbage bare foot! The pictures pretty much speak for themselves.

A day in the life.......

2008-03-25T03:02:00.016-04:00

Okay, I have an unexpected free hour so hope to update everyone on what is really happening here. We are working like dogs but the needs are so great nobody is upset or minds the long hours. We lost a nurse and two translators today due to illness, I must say I am surprised that we have not lost more. I have put food in my mouth that never in a million years would I have expected I would eat, nothing out of the ordinary but it is where and how it has been cooked that is the problem. We have no choice and caution has gone to the wayside in favor of survival. We are drinking bottled water however I do not want to know where the ice in the cooler is from that the water bottles are resting in as the ice melts, has come from. We must drink so we do, we must eat, so when meat and food orders arrive from who knows where in the back of a car we eat! May G-D be with us! The bathroom issue is another story.....suffice it to say that I am just

SO FAR OUT OF MY COMFORT ZONE! Those of you who know me well may never tease me again about my neurotic OCD issues as I have let them all go in every aspect of my daily life here. I have mentioned that we are sleeping wrapped in silk sleeping bag liners that have been soaked in DEET and other chemicals to save yourself at night? Need I say more.

Now for the REAL stuff. Our mornings begin with 6:15am on the bus to breakfast. We are at the work site with people lined up waiting at 7:00. We quickly prepare our work area and the day begins. The medical team is seeing close to 300 people daily. Here are pictures and descriptions of our work stations.

The crowd arrives before we do and push, shove and fight their way in to be seen.

Patients are registered and a "file" is
started on them. This is in hopes of follow up for larger issues.

Next station is height,

& weight, then on to eye exam. The sad
thing is that even using the symbol eye chart
we have patients that don't know what the
symbols are, they don't have a word for boat,
+ sign, circle.

Next stop is Dr. Judy the dentist. She checks for basic issues that we note a follow up is needed and everybody gets a fluoride treatment.

We have three nurses who triage patients and due to our Hugh turn out numbers they are writing orders for medications as well.

This is the doctors "exam" room as well. We are working out of the school that catalyst built for the "garbage dump" kids.

This is our pharmacy. We have a pharmacist as well as other volunteers who are packaging meds and a translator who writes the directions on the plastic bags in Vietnamese. Lets just say if OSHA ever passed through they would all keel over and die, we have grocery bags full of pills just spread out on table, in suitcases, on the floor, and anywhere else there is a space.

Short on time but here are pictures

2008-03-24T18:44:00.006-04:00

Typical street scene

Kids at breakfast - Long (Noah) has eaten stuff that I am gaging just thinking about. Most of our food can comes looking right back at us or can get up and walk away....no, not undercooked, it still has feet!

Beyond exhausted....

2008-03-24T09:02:00.003-04:00

As much as I love my blogs being on the comedy side, with the work we are doing and things we are seeing, it is very hard to find any humor. The medical conditions of people here are appalling. We see kids who look 3 years old and they are 7 &8, 85% of the people we saw today have worms, we have already run out of medication. As kids are reading this blog as well as adults, I will not go into detail on much of what we are seeing but believe me I must have uttered the words "Oh, dear G-D this can't be real"!

During our lunch break today, which was "take out" delivered out of the back of a car and lord only knows where it was made, a boy about 9 years old came to us crying in pain. Turns out he was "coined". His mother took a heated coin and scraped it across his chest so hard repeatedly that his entire chest was bruised. This is done to keep the bad spirits away. It is done all over the body with coins or spoons, many of the women we saw today had bruises running down their necks from spooning.

Back to lunch, yes, I was so hungry that I actually took food from the back of a car, sat on a woman;s front porch and ate who knows what.....I have eaten food of of plates and utensils that I never thought in a million years I would do. I am WAY out of the comfort zone on this trip.

I spent the afternoon with the kids doing food & bike distribution. It was wonderful to see the faces of the girls receiving bikes light up.

The building team will be completing their first two houses tomorrow and from what I hear, the conditions for their team are definitely the harshest. The are building on the banks of the river, road to narrow to get supplies in so they have to haul everything. There are no bathroom facility's. I am thrilled to be on the medical team, but the builders say it is gruelling but the people so warm and friendly.

More to say and wanted to upload pictures but am dozing while typing so it is off to bed for me. Hope to get pictures out tomorrow.

Here at last.....

2008-03-23T10:05:00.004-04:00

We have finally made it! Only 33 hours leaving West Hartford we landed in Vietnam and what a surprise it was. The airport has been redone, much less chaos than 8 years ago. We were met by the Catalyst staff and brought to our hotel. So much has changed, the area is really being built up and people seem to be a bit better off in Saigon than before, based on standards here, not at home. We checked into the hotel and headed out to go shopping at the Ben Than market, a large outdoor market that is like a maze but you can buy anything...after 20 minutes, the kids were just shot so back to the hotel we went.

The kids have been amazing the entire time, no complaining or whining, just great travelers all around. We took a quick swim and headed back to get ready for dinner. At 5:00om the kids sat anxiously in the lobby waiting for the infamous Anh Tuyet who help care for all of them as babies and help us parents navigate the system. We have stayed in touch via E-mail and heard of her wedding in December. Anh Tuyet finally arrived and it was wonderful to see her again. She could not believe how grown up her "babies" have gotten. Sadly, the kids were so tired at this point all three literally fell asleep with their heads on the table. I tried to pick up Jesse, she opened her eyes, looked at me, reached out for Anh Tuyet, wrapped her arms around Anh Tuyet's neck and just snuggled in and slept. Anh Tuyet was in heaven.

We had to get up and be ready at 5:00am for our flight to Kien Giang. After a middle of the night phone call to all of our rooms reminding us about the flight, it was hard to get back to sleep. We all got ready and raced to our rooms to find all the clocks were wrong and it was only 4:00am.

Anyway, we got to Kien Giang, had breakfast and the sorting of supplies began. It is hot beyond belief and working in this heat is oppressive however the needs of the people are so great you just keep going. We stopped for lunch and work began after lunch. The medical team did 82 exams in 2.5 hours, the food distribution team began sorting and packing rice and beans for tomorrows distribution, and the building team worked two site that they are putting houses on with poles right into the river to hold one side up.

I have so much more to say but am exhausted and we must be on the bus at 6:15am for breakfast and at work sites by 7:00. We see 300 patients tomorrow.

Will post pictures tomorrow which words just can't describe. To tired to edit and spell check so hope this is okay - will go over and fix tomorrow.

6 people, 5 hocky bags, 6 suitcases, 7 carry-on's.....2.5 hour drive!

2008-03-22T15:43:00.005-04:00

Well here we are, the equivalent of 9:000am Friday, March 21st in Connecticut, 39,000 feet above the ground and 20 hours later, with our in flight path map showing our plane heading toward Baghdad! As it changes, we may actually be going just a little north of Baghdad which I assume is a good thing......

We left the kids school on March 20th at 1:00pm, and arrived in Cheshire, CT to pick up our travel companions, Martha and Maya. Our first task was to fit 5 hockey bags weighing 70 pounds each filled with donations, 6 suitcase, 7 carry on's, 3 large adults and tress children into a Toyota Sienna......I know my audience here, many of you can relate back to the 60's when a favorite past time was seeing how many people you could fit in a phone booth......for my younger readers, a phone booth was a tall square glass box, with doors that folded inward, that you would enclose yourself in and for a dime make a phone call. The glass prevented any air from passing inside while you stood dripping in sweat making your calls........please, not one comment from any of you asking why we just didn't use our cell phone's (I will have to block you from the blog).....AND we only got 3 channels on the black and white television.

Anyway, here are a few pictures of us crammed sardine style into the van. The important fact is that somehow to all of our amazement, we were able to do it and had a small bit of space to spare. Patty who was in the third row back may disagree, however Martha and I were quite comfy. It was a peaceful ride to JFK as the kids became absorb in the DVD "In Search of Dr. Seuss"....it even kept Patty quiet :-) Other than "Vivika", (my GPS) failing to work, we had an uneventful ride to JFK. Well, ALMOST uneventful, there was the small issue of getting into the fast pass lane in error. As I don't have a fast pass and could not get over to the cash lane, we had no choice but to drive up and wait. The toll booth officer did not think it was funny and after I made multiple apologies, as he yelled at me repeatedly while the line behind us continued to grow, he grudgingly took our money and opened the gate.

We pulled out of Cheshire at 2:20pm and made it to JFK by 4:30. We had to be there by 6:30 but did not want to risk hitting traffic. Had to wait an hour for the counter to open to check us in, the kids pulled out games and did fantastic.

When the counter opened we could see all of the agents secretly praying that they would not be the one to pull the short straw, causing them to be the "unlucky" one to check in the 6 six of us with our 11 oversize check through bags taking up three full luggage carts. The agent was so confused getting us seats together, her machine giving trouble that she waved the weigh in process, slapped tags an our bags and said "just go"....Yeah, so far we still have ALL of our donations, still praying that we can say the same as we make our way through customs in Vietnam....

Had some dinner in the terminal and boarded Singapore Air flight #25 to Frankfurt, Germany. Okay, Singapore Air is wonderful for people of my culture....the food obsessed culture that is. A seven hour flight and we received dinner, breakfast, lunch, AND snack! Think back to my carry on bag photo, this is my kind of service. Not to mention the food was actually very good for airplane food. We had a very annoying "gentleman" seated behind us who, although having two empty seat next to him, decided that Noah and I could not put out seats back and he was yelling like a child "I can't eat, I can't eat, they must sit up". Okay, I was tired and just not in the mood for that, I am crowded also, that is part of flying cattle, I mean coach. Well, he was kicking my chair, banging Noah's seat back to make it go up, while Noah had finally fallen asleep, Patty told him to knock it off and not dare wake him and he called her the "B" word....all bets were off, a fight ensued, words only of course, and the flight attendants had to come over. The "Gentleman" was told we could keep our seat however we wanted them so he kicked the back of my seat the rest of the flight. Fortunately he got off in Germany so we are done with him. Much better "neighbors" on this flight. We spent an hour in Germany and re-borded the same crowded flight for an 11 hour flight to Singapore, 3.5 hours into flight, 7.5 to go.....

It has been 21 hours since we started off on our journey and the kids have slept a total of 4-5 hours each, Maya has only done an hour or two....yup, I can feel the tired crankiness creeping upon us and am expecting the fall out any moment..Oh, just looked over and Jesse is sleeping, go Jesse. Now, I will go try to persuade Mr. Thing to do the dame as we have shopping plans on the agenda when we land in Saigon and dinner with our old friend Anh Tuyet who cared for all three children as babies.

Leaving.....

2008-03-22T08:25:00.004-04:00

Well here we are, the equivalent of 9:000am Friday march 21st in Connecticut, 39,000 feet above the ground and 20 hours later, with our in flight path map showing our plane heading toward Baghdad! As it changes, we may actually be just a little north of Baghdad which I assume is a good thing......
We left the kids school on March 20th at 1:00pm, and arrived in Cheshire, CT to pick up our travel companions, Martha and Maya. Our first task was to fit 5 hockey bags weighing 70 pounds each filled with donations, 6 suitcase, 7 carry on's, 3 large adults and tress children into a Toyota Sienna......I know my audience here, many of you can relate back to the 60's when a favorite past time was seeing how many people you could fit in a phone booth......for my younger readers, a phone booth was a tall square glass box, with doors that folded inward, that you would enclose yourself in and for a dime make a phone call. The glass prevented any air from passing inside while you stood dripping in sweat making your calls........please, not one comment from any of you asking why we just didn't use our cell phone.....AND we only got 3 channels on the black and white television.
Anyway, here are a few pictures of us crammed sardine style into the van. The important fact is that somehow to all of our amazement, we were able to do it and had a small bit of space to spare. Patty who was in the third row back may disagree, however Martha and I were quite comfy. It was a peaceful ride to JFK as the kids became absorb in the DVD In search of Dr. Seuss....it even kept Patty quiet :-) Other than Vivika (my GPS) failing to work, we had an uneventful ride to JFK. Well, ALMOST uneventful, there was the small issue of getting into the fast pass lane in error. As I don't have a fast pass and could not get over to the cash lane, we had no choice but to drive up and wait. The toll booth officer did not think it was funny and after I made multiple apologies and him yelling at me repeatedly as the line behind us continued to grow, he grudgingly took our money and opened the gate.
We pulled out of Cheshire at 2:20pm and made it to JFK by 4:30. We had to be there by 6:30 but did not want to risk hitting traffic. had to wait an hour for the counter to open to check us in, the kids pulled out games and did fantastic. When the counter opened we could see all of the agents secretly praying that they would not be the "unlucky" on to check in the 6 six of us with our 11 over sized check through bags taking up three full luggage carts. The agent was so confused getting us seats together, her machine giving trouble that she waved the weigh in process, slapped tags an our bags and said "just go"....Yeah, so far we still have ALL of our donations, still praying that we can say the same as we make our way through customs in Vietnam,,,,
Had some dinner in the terminal and boarded Singapore Air flight #25 to Frankfurt, Germany. Okay, Singapore Air is wonderful for people of my culture....the food obsessed culture that is. A seven hour flight and we received dinner, breakfast, lunch, AND snack! Think back to my carry on bag photo, this is my kind of service. Not to mention the food was actually very good for airplane food. We had a very annoying "gentleman" seated behind us who although he had two empty seat next to him decided that Noah and I could not put out seat back and he was yelling like a child "I can't eat, I can't eat, they must sit up". Okay, I was tired and just not in the mood for that, I am crowded also, that is part of flying cattle, I mean coach. Well, he was kicking my chair, banging Noah's seat back to make it go up, while Noah had finally fallen asleep. Patty told him to knock it off and not dare wake him and he called her the B word....all bets were off, a fight ensued, words only of course, and the flight attendants had to come over. The "gentleman was told we could keep our seat however we wanted them so he kicked the back of my seat the rest of the flight. Fortunately he got off in Germany so we are done with him. Much better "neighbors" on this flight. We spent an hour in Germany and re-borded the same crowded flight for an 11 hour flight to Singapore, 3.5 hours into flight, 7.5 to go.....
It has been 21 hours since we started off on our journey and the kids have slept a total of 4-5 hours each, Maya has only done an hour or two....yup, I can feel the tired crankiness creeping upon us and am expecting the fall out any moment..Oh, just looked over and Jesse is sleeping, go Jesse. Now, I will go try to persuade Mr. Thing to do the same as we have shopping plans on the agenda when we land in Saigon and dinner with our old friend Anh Tuyet who cared for all three children as babies.

96 hours but whose counting....ME

2008-03-16T21:19:00.007-04:00

This morning we were invited to speak about the expedition, the needs of the people and the goals of our trip, at Shul to the 7th grade Mitzvah (good deed) class. Wow, it is very hard to engage teens, they were pretty"checked out" on a whole however a few were right there, listening intently, asking good questions and showing real concern over the conditions we were discussing. Glad to see there were some hopefuls for the next generation....The kids did take time and effort to make some drawings and signs to share with the kids in Vietnam.

These posters were in the classroom and thought they were pretty cool. Below on the right side are some of the kids with their pictures. Now I must return to the packing frenzy.....

Noam on the right, being "squeezed" by me was of course less than thrilled, but as he is a family friend I could not miss out on the opportunity to totally mortify him......love ya Noam!

FIVE days and counting.....

2008-03-15T22:24:00.016-04:00

We are in full fledged packing mode.....to the left is Noah's carry on bag.

Below is Jesse's.....Our goal is to keep 2 nine year old kids and an 8 year old busy while contained in an aircraft for 24 hours. May G-D be with us!

Of course, given my cultural back round, can anybody guess what the focus of MY carry-on is????
See below...

Okay, it IS all about the food! What if they run out of food on the plane??? What if we don't like the food on the plane....what if I have just lost my mind and need the food???? So much to worry about.....so little time!

Our visa's to enter Vietnam JUST arrived yesterday to Minnesota. They are expected to reach us Monday, 72 hours before departure, okay this alone is enough to push me over the edge.

For tomorrows fun.....soaking our silk sleeping sacks in special Permethrin formula so we do not get attacked by bedbugs....

Sawyer's Premium insect repellent, Military style Clothing treatment - soak for two hours, air dry
effective through 6 washings.....

Trip YAHOO Group posts

2008-02-26T18:50:00.030-05:00

A very clever thing that was done for this trip was Caroline (the founder of Catalyst Founder and the trip organizer and leader) set up a yahoo group for all members of the team. If one person has a question, chances are the rest of us have been or should be thinking about it. All team members get all posts and replies..it has been VERY interesting and effective. I thought I would share some of my favorite posts....or should I say, share some things that make you go Hummmm......

Here are "snippets" from some of my favorite posts...

Re: [AE2008] Vaccinations
pre-rabies? I've never heard of this before! Ok let's be realistic here - you may see some stray dogs, a few roaming ducks, a water buffalo or two. The only thing that may bite you is a mosquito or those darn red fire ants. That's crazy...but hey my two cents...

Re:Cash
have cash available for you to exchange too. You definitely won't need much during your "work week" - as we've already paid for all your meals, water, etc., and there won't be anything really to purchase as far as souvenirs/postcards/etc. I think if you have about $100 in vn dong for the week you will have plenty left over for "333" and"Huda" :-)

What in the world is "333" and "Huda"...alcohol?

beer, apparently a favorite for some :) we'll have fried mice to go along with it too....

During "M's" adoption I would order 2 bottles of wine from room service each night. After the 4th night the room service lady finally said "each night you order 2 bottles of wine, do you ever want to eat your dinner too?" I was traveling with my best friend and the 2 of us just fell to the floor in laughter....
Bloggers note:
This poster has already developed a "following" from what I understand

Okay, you lost me there with the mice. I'm bringing peanut butter and jelly! :)

Just a little wasabi sauce and yummie!

I'm thinking she meant Fried Rice!!!! I'm turning VEG..again..

Bloggers note:
This was from Gina, another traveler from CT. Gina, denial is a wonderful thing....I hope I witness Gina discovering that indeed she meant MICE!)

RE: [AE2008] Deet question
I think that if you get the pump spray you should be able to get away with2.2ounces if you have a BMI under 25, or are under the age of 12, and 3 ounces if you are not.Now I came to this conclusion by a few things that I had to make assumptions for. If you are more likely to wear shorts/sandals/or short socks then you will need a little more, if you are more likely to wear capris and higher socks then you will need less. Now if you fear Dengue Fever you will need more because you will be wearing it all day, if malaria is your big concern you will only need it in the night. Now, if you are terrified of bed bugs, and not cancer, then you will probably sleep in DEET, so you may want 4-5 ounces. And don't forget if you are arriving in Viet Nam earlier or staying an extra day or so, you may need a little more. Tomorrow night I should be able to have some calculations on the amount of sunscreen you need, the number of Imodium pills, however amount of toothpaste is up to you though.Have a good night, and whatever you do...don't forget to enjoy the journey...life can be short.

As the "blogger" I ask myself only one question....... "We are not doing the standard spring in the Caribbean this year...WHY?????"

ALIVE Meeting & Fun Bags

2008-02-24T22:27:00.013-05:00

ALIVE, otherwise known as "Vietnam School" is a program at Yale University run by a wonderful group of students from Vietnam to teach families about Vietnam, the language, the culture, the food, the fun! We have been going every other Sunday for a few month and have had a great time. After three months I can say "hello friend", "my name is Sandy" and "thank-you" in Vietnamese. Of course when I proudly walk into a local Vietnamese restaurant and with a big smile and say "hello friend" in Vietnamese, not one person has yet to comprehend what I am saying....Noah and Jesse on the other hand they understand completely.

The Alive group was nice enough to turn the meeting over to four of us from the group who are going on the expedition as well as another woman who actually went two years ago. Gina lead the discussion along with a catalyst video. Gina & I represented the medical team, Patty the home renovation/building team, and Martha the school/food distribution team.

The counselors took the kids into the next room where they got busy making "fun bags". We are asking groups of children's, kids classes etc.to put together a gallon size zip lock bag containing a tee-shirt, hand made drawing, tooth brush, child's toothpaste, a toy and a return envelope. We will be handing hundreds of these out in Vietnam and the children who receive them will hopefully draw pictures to send back to the children here. The kids too this very seriously and some great art work was produced.

All of the children were able to write in Vietnamese on their drawings ....

All work ended when the delicious plate of chocolate covered strawberry's appeared on the table....thanks Michael!

2 bags- 50lb limit - tons of donations, PACKING PARTY...

2008-02-23T21:25:00.016-05:00

With less than four weeks to go, and so much to do,we have kicked into gear and weekends are filling up with trip preparations. Today's activity was to meet with Patty, Martha and Maya, (our friends from Connecticut who are joining us on this venture), and get all of our gathered and donated supplies packed. International flights now have a restriction of 50 lbs per traveler. We have collected medical supplies and infant clothing that we must somehow get to Vietnam. Singapore Airlines will not guarantee that we can pay for weight overages, they are stating that we can be made to just "dump" our belongings until we get down to 50 pounds...Noah, Jesse and Maya did a great job sorting and packing. We had to pack some boxes that we will ship to the head office of catalyst to be distributed among other participants who may have some extra pounds available to pack stuff.

Guess we should have known that if two of us have to drag the bag to the scale we are most likely over! Yup, this one weighed in at 68 pounds - the size of two of the kids together! Maybe we should check the kids through as luggage and put the bags in their seats.....okay, you can't fault a Mom for dreaming. Anybody who says they would not at least think about this when traveling on a 24 hour flight, with an 8 year old and two 9 year old kids, is lying! We removed 16 lbs. of ointments and made up bag number 2, weighing in at 42 lbs...

Don't panic, we WILL find 8 more pounds of supplies to fill the space! Watch out Singapore airlines, we will prevail and use every ounce of our poundage.....I am talking about the luggage people....not ourselves, that is another whole topic, not to be discussed on this blog! All in all it was a successful day. We have two completed bags of supplies and the kids on board travel bag
packed with many items to attempt to keep them occupied.

Our day ended with a visit to Trader Joe's for some comfort food to bring along and dinner at Red Robin.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's activity...making "fun bags" with the families from ALIVE (our Vietnamese school group at Yale). More details and descriptions tomorrow.

Bag number 2 - 42 lbs - 8 more pounds to go!!!!

The Dreaded Day - Feel the pain...

2008-02-22T19:53:00.009-05:00

Today is the day that we have been dreading since our first visit to UCONN Travel and Immunization clinic .... THE SHOTS! Noah and Jesse have been stressing over today for a solid month, okay I can't say that I have actually been looking forward to it, but I suspect they have stressed a bit more than I have.

Waking up early to what has been called the biggest snow storm this season seemed appropriate I suppose. Our first appointment was supposed to be at Children's Eye Care, we made it but the staff did not. I missed the "cancel" call while in the shower. So, after we arrived and waited a half hour, we turned around and headed to UCONN for THE APPOINTMENT!

We brought numbing spray that a friend obtained for us to make the kids feel a little more at ease - that was just not happening! Everybody was fine until we were called into "the room". The tears began and continued until the end. Jesse bravely went first, two shots for both kids, Hep A and Typhoid. I was the lucky one going second and only needing Hep A, I am able to take oral pills for Typhoid protection. Noah ended the session and received his two. Being the meanest mother in the world, I photographed the process and Patty held the sobbing children. To make up for this, I must honor their request that I not post these pictures on the blog! Don't they know, it is ALL about the blog. Okay, it is about the kids but if you E-mail me off blog and for a nice donation to Catalyst foundation I might share :-)

As the session ended, the door opened and the thoughtful receptionist handed the kids Tootsi pops......excuse me, did she not realize that I also was stabbed with a HUGH painful 12" needle? Once again it appears that not only is it not about the blog, it is not about ME either.

Tomorrow and Sunday the calander is filled with more trip preparation activities, way more fun than today's event so please stay tuned. Less than four weeks and counting...Let the packing begin.

Meet our team members

2008-02-09T08:55:00.000-05:00

Meet Our Amazing Team

Here's a quick look at our team (in no particular order) the biggest ever at 90 people - WOW!The breakdown:25 kids (youngest is 7 - oldest is 16)4 college students24 alumni (including kids)8 fluent in Vietnamese1 canadian

Caroline, Scott, Natalie & Cassidie and Anthony - MN

Natalie and Cassidie will be 10 years old for their 5th Aid Expedition. On this trip we're excited to bring our godson, Anthony who is 16.

Dana - MN

He's one of the very first supporter of Catalyst - and known us since college days! We're so excited he'll be coming to Vietnam for the first time with us!

Audrey & David and daughter Thuy - NJ

Their first AE, but veterans of the Vietnam Culture Camp on the East Coast. Thuy will be 9 years old soon.

Gina - CT

Mom to two great daughters from Vietnam and already fundraising!David - CACollege student at DeAnza College going to vietnam for the first time!

Sandy & Patty and their kids Noah & Jesse - CT

Noah & Jesse were born in Vietnam and will be ages 9 & 8 for their first trip back with their parents.

Dorothy & David and their children Liam & Maia (ages 9 & 7) - PA

The family have attended Vietnam Culture Camp (and Cambodia Culture Camp for Maia). Liam was born in Kien Giang where we'll start our Aid Expedition.

Jack & nephew Alex - CA

Jack is a professional Aid Expedition member! This will be his 4th one! Alex is brave enough to travel with him and will be almost 14 for the trip.

Dave & Kathy and daugther Clare (age 10) - MN

This adventurous family are also alumnus to the AE - this will be their 3rd one and we're always glad to have them!

Aileen & Blake and sons Josh & Tri (ages 9) - TX

Aileen went on AE 2004 and sang her entire way through Vietnam. Now we expect her boys to teach us new songs!

Brian, Maria and son Robert - MN

Robert just turned 10 and this will be his first trip back to Vietnam since he was adopted!

Amy - PA

Amy is a practicing attorney and will be going on this volunteer vacation without her husband and 3 children!

Mike & Jo and daughters Miriam & Naomi - NY

Mike & Jo have been taking Vietnamese lessons for some time now so maybe they can help all of you newbies! Miriam will be 14 and Naomi 10 when they travel. This will be Mike & Miriam's first trip to Vietnam ever and Jo & Naomi's first time back sine Naomi was adopted.

Henry - NY

An avid international traveler but this will be his first visit to Vietnam

Judy & Kai (age 9) - MN

Judy is our trusted dentist and this is her 3rd AE, and Kai's 2nd one! We're happy to have them back with us!

Kate & Matt - MN

Kate first came to AE when she was just a "teenager" - now we're thrilled to have her back with her friend Matt.

Laura & Harriet and their son David - MN

David is 9 years old and excited to return to Vietnam with his parents - it's everyone's first aid expedition!

Don - MN

Don's volunteered for us in Vietnam for a month last year and then an additional week on the August aid expedition.

Pete - NC

Talked into this crazy trip by the crazy family in Texas we're very excited to have a professional carpenter on our team!

Anna - MN

Anna is a long time Catalyst volunteer and just went to Vietnam on a much smaller Aid Expedition in August 2007 - she had to come back for more! (or just enjoys missing some more time away from her pharmaceutical studies).

Sue, her sister Delores & niece, Cynthia (age 13) - CA

This is Sue's 3rd Aid Expedition - and she's not tired of me yet :)! This trip she's bringing her sister and niece to join the fun!

Barb - ME

Barb will be joining her daughter (Dr. Jenn) and give us all the inside info during her first Expedition with us.

Krysty and son Benjamin - IA

Krystine went on the 2006 expedition and now bringing her 16 year old son to help carry all the medical and orphanage donations :).

Huong - MD

Huong is a traveling nurse and one of the fluent Vietnamese speaker on the team. We'll make sure we sign her up for some karaoke!

Jennifer - ME

This will be Dr. Jenn's 2nd AE and she joined Scott on the 2006 bike ride from HCMC to Dong Thap.

Catherine & Emily (age 9 ) - NJ

I always assume that Catherine will join us - this will be her fourth AE and Em's 2nd time.

Stacy & daughter Alicia - CT

Alicia is a college student at Southern Conneticut State. They're good friends of Gina Bonfietti and she talked them into this adventure!

Mary & Charlene and their children Sophie, Samuel (ages 9) and Noah (age 7) - MN

All three children are adopted from Vietnam and excited to go back with their parents!

Sue & daughter Brianna - WI

Brianna is 9 years old and also from Kien Giang. This will be their first time back since she was adopted

Charlene - CA

Charlene grew up in Vietnam and now living in the Bay Area. We're excited to have her join the expedition!

Deb & daughter Lan - NE

Lan will be 11 years old when she travels back to Vietnam with her mom since her adoption.

Brenda & son Zachary (age 8) - PA

Brenda & her family have been to many Culture Camps. It will be great to have them see Vietnam again!

Leslie & daughter Leah (age 10) - OH

This will be their second Aid Expedition and whirlwind shopping trip!

Elizabeth - ME

Liz works with Dr. Jenn and couldn't pass up this opportunity to help us! This will be her first trip to Vietnam.

Kathy - PA

Kathy and her husband have adopted 3 children from Vietnam. But they all stay home when she travels with us!

Chris - NJ

Chris has traveled the world - and now Vietnam for the first time!

Christine - MA

This will be Christine's 2nd Aid Expedition and we didn't scare her off - yet!

Carolyn - Canada

Carolyn emigrated to Canada when she was 10 years old, she continues to be fluent in the language and only back once before.

Michael - CA

Michael is fluent in Vietnamese joined us on the August Aid Expedition and made sure that we worked efficiently (and quickly!)

Kayla - SC

Kayla is a hard working nurse who found us by chance. We're lucky to have her join us!

Bruce - NJ

Bruce and his family have attended all of our Vietnam Culture Camps on the East Coast. His daughter has already raised over $1000 for bikes for the kids in Vietnam.

Sue - OH

Sue's twin boys are from Kien Giang. She's been waiting to go on expedition since she read our blog in 2006!

Kathleen - CA

Kathleen has been waiting for the "perfect time" to join us and we're excited tha it's right now!

Martha and daughter Maya - CT

Maya is 9 years old and excited to join the expedition with other good friends from CT!

The adventure begins

2008-01-02T20:40:00.002-05:00

Our family will be joining The Catalyst Foundation, http://catalystfoundation.org/on a humanitarian aid expedition to Vietnam. We are scheduled to leave on March 20, 2008 and return April 3, 2008. Catalyst is a grass roots organization working in the poorest regions of Vietnam. Included in the 80 participants, will be myself, Noah, & Jesse. We are being joined by Patty, as well as our friends Martha and her daughter Maya.

Here's our itinerary:

March 21/22 Arrive in HCMC/Saigon, Vietnam

March 22/23 FLY to KIEN GIANG province

March 23-25 WORK in KIEN GIANG

March 26-28 WORK in DONG THAP

March 29 WORK in HCMC/Saigon

March 30 CAMP in Ho Coc Beach

March 31 RELAX in BINH CHAU

April 1 Return to HCMC, Depart for U.S.

In 8 "working days" we will:

* Provide medical exams for our 200 girls (in our scholarship project) plus a few hundred more children and grown ups that will stand in line for hours to see our team,

* Start the construction of new homes in Kien Giang - we just signed a partnership with Habitat for Humanity (!!!!) - for the families living in the garbage dump. Renovate/Repair orphanages or schools in Dong Thap.

* Visit local schools to exchange goodwill and cultural gifts, deliver bikes for children and distribute tons of food for hundreds of families.

* Have a camp complete with campfire, outdoor movie, games, beach, soccer, crafts, songs, and the "My Vietnam Art Contest" for 200 children on the beaches of Ho Coc - yes we'll all be in a tent overnight too!

The Aid Expedition is a team experience, and Catalyst Foundation creates a supportive and positive VOLUNTEER VACATION.

Each day in Vietnam, thousands of children go without food, housing, education, and the basic necessities that you and I take for granted. In one of the 61 provinces alone, more than 10,000 children are orphaned and/or living on the streets. Only 13% of them get any kind of assistance at all to help them meet these most basic of human needs, the rest have no hope.

Catalyst Foundation is a nonprofit organization that has focused on a very poor area of Vietnam. This area near the Cambodian border is where children as young as 5 years of age are targeted for sexual trafficking. These children are enticed to work in a “restaurant” to help support their families, only to be unknowingly sold into a life as sex slaves. After being abused, they are left on the streets without means to support herself, or a way to get home.

80 volunteers (who will be paying for all of their expenses) from the U.S. will be traveling to participate in the Vietnam Aid Expedition this March and working to improve the living situations for these children, as well as promoting education and good health. Our expedition has five major goals:

1. 300 at-risk children will attend a special camp where they'll get a chance to eat nutritious meals, attend educational workshops, receive new backpacks full of clothes, shoes, and school supplies and share in the joys of simply being a kid. Most of these children have never known the feeling of a full stomach or believed that anyone would travel across the world just to spend time with them. It's a heartwarming weekend where friendships—and memories—are made.

2. We will distribute a month's worth of rice for 300 families to alleviate some of the struggles they face when trying to find food for the family. This will allow parents and grandparents to concentrate on other expenses, including schooling for the children, clothing and other basics.

3. New bikes will be given to 200 children. Every kid loves a bike, but these ones aren't just for fun. In remote villages, bikes are a vital form of transportation for poor families. A bike will enable a child to go to school and her family to go to market or the nearest health clinic. These locally made bikes are made to last for years and can carry heavy loads and will enable a child to travel much longer distances than on foot.

4. We will complete basic medical checkups to nearly 600 children in three rural villages. Annual flooding in the Mekong Delta area regularly threatens the lives and livelihoods of the people of this region. Serious diseases carried by water and mosquitoes threaten many people, particularly the vulnerable young. Our volunteer doctors and nurses will set up stations to diagnose and treat these common illnesses.

5. Raise money to build 100 new homes for families currently living in a garbage dump. Shelter from rain, wind and sun is a basic human need. There are over 400 families living and working in a garbage dump, no decent place to call home. In partnership with Habitat for Humanity Vietnam we are dedicated to building 100 in 2008, starting during the Aid Expedition.