Traveling With A Purpose

The 18^th HumaniTour Viet Nam: September 12-24, 2013.

Carol Pucci – Seattle Times: They'll do the usual sightseeing, but they'll also take time out to visit schools, orphanages and hospitals, delivering clothes, medical supplies and toys they spent the past few months collecting. It's called traveling with a purpose, a chance to not only explore another part of the world, but to make a difference in people's lives.

Penny LeGate – KIRO television: Participants get a whirlwind swing through north, south and central Vietnam, dropping in on some of the country's most famous sites. Sprinkled throughout are visits to orphanages and schools and other important places. Traveling with Pham, the inaccessible is accessible. He is our educator, our translator, our facilitator, and the connector to packs of needy kids.

For more information, visit: www.humanitours.blogspot.com or email: info@kidswithnoborders.org .

Mother's Day is coming ...

Support KIDS WITHOUT BORDERS Teach Me To Fish program with your purchase.

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Kids Without Borders HumaniTour Viet Nam

Kids Without Borders founder Son Michael Pham led another successful mission to Viet Nam in November 2012. You can view stories and photos from the 17th HumaniTour Viet Nam via KWB Facebook Page

Successful fundraising event for Go Vap Orphanage

More than 500 people came to the Carols by Candlelight at the Renaissance International School Saigon on Thursday December 6, 2012.

The event raised 60 million Vietnam Dong (VND60,000,000 = US$3,000) for the Kids Without Borders - Go Vap Orphanage Medical Fund.

THANK YOU to the school management and staff, teachers, students, and parents for organizing this wonderful event.

More than

Renaissance International School Saigon upcoming fundraising event

Renaissance International School Saigon would like to welcome you all to our special Christmas event. Come down and sign along to your favourite Christmas Songs and watch our students perform.
Come and buy some candles, special paintings and Christmas decorations that our children have made.
Bring a blanket to sit on and enjoy our amazing show!
We are raising money to support the Go Vap Orphanage.
There will be drinks from Big Cola and pizza from Alfresco's available.
Our address:
74 Nguyen Thi Thap Street
Binh Thuan Ward, District 7
HCMC

This event is organized by Laura Baines, teacher at the Renaissance School and volunteer of Kids Without Borders.

International Children's Day

June 1, 2012 is International Children's Day. It is celebrated in many countries around the world. Enjoy images of the children we support in Viet Nam.

THANK YOU AGForestry Leadership

On behalf of the children we serve,

THANK YOU for your donation of $1000

to support Kids Without Borders programs/projects

in Viet Nam.

National Volunteer Week April 15-21, 2012

Kids Without Borders is celebrating National Volunteer Week - April 15-21, 2012. 
You, our volunteers, have helped making a WORLD of DIFFERENCE.
THANK YOU

Meet one of our young volunteer caring for an orphan in the Go Vap Orphanage (Viet Nam).

Too young to make a difference? Meet Chloe, one of our volunteer.

Volunteering in Vietnam

by Chloe Kilguss

This is the story of the time I went to Vietnam and volunteered at the Go Vap Orphanage in Ho Chi Minh City. My name is Chloe and my sister, my mom and I went to Vietnam for 2 months. My sister was born in Vietnam and I was born in China.


Our first day at the orphanage was with Mr. Pham and some other volunteers that were involved with Kids Without Borders. I was mostly excited about seeing the babies and when I heard we would be able to feed them, I was even more excited! First we were given a tour of the orphanage. It was pretty big and had 3 floors and many rooms and hallways and courtyards. The little kids seemed happy to see us and we passed out candy. When we saw the babies they were on a mat playing with the nannies. I sat down and was able to pick up a baby. I was happy that she did not cry.


This is the doorway to the babies’ room. Every day we were at the orphanage, we went in here to feed the babies. Sometimes just my mom fed the babies because it was kind of hard to do. Before we would go into the room, we always washed our hands. It is important to keep the babies free from germs. First we would play with the babies on the mats for about 10 minutes then we would help move all the babies back to their cribs. After that, the nannies would pour milk into the bottles and put the bracelet with the name of the baby whose bottle it was on the bottle. After the baby was fed, the bracelets into a pile like this.


All of the children were so sweet and friendly and I loved them all! One of the babies was blind and had a heart problem. I don’t remember her real name, but we called her Rose because my mom thought her name in Vietnamese meant Rose in English. She was gone for 3 days while were there and she had a heart operation. All of us were so happy to see her back happy and healthy!


There were lots of other kids at the orphanage too like the hydrocephalus kids. Hydrocephalus is when fluid can’t drain from your head, which makes the skull grow larger than usual. In the room with hydrocephalus kids, there were other kids who had different disabilities as well. For example, there was a sweet girl named Hien that we called Dancing Girl because she liked to dance. Her feet turn inward and she walks on the sides of her feet, but she always had a smile on her face.


On our last day, there was a little boy who blew kisses to me and said “bye bye.” I don’t know if he knew it was our last day, but it was cute. Co Loan, the director, invited us to a lunch of noodles, spicy and non-spicy nuoc cham, also some tofu and a green stuffed vegetable soup and some really good orange juice. Also she gave Lilly and I a pretty pencil pouch. Lilly’s is grey and mine is red with a pretty flower design.


Overall the orphanage was an amazing experience and I will always remember it. I hope to revisit sometime in the summer. I am thankful to Mr. Pham for giving me this opportunity.

Doorway to the babies' room

Hien, our Dancing Girl

 

One of the many hydrocephalus babies



Kids Helping Kids

Volunteering at the Go Vap Orphanage

By Lilly Kilguss

Hi! My name is Lilly Kilguss and I was adopted from Viet Nam when I was a baby. I have a brother and sister from China and I am the oldest in my family. I recently went to my home country, Viet Nam, for two months and yes, the trip was amazing! My sister came along too and of course my mom. While we were there, a big part of what we did was volunteer at the Go Vap Orphanage.

Son Michael Pham is the man who introduced us into the orphanage. His foundation is called Kids Without Borders. The first time we met Son Michael Pham, our meeting was at the Caravelle Hotel. He said to call him Chu Son. We also met a few people with what is called a HumaniTour. The whole group took two or three taxis to the orphanage.

When we arrived at Go Vap, we were all invited inside for tea by the director, Co Loan, who was so nice! Chu Son gave us a talk about what to expect inside the orphanage. Everyone brought something for the kids: Paper, notebooks, pens, pencils, scissors, candy, etc. Then, we took a tour of Go Vap. First, we went to a little room with about 10 to 15 kids about the ages of seven to ten. We brought gummy bears and Swedish fish that we passed out to the kids. The kids seemed really happy to get candy and were smiling and jumping around!

As soon as we were finished with meeting the little kids, we met with the hydrocephalus babies and some other sick kids on the second floor. We just walked around the first day but we would visit these sweet kids every day we were there. There were little designs such as characters from the Jetsons and Aliens on the ceiling because these kids are always in bed. Lastly, we headed to the newborn babies room where played with and fed the babies. All the babies in that room were so incredibly adorable. There was this one baby that I found so incredibly cute and adorable combined! His name is Kien! Kien has the cutest smile and laugh I’ve ever heard a baby laugh!

Well afterward, we said our goodbyes to the rest of the volunteers and we headed back to the hotel. After that, we pretty much had a daily routine of teaching there: First, we would sing songs to the little kids; after that, we would visit the hydrocephalus babies and comfort them; and lastly, we would feed the babies and then leave.

In the baby room, there was also a little boy who was 5 years old but very small. I think his name was Phuoc. This is his picture (see below). He liked to play with my glasses and he had a cleft lip that was repaired. My brother also had a cleft lip when he was born. Also there was a little girl named Nguyet who was the cutest thing ever and also had a cleft lip that was repaired. A lot of children get surgeries at the orphanage. For example, we met the Victory Baby that Chu Son helped to receive a surgery. He liked to ride his bike and also slide down the slide. He is very quiet because he cannot hear and he does not talk but it is fun to make him smile.

In fact, seeing all these kids every day and their awesome smiles just made me happy too. This group of boys was so much fun to see and were always happy to see us. They especially liked to sing along with the guitar that we brought with us. Working at the Go Vap Orphanage is one of the best experiences I’ve ever had because it was giving something to others. I know the kids may not have a lot because they are in the orphanage, but they just seemed like regular kids and I did not feel they were very different from me. A lot of the kids had some sort of a difference like their fingers stuck together or could not walk and had special chairs. After the first few days there, I just got used to it and it seemed like normal.

Son Michael Pham is doing an awesome job helping these kids in every possible way he can. I hope I can change the futures of some kids like him like maybe helping the babies with hydrocephalus because they are in their bed all the time.

On our last day at the orphanage, Co Loan had a special lunch for us and another volunteer from Sweden. I felt very sad to leave the orphanage and to leave Viet Nam, which is such a beautiful country. I really miss the kids now that we are at home and I hope to return to the Go Vap Orphanage again soon.

Teach Me To Fish

FOUR BROTHERS

We talked in a small restaurant over rice and fish. In many ways the four brothers are like young men anywhere in the world. Duong Kim Thao, 19, is about to take his university entrance exams in June. Tall, handsome and a natural athlete, he seems more excited about being elected captain of his school soccer team than he does at the prospect of more school. Nguyen Van Nghia, 18 years old and as unlike Thao as two brothers can be, is taking his exams much more seriously. He has just ranked first in natural science, math and chemistry in his school and plans to study banking in university. He prefers comic books and music to soccer and swimming. Tran Ngyuen Hoang Phi, 17 and the baby of the group, lets his big brothers do most of the talking (though he does manage to do most of the eating). All three look up to their oldest brother Huynh Tung Hieu who, at 19, is the first one to attend college. He is a serious boy with thick rimmed glasses and serious interests – engineering, books and newspapers are his bread and butter.



However, in one important regard they are very different from young men in much of the world. The boys are orphans and brothers in spirit if not by blood. Their experiences, their challenges and their victories provide an insight into a less regularly examined part of the life of a Vietnamese orphan – leaving the orphanage and carving a new identity and a new place for oneself in Vietnam’s status and family focused world.


Family


The importance of family is hard to overemphasize anywhere in the world and no less so in Vietnam. Responsibilities, identities, duties, marriage, schooling and jobs often revolve around the complex network of family connections that keep the culture, neighborhoods and industries of Vietnam humming. Wealthier students not only attend elite schools but are able to access afterschool programs in English, science, math and a host of other subjects. And looming over every Vietnamese student hoping to enter this country’s growing middle class are the all important National University Entrance Exams held each year in June and July. For the college bound, their scores on these tests can define the rest of their and their family’s lives. Families save and borrow to send their children to the best test prep academies.


The four brothers have none of these advantages. Coming from a world of dedicated but impossibly overworked teachers and nurses, there were no extra classes, tutors or foreign teachers to help these boys perfect their math, science or English pronunciation. Yet, while their material conditions may be limited, there are no bounds to these young men’s aspirations.


The oldest, Hieu, has already passed his exams and is completing a degree in engineering and architecture. While modest and humble, he says he remembers every person who has ever helped him, it is clear that his own work ethic and talent are the source of his academic success. Nghia, with the highest scores in his school in science, math and chemistry is not far from college himself.


Role Models


All four boys mentioned that adult sources of inspiration, advice and motivation were few and far between. While most mentioned that they appreciated their teachers they noted that in Vietnam’s conservative culture, teachers felt it inappropriate to discuss the personal problems or lives of students. A teacher is an instructor more than a friend or mentor. When asked about heroes and role models, the brothers all pointed to other children in the orphanage. Successful orphans became role models and older children offered not only academic help but advice on life, mortality and the all important transition to life outside the orphanage.


With 18 year olds given the impossible task of teaching 14 year olds how to be a man, it’s no surprise that the boys could think of numerous instances in which they had intentionally attempted to provide a good role model for the younger children. Of course they wouldn’t be children without plenty of stories of sneaking extra food, stealing candy from the teacher’s office and sneaking out after curfew to go swimming at the neighborhood pool.


But talking to these young men, one is struck by their commitment to building a community. Helping elders in the community and assisting victims of automobile accidents were good actions not just because they helped the people in question but because they helped to teach the younger children the difference between right and wrong.


The Future


When asked how they had managed to achieve success in school and life more generally, the boys pointed to many factors. Hardworking teachers. Good friends. Older students. Their own desire to prove they could succeed. And they mentioned the impact of volunteers from across the world that they had met as they grew up. The friendship, advice and glimpses of a wider world that volunteers had offered over the years all clearly mattered enormously to these young men, even when the volunteers were there only briefly.


Son Michael Pham, founder of Kids Without Borders (KWB), has personally mentored these young men and women and walked with them from the orphanage into the world outside. KWB Teach Me To Fish program has connected hundreds of volunteers from around the world with these youth and has lent them a hand when they need one to lean on.


As they leave the orphanage and attempt to carve their own way, these young men will wrestle with many obstacles that lie in their path. But as difficult as life is for a Vietnamese orphan, their friends, foreign volunteers and their ‘family’ of brothers will have served them well. They go into the world armed with confidence, good friendships and a stronger sense of family. What happens next will be up to them, but Son Michael has the utmost confidence that these young men and women will manage the tough roads in front of them.


To learn more about Kids Without Borders Teach Me To Fish Program and how you can support/contribute, please contact us at info@kidswithnoborders.org

Go Vap Orphanage

March 2011
Images from the Go Vap Orphanage (Saigon, Viet Nam)

Traveling with a purpose - KWB HumaniTour Fall 2010

Kids Without Borders HumaniTour Viet Nam
Fall 2010
- 14 days
- 31 travelers
- More than 2,000 pounds of gifts including medical supplies
- Orphanages, children service centers, school, ...
- Distributing 280 new wheelchairs and 14 new therapeutic wheelchairs
- Teach Me To Fish program
- Make Agent Orange History (www.makeagentorangehistory.org)

Follow our work on Kids Without Borders Facebook. For more information on the HumaniTour, contact us or visit http://humanitours.blogspot.com

Images from the HumaniTour Viet Nam Fall 2010 ... the children ...