Cate and Greg having fun with the children and this little guy held on tight when I finally got him on my shoulders!
This is the young man, who I guessed to be around eleven years old that I mention below. He is a sweet gentle soul.
Well, it was inevitable .... I would simply have to participate in the quintessential Vietnamese experience and hop on a motorbike!! Well, no, I most certainly did not drive it .... am I crazy?? .... ....no one answer that!! We hired six drivers and bikes .... Pat, Ron, Margaret, Cate, Greg and I, said our prayers, hopped on and took off from "downtown" Nha Trang meandered through city traffic to the rural roads .... we wanted to deliver school supplies, rice bags, some treats and visit with the children at a local orphanage. The ride there was beyond thrilling and at some point I felt comfortable enough to let go of the handhold at back of bike to snap a few photos of our group as we road along, including a shot of my driver ..... I think you can see my reflection in his helmet :) A month and a half ago, I would not have even contemplated this .....
The children greeted us with great enthusiasm as the pictures attest. We had an awesome time connecting with them all, as well as meeting the head nun who runs the orphanage. Little English was spoken so did not learn the name of either ladies who showed us around. The children all had the odd English word in their vocabulary as I am sure we were not the first English speaking tourists to visit them. They were quite lovely children, really. I particularly took to a boy about eleven who had stood in the background for some time. I approached him and gently encouraged him to sit beside me .... believe me, this took a fair amount of time .... Someone said he does not speak at all, but I attempted to communicate anyway ...... As is the way with children in particular, I think he eventually felt comfortable with my intentions .... language barriers disappeared and we communicated with our hearts. I personally thought him a very sensitive child, who, perhaps when left at the orphanage, was so heart broken, that the shock caused some form of communication dysfunction to develop. Some thought he may be autistic, but I did not read that about him at all ..... as we sat side by side, I felt him eventually reach for my hand. I was so moved I stopped speaking .... It was extremely difficult for me to leave. Cate had thoughtfully brought two baseball caps as gifts from Australia and she gave this young boy one. He appeared to be thrilled and quickly ran to his room to perhaps hide it in a secret place :)
This is the young man, who I guessed to be around eleven years old that I mention below. He is a sweet gentle soul.
Well, it was inevitable .... I would simply have to participate in the quintessential Vietnamese experience and hop on a motorbike!! Well, no, I most certainly did not drive it .... am I crazy?? .... ....no one answer that!! We hired six drivers and bikes .... Pat, Ron, Margaret, Cate, Greg and I, said our prayers, hopped on and took off from "downtown" Nha Trang meandered through city traffic to the rural roads .... we wanted to deliver school supplies, rice bags, some treats and visit with the children at a local orphanage. The ride there was beyond thrilling and at some point I felt comfortable enough to let go of the handhold at back of bike to snap a few photos of our group as we road along, including a shot of my driver ..... I think you can see my reflection in his helmet :) A month and a half ago, I would not have even contemplated this .....
The children greeted us with great enthusiasm as the pictures attest. We had an awesome time connecting with them all, as well as meeting the head nun who runs the orphanage. Little English was spoken so did not learn the name of either ladies who showed us around. The children all had the odd English word in their vocabulary as I am sure we were not the first English speaking tourists to visit them. They were quite lovely children, really. I particularly took to a boy about eleven who had stood in the background for some time. I approached him and gently encouraged him to sit beside me .... believe me, this took a fair amount of time .... Someone said he does not speak at all, but I attempted to communicate anyway ...... As is the way with children in particular, I think he eventually felt comfortable with my intentions .... language barriers disappeared and we communicated with our hearts. I personally thought him a very sensitive child, who, perhaps when left at the orphanage, was so heart broken, that the shock caused some form of communication dysfunction to develop. Some thought he may be autistic, but I did not read that about him at all ..... as we sat side by side, I felt him eventually reach for my hand. I was so moved I stopped speaking .... It was extremely difficult for me to leave. Cate had thoughtfully brought two baseball caps as gifts from Australia and she gave this young boy one. He appeared to be thrilled and quickly ran to his room to perhaps hide it in a secret place :)
The little boy I am holding is in training to be a monk.
The young eleven year old boy I speak of above, is sitting beside me in this shot (white t-shirt) ...
Fun with the children
Purchasing supplies for the orphanage
Whoops .... guess I should have posted these pictures first!! .
The young eleven year old boy I speak of above, is sitting beside me in this shot (white t-shirt) ...
Fun with the children
Purchasing supplies for the orphanage
Whoops .... guess I should have posted these pictures first!! .
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