Peace Village

As you may already know from previous posts, twice a week I volunteer alongside 3 other girls at Peace Village. Peace Village gives disabled children (many of whom are affected by Agent Orange) a place to go to school and to receive treatment. Most of the children only go to Peace Village during the school day, however some of the children live there if their families live far away or if they need special treatment.

Before I came to Vietnam, I knew that I was interested in volunteering with disabled children. I was aware that it could be very demanding and challenging work. However, I didn't realize how emotionally and physically draining it would be.

When Nan, Annaleah, Julia and I first walk through the guarded gates of Peace Village, the atmosphere is calm and pleasant. We wave to a few nurses and greet them by saying Chào Chị (hello, older sister). There's a small pond, and a few fish swim around in the murky green water. A small, rusty playground sits next to the pond. There aren't any children playing on it, however.

When we reach the door of the school building, we take all deep breath and step into the dimly lit hallway. Annleah and Julia make there way upstairs to a classroom full of children, while Nan and I stay downstairs with another group of kids. As Nan and I walk to our classroom, we pass 2 other classrooms full of kids. The hallway echoes with laughter, cries, and other noises from the kids. Before we enter our room, we take off our shoes, as is customary in Vietnam. As we walk into the room, a few nurses, who are sitting in the room, smile and nod. Some of the more talkative kids greet us with shouts and laughter. We say hello to them: Chào các em (hello little brothers and sisters)!

In our classroom, there are around 15 children, between the ages of 6 and 22. They are mentally disabled, and some of them are physically underdeveloped. Some of the children are very active and responsive, and love to play with Nan and I. We can communicate with them in basic Vietnamese, and they listen to us. Others are completely unresponsive, and do not seem to understand anything that Nan or I say. Even when we put a hand on their shoulder or try to hand them a toy, they do not respond in anyway. It's frustrating, as I want to be able to communicate with all of the kids. This is just one of the many challenges I face while at Peace Village.

Peace Village appears to be very understaffed. For the vast number of kids, there are very few nurses and teachers. And the nurses and teachers that do work at Peace Village don't seem to put much effort into the wellbeing of the children. Often, the nurse in my room simply sits and watches the kids, and does not attempt to engage with them at all. There are few toys for the kids to play with, so often, many of them end up sitting by themselves not doing anything at all. It's so obvious that these children need one-on-one attention to aid in their development. In the U.S., I think that all of these children would have personal aids. This neglect for these children might be a mix of cultural influence and lack of proper funding. I really don't know. Often times I feel like the children simply need to form relationships with other human beings. Sometimes, a child will want to hold my hand while he does something else, like draw a picture. Or while I am sitting on the floor, a child will sit back to back with me and lean on me while he plays with blocks. One boy, named Han, often takes my hand and makes me stroke his head. I remember one specific instance when I was sitting on the floor, and a boy named Binh was sitting in my lap, another boy was leaning against me, a girl was holding my hand, and I was stroking Han's head. When this happened, I couldn't help but think that the children were just starved for physical contact with another human being. They wanted to feel like someone was there for them.

For this reason, I feel extremely important and well-loved while I am at Peace Village. I have begun to form relationships with the children, and as I begin to understand their distinct personalities, it has become easier to figure out activities to do with them. However, in the past months I have also begun to notice other problems with Peace Village.

The health of the children seems to be poor. Many of them have terribly rotted teeth, and often they have runny noses and coughs. I was also horrified one day to find that the bathroom, in addition to needing a serious scrub down, did not have soap. In an environment where there are so many young children running around, this seems like quite a serious problem. I have talked to my friends about this, and we all agreed it would be a good idea to buy some cleaning supplies, tissues, and soap. However we were left with the question, would the children actually use the soap? It seems unlikely that even if we taught the children to use it and made them use it while we were there that they would continue using it when we left. And even if they did start using it all the time, Annaleah, Julia, and Nan are only going to be here for two more months, and I'll only be here for seven more months. So what would happen when we leave?

You can probably tell that I'm a bit overwhelmed by this situation. As much as I want to be Superman and save the day, it seems impossible.

Sometimes I just have to laugh at the mayhem and chaos at the Peace Village. Everyday is crazy; the children are sometimes wild and hard to control, and it's difficult to get them to focus on anything. Last week, Nan and I had a particularly insane day. First of all, a group of Australian tourists were visiting Peace Village. Although I think it's wonderful for people to want to come to Peace Village, it does make it harder for Nan and I, as the kids get very excited and energetic when there are visitors. At the beginning, it was simply loud and messy in the room. Kids were shouting and laughing, and there were toys all over the floor. The nurses looked they wanted those Australians out of there. But the real mayhem was yet to begin.

First, a boy decided to bite another girl on her ankle. This was no little nibble; he really chomped down on her ankle. I have absolutely no idea why he decided to bite her ankle. It seems to me it would have been much more convenient to bite her on the arm or hand. I guess he just though her ankle looked like a good place to take a bite.

So while she was on the floor wailing and crying, he sat in a chair and just laughed and laughed. This boy always likes to bully this girl; clearly he doesn't understand that it's not a good thing to do. While the nurse and Australians were trying to console the girl, I noticed that Binh, a young boy with whom I have become good friends with, was hiding behind a desk looking awfully suspicious. Binh! Ðang làm gì? (What are you doing?) I said. He looked up me with his big brown eyes and said nothing. He didn't look like he was in any danger of harming himself or anybody else, so I walked away.

A few minutes later, I came back to check on Binh and discovered he had decided his little hiding spot was an awesome place to go pee. Binh! He looked up at me grinning. While I stood dumbstruck by the vast amount of pee this little boy had produced, Binh decided it was time to go back to playing. Still wearing no pants, he went back to playing with the toys. Soon he realized that the other children didn't like that he wasn't wearing pants. He found a suitable toy to cover him up: a play ironing board.

The Troublemaker: Binh

While I was running around trying to find pants for Binh, the nurse was cleaning up his pee puddle, and Binh was playing pants-less, a girl, not realizing her own strength, shoved a very small boy. He went flying back and smacked his head on the ground really hard. He screamed; I thought I was going to see blood. I sighed with relief when I didn't. However that didn't stop him from crying and sobbing for the next 20 minutes. I couldn't blame him. I was tired of all that pandemonium just like he was. And then some random girl just comes and shoves him over for no apparent reason!? I would have started crying too if I was him.

I think it's pretty clear that I was worn out that day when I left Peace Village. I'm worn out everyday when I leave. But it's worth it. I love being a part of these children's lives. I think that I am really making a difference, and it feels incredible. Even though it can be so hectic and exhausting, I know that me being there is really important.

Binh wanted to play guitar too.

Yesterday, we had a wonderful day volunteering at Peace Village. Nan brought her guitar and I brought my ukulele and we played for the kids. They loved to listen to the music and clap their hands and sing along. We were so glad to find something that the kids enjoy doing.  I left Peace Village happy and smiling.  

Oh, Binh.  He just loved to be in the pictures.