The fast-paced life I lead .....

Kind of a busy weekend, considering how lazy I have become ... yesterday was just crazy, with me having 4 activities pre-planned. A shock to my system is more like it.

First I spent the morning at Mai Tam, where I hadn’t been for almost two months. On the way I noticed large groups of people and hundreds of motorbikes at a few schools. Apparently national university entrance exams are underway and parents literally wait outside the schools for hours as their sons and daughters are sitting the exams. Such a huge pressure on those kids. As the tests are just given in major centres, huge numbers of students are coming into the cities for these most important exams. Good luck to them.

On another note, the University of Calgary – Qatar, where I worked in 2008-2009, graduated its first class of nursing students last week. What an achievement for those 24 women. I would have loved to be able to attend that event, but it sounds like 600 people did go, so I know the students had lots of support and a huge fan club (comprised of all their teachers!) However, I was able to attend the Level 7 graduation of RMIT English students and there were lots of students I had taught in Level 6 there; several of them passed with high achievement (90% in each subject). So, in a few short years, they will also have the thrill of graduating with a degree from an English-speaking university. Such an amazing undertaking!

OK, back to Mai Tam! As you may (or may not) know ... Mai Tam House of Hope is an orphanage for kids whose parents have or had HIV/AIDS, Some of the children are orphans, and many of them are abandoned and are brought to Mai Tam to be treated/raised/looked after/schooled. Some of the kids have HIV/AIDS and some don’t. There are about 30-35 kids at the place I visit. Father Toai is the person who’s overall responsible for Mai Tam, a hospice, and a couple of sheltered workshops. He is quite young (I’m guessing 35) and he has a very hard job. For example, yesterday, he buried two patients from the hospice before coming to  MaiTam, where he had to counsel kids and sort out various arrangements and meet with benefactors and give out meds and then go off to say mass. Quite the skill set! Thú is my main contact and she lives and works at Mai Tam, sort of as the manager. Several bed mothers also live and work at Mai Tam and each has several children assigned to her bedroom, but all the kids are looked after by everyone during the day. In addition, there are often mothers who live with their kids and transition them into Mai Tam when it is clear their illness is moving into the terminal stages. With various volunteers and visitors, it can be a very busy place.

A year ago Mai Tam and its residents were in dire straits, as they were evicted (or rather squatting as there was no place for them to go) and miraculously, money came through for the purpose-built house that now is Mai Tam. You can read lots more about Mai Tam on their website.

So ... since my last visit, several of the children had grown and three of the babies are walking now! All girls, they are so adorable.. SiSi and SuSu and Boi Boi. I can’t get straight on what is a nickname and what is a real name. They are all just going concerns.

There are at least 6 new children ... several little babies among them. Almost everyone seemed in good shape, but with 20+ toddlers there are bound to be squabbles and tears from time to time ... and one in particular seemed so sad. His mother and father died just a month ago. There were three other volunteers there ... Ricky, who often goes to Mai Tam with his aunt, his friend Chau, and another woman named Van, who is sponsoring two of the kids. In addition to that, she teaches English to the older kids on Saturday mornings. What a commitment!

I was lucky enough to be able to hold little Miss Quỳ for much of the time. Poor Quỳ ... her mother, father and older sister have all died. She is a very easy baby and everyone loves her as she is so calm and placid. The kids, especially one girl named Thao, schlep her around like she is a rag doll.

I had to draw the line when Miss Thao wanted to colour her eyes with crayon. But as calm as Quỳ is, I guess she doesn’t like to sleep in a crib. The mums said she would just cry. So, after I gave her her bottle, I laid her out on the floor, like all the big kids. So angelic! It takes me over an hour to get to the orphanage, so sometimes I really have to give myself a pep talk, but I am usually very glad once I get there. While it can be sad, it is inspiring at the same time.

Van very kindly gave me a ride to District 1 for my dental appointment. I spent a few minutes sitting in the park near Notre Dame Church waiting for my allotted time. It is strange, because in that park people are not permitted to walk or sit on the grass. So there were great groups of people sitting on the sidewalks ... playing guitar, singing, taking photographs, couples chatting and school chums hanging out. There was even a soap opera being filmed nearby. People occasionally stopped to talk, as there were lots of volunteers trying to raise money for their pet project. It was nice to interact with them. In Phú Mỹ Hưng, people just do not speak to strangers. Or at least to this stranger.

Then off to the Starlight Dental Clinic. I had been there for an appointment when I was having some tooth sensitivity in March and needed to go back for another check-up. I have been extremely impressed with the facilities and the treatment so far. The cleaning is done with salt water, I think and the x-rays and so on are state-of-the-art. Some people prefer to go to the European dentists at the clinic (mostly French, if I am not mistaken) but the Vietnamese dentist I have seen has very good English and seems to do a very thorough and professional job.

After my dental appointment, Thúy picked me up and we went back to my place for our Vietnamese lesson and then we went to her friend Wally’s place for dinner. Wally, who hails from Singapore, lives in a villa in Hưng Thai, a ritzy area of Phú Mỹ Hưng, which is a lot like some compounds in Doha. He was very kind to invite us for dinner.  So the day encompassed the gamut ... sadness, joy, tenderness, trauma, laughter, dread, curiosity, challenge, familiarity, difficulty, flavour, confusion, clarity, questions, answers, satisfaction, trepidation, friendship, generosity ... Just like my little buddy, Huy, I'm trying to live life large in a small sort of way.