I went to the Go Vap Orphanage in Ho Chi Minh this morning with Stephanie and Alison, two women who work for my school. Stephanie goes every Saturday morning and is always looking for people to join her. We held and fed the babies, said hello to the terminally ill children and walked by the corpse of a baby who had died and was covered with a sheet. The kids were desperate for our affection and attention.
When we put them back again into their metal cribs, they cried.
This room below, pictured in the next two photos, is reserved for the kids who are going to die. Many of them had Hydrocephalus, a few had Cerebral palsy and Spina bifida, and others I think must have had cancer. Stephanie at one time was a medical school student, so she was trying to diagnose the children.
Stephanie says many of the children are abandoned by prostitutes. Some are left behind by parents who can't afford to keep them, especially if they're ill. Due to official wrangling between U.S. and Vietnam, and tight laws meant to protect children from being sold to parents or traffickers, it's difficult for Americans to adopt Vietnamese kids.
This flower -- an Iris it looks like? -- was growing outside the orphanage.(I didn't bring any babies home with me, by the way!)
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