SM Flashback

By Kim-Tuyen Tran

As I come back to the reality of the grinding life, I kept thinking about those days in Viet Nam. It must be one of my happiest and memorable vacation/work camp. It is much more than a vacation since no vacation can give you such feelings of satisfaction and gratitude. Before going to Viet Nam, I was dreading the heat, humility and the scorching sun. But once we arrived and dove into the wall painting activities, I was humming along like a happy bee and did not let anything bother me. The sweat streaming down my face as I painted the wall were coming down so fast, I did not bother to wipe them at all. We joked about being in a sauna as we climbed up the table to paint the top of the wall. Strangely, we felt very happy and full of life as we sweated and worked together painting, cleaning, moping, and dusting...Anh Tuan walked by and said: "Working hard?", we replied: "No, hardly working, just playing and having a good time here". And that was exactly how we felt, we were very grateful that we had this opportunity to contribute our very small part in this mission. I have made many new friends with the volunteers from America and the group from Viet Nam. It was a privilege working together with Tho, anh Chanh, anh Quynh and felt their dedications. The youngsters in our team (Kody, Uy Viet, Gabby, Nikki, Co-Jet, Nhan, Frenchie, Van) were extremely hard working kids. Watching them played with the kids brought warmth to our hearts, we wished we could go and played like them. Chi Dao and anh Ty took very good care of their team and were meticulous with their works. We kept teasing each other as we worked side by side correcting each other mistakes. And this correction could go on for days if chi Dao had her ways . Anh Ty with his constant "this is weird !!!" had become part of our vocabularies.

At the end of the first day, I took a break and went in the medical room to take a look at the medical team. Dr. Joe and anh Khiem were attending to a room full of patients with sweat running down their faces. Vy, Dan and Nanhi were taking temperatures, blood pressures and occasionally urine sample tests and screened the patients as they come in. We thought our rooms were hot but they were nothing compared to the medical room. This room was stuffy and humid since it was full of patients, they had helped more than 60 patients that day. Seeing Dan struggled to translate symptoms into English was priceless, it really touched my heart to see how hard they have worked while their friends were playing with the kids outside.

I got a chance to talk with Hy and Ai, the 2 U.S. volunteers from Hue's group, who have been volunteered in Viet Nam in the past few years. At 25, they seemed very mature and wise beyond their ages. Seeing them interact with the kids from Hue, you could tell they were dedicated to their causes and have very generous loving hearts. I have much to learn from them and Huy, another Vietnamese volunteer. Everyone loves Huy and we were sad to see him leave us at Sao Viet resort. Huy later came back to see us at the completion dinner and gave each one of us a hand made key chain with our names on it that he made himself. All in all, everyone I met on this trip are very special people and I am so glad I have a chance to share this experience with them. It was a one in a lifetime life changing experiences and hopefully with God's blessings, we will one day come together again to contribute whatever we can for the children of Viet Nam.