and the cycle continues

By Ai Vuong

It’s been well over 12 days since I said goodbye to the Sunflower Mission Workcamp Team of 2011…and a week since everyone has flown back home and returned to the comfort and familiarity of their lives.

But since the moment I bade farewell, I’ve been lost at how to translate into words powerful enough to give justice to the thoughts and emotions that have been swirling in my head. All the photos, comments, and blogs really can’t encapsulate just how darn-proud I am.

There is no amount of words, nor the most heart-felt prose that will ever truly illustrate my gratitude to everyone, so let my words be few:

Dearest SM workcampers, you’ve entered my children’s lives (CoJet, Nhan, Dao, Phap) – and you’ve made everlasting impressions on them. I don’t know how I can adequately describe to all you beautiful people who’ve had a hand in shaping their lives just how this trip has impacted them. And thank you all for reminding me just how fortunate I am to be living this life of mine…how amazing it’s been for me to see the tantamount transformation in my kids.

And I tip my hat off to all the other “youngins” of the trip. I’ll more than gladly chaperone any other event with y’all, if you don’t mind hanging out with an old lady. =]

A Note From Dad-Hy.

By Hy Huynh

A series of fortunate life synchronicities have brought me to this very table, in this very coffee shop, in this magically beautiful city of Huế. As I reflect on these transformative years I’ve had while living in Vietnam, I’ve come to understand that my passions have been prominently shaped and strengthened by the countless, inspiring individuals I’ve met along the way.

If you asked me four years ago, I probably wouldn't have been able to tell you that my passions lie in community development, volunteerism, childcare, youth empowerment, and education. But, with one fateful dose of “duyên” that brought me back to Vietnam, to the FHF - Xuan Phu Children’s Shelter, I met over thirty young individuals who would permanently change my life’s course and purpose. And now, I am grateful beyond words to have found another community like Sunflower Mission that believes in these same passions.

It was an honor to join my good friend Ai on the 2011 Sunflower Mission Workcamp- not only to do service for the purpose of education, or to meet inspiring individuals in the Vietnamese-American community, but to also see four of my kids really seize this service-learning opportunity to help them grow into their own skin. Over the past nine days, I was able to observe my kids go through so many first-time experiences, and consequently a multitude of personal changes occurred within them. They have all grown in self-confidence, social skills, perspective, passion- the list goes on and on. I couldn’t be more proud of Dao, Phap, Cojet, and Nhan.

As the kids and I loaded our bags and stepped onto the mini-bus that would take us back to Huế, we all looked back to see the entirety of our Sunflower Mission team waiting to see us off. Each of my kids persistently waved their hands goodbye until after the group left our sight, as if they were desperately holding onto this last memory with the 2011 Sunflower Mission Workcamp. Moments after, I looked around to see all of my kids crying to themselves, each overwhelmed with their own personal joys, memories, and experiences- each probably thinking about the many different individuals who had just touched their lives.

During a ten minute span of bumpy-road, sniffling stillness, I could feel the atmosphere getting heavier with everyone’s emotions, and that’s when I decided to call an impromptu reflection meeting. We all formed a small, intimate circle, each kid wiping away their tears before trying to focus. The mini-bus continued to shake and rattle as we sped up the sinuous mountain roads, which seemed like a fitting metaphor for everyone’s heightened emotions at the time.

I talked to them about how we shouldn’t let these emotions bring them down. They needed to take these negative emotions of sadness, be true to them, and then transform them into positive emotions of appreciation to fuel their motivation to grow and learn. I asked them not to stop here, but to take everything they had learned from this trip back with them to the shelter. Our job was done. It was now their turn to help the younger kids become the best people they could be.

And just like that, I felt this connection and greater understanding of my own parents’ experience, as I was completely overtaken by this powerful sense of pride for my own kids. It’s this one emotion that continues to revitalize and push me in my work and life in Vietnam. Thanks to Sunflower Mission, this emotion is now overflowing in abundance.

There was this long-running “joke” (hopefully) over the whole trip that I was a 25-year old “Dad” for my kids and many of the younger workcampers. Well, as your “Dad”, I just wanted to tell you all how proud I am of all of you, and how proud I am to have been a part of your Sunflower Mission experience. Thank you everyone for taking all of us in like we were already family.