First Impressions through the eyes of a 15yr old...

Day One in Vietnam

In Vietnam, every trip from point A to B could be your last.

It is almost impossible to describe the pure terror that is the

roads of Vietnam. Hundreds of bikes swerve aimlessly, back

and forth. ‘Lanes’ clearly aren’t as important here. The most

used item is the horn, and the drivers beep constantly in the

hope that the bikers will move to let them through. Usually,

they do. Trucks overtake bigger trucks by driving on the

wrong side of the road, straight at oncoming traffic. To get

a bus to stop, the taxi driver pulled up in front of it as we

were moving, stopped, took the key out of the engine and

beeped repeatedly. In the middle of the road. And yet no

one seemed to care.

Eventually, we made it to our first destination. Social

Support is a community that has been created by the

Government to house homeless people. There are roughly

150 people currently living there. Many, if not most, of the

children have some sort of disability, whether physical or

mental. Some cannot move from their bed without the help

of two incredible people, Mr. T and Mr. P, both of whom

volunteer at this community. It was truly heart wrenching to

watch these kids, who were unlikely to ever leave their cots.

And yet, each and every child I met had a huge grin on their

face. Even those who could not move gave us a smile.

These kids, even going through the terrible experiences that

many of them had, were happy. Each person in this

community is fed on $18 a month (360,000 Dong). While the

money we raised will not go specifically towards this

community, there are so many like it that it will help. If we

have left over funds, we may even pay Mr. T a salary,

allowing him to work at the community more often.

A grueling hour and a half drive later, during which my life

flashed before my eyes no less than fourteen times, and

after checking in to our hotels, we went out for our first

proper Vietnamese meal. ‘Banh Xeo’ was, at a glace, a pigsty.

Food littered the floor. A mouse-sized cockroach

scampered past. We sat, unsure of what was to come. First,

a brown and black sauce was put in front of use. Then,

sheets of paper. Lastly, what looked to be several kilos of

omelet. After learning the

basics of Vietnamese eating,

we were truly into the

culture. Halfway through

my meal, a stray dog

appeared, eating our table

scraps. While this was only

one room of the building,

through a door we could

see the rest of the owner’s

family. We were literally eating in their kitchen.

Jake.