VDS Fundraiser Dec 06 '09 - Than Huu Band & Ky Duyen & Luu Bich

Vietnam Dream For Success (vietnamdreamforsuccess.org) fundraiser was a big success! :) VDS can build more libraries and put more underprivileged children to school! Yay!

Ky Duyen & Luu Bich made a huge difference! And our band had a blast playing music. Our singers were terrific!!

Saigon, VN - July 2009

Took a bunch of SG pix so my Anh Hai can find his way around when he goes back. :))) Things have changed quite a bit.

Got to see my Di Hai, who was surprised to see me, after a while she remembered I was her niece and my name. :) Spent a lot of time sitting there holding her hand, stroking her hair, kissing her. Was wonderful to be home again!

Visited Ngo Thi Minh's friend chu' Le Cong Danh, another great guitarist, who happened to work with my dad way back when.

I was able to find my Ba` Ngoai's grave. It's been 9 years, my aunt had lost her memory and didn't know where Ba` Ngoai's grave was. We knew she was buried next to Trinh Cong Son so Bro Thanh drove us around and we finally found her. She was buried in a Buddhist's cemetery called Chua` Quang Binh. We cleaned up her grave and burned incense and prayed. I can rest in peace now. ;)

From Chu' Danh, I tracked down Chu' Quy` who used to work with Dad. An older man now and sick, lying on the floor, he didn't want me to take his picture. He could not believe I was my Dad's daughter. A gleam in his eyes however, when we started talking about his team playing soccer. And of course, Chu' Quy` remembers well "tha(`ng Hai & thang So*n"...I was just a little girl.

The other highlight was Chu' Muoi, I finally found him after 34 years!! He worked for Dad, drove me to/from school every day! I would never forget him. He and Chu' Luan (I have not been able to locate chu' Luan.) I was searching for both of them every trip, I was able to trace and found chu' Muoi. He lives in Cai Lay en route to Rach Gia'...I could only see him for 20 minutes or so... We held each other's hand and cried...so many years have gone by, he remembers "Tha(`ng Ha?i, thang Son"...but he had no idea Que^'-Huong (I was only 12) would remember him. He said "I still remember your smile!"

The Saigon trip was very personal and healing for me. Each person I visited told me a story about my childhood, or stories about Dad that I haven't heard or forgotten. How precious is that? :)

QH

Rach Gia - VN 2009

There's beauty everywhere I go. Never been to Rach Gia before but I love the lush green coconut & banana trees. We were here to deliver bicycles to the children. :)))

A Rose To Remember - Vietnam 2009

 

 

She stood and grinned at the camera. She laughed, covered her toothless little face and waited for me to take another picture.  My heart felt as light as a feather looking at Hong's (her name means Rose) adorable playful face.  The children at Martineau Village stared at me curiously, some hiding behind their parents.  I know a good way for them to smile for me, big giant smiles too!  I took a picture of them and showed it back to them immediately on my little digital camera’s screen.  They cheered “Look at Cu Teo” and giggled, and when I asked to take another picture, they immediately grinned or formed some silly pose, just to rush back to me to see their pictures…A silly game we continued to play that gathered a little crowd of children and a lot of crisp, innocent laughter. 

 
Hong (Rose) and Martineau Village's children - 2009

As I walked through the Martineau Village (about an hour from Phan Thiet) for the first time my mind drifted where Rose used to live.  She and her family, among 19 other families, had lived next to a dumpster and used it as source of income.  They dug through trash to find little plastic bags, trinkets, old pillows…anything they could sell for a little money or use to patch up their shelters. A family had found and used a foul smelling mattress, one that belonged to a person who recently passed away.   What do mothers think of their future and their children’s future, when they only make pennies from selling little plastic bags to a few street vendors, not enough to buy rice for the day?  What and where would Rose be when she turns18, living where she used to live?  I couldn't stop wondering.

 

These 2 photographs are courtesy of CCSS.  Taken in 2008 of families living near dumpsters, before moving to Martineau Village.

Early 2008, 19 families were brought to Bishop Paul Nguyen Thanh Hoan’s attention, he had no idea they were living off of a dumpster.  Dreams of a better life were dreamt for them, knowing Bishop, who is like a Mother Theresa of Phan Thiet. Grant letters were sent out by Sister Cecilia, who belonged to the Community (Community of Charity and Social Services or CCSS) which was founded by Bishop Paul.   We need to get them out of this area fast, but where, and how?  It’s not easy to keep asking for money, people are leery of donating, so much charities and organizations nowadays asking for money already.  They’ll have to find a piece of land where they can build homes and the homes themselves would cost money.

With prayers and faith, a few grant letters and a few months later…

Mrs. Martineau from Virginia, USA, has never been to Vietnam.  Her first donation a few years back,  consisted of 30 pigs to Bishop Paul, totally changed the livelihood of  hundreds of villagers in Phan Thiet.   Most donors’ concerns are whether their money was put to good use and with clear communications between her and the Community, she could watch the pigs farm provided bountiful good results for the villagers.  Knowing her money had gone to where it was needed most, even during a recession and the stock market was tumbling, she sold her remaining stocks and made another donation to build the 19 homes for these families.  In December 2008, the Community started its Houses Of Love project, 19 homes were built, and the village was named after its donor.  The families moved into their solid cement new homes which can sustain bad weather, leaving behind their old patched-up homes and the heavy stench of the dumpster, only made worse in the rising Vietnam tropical heat.

Another donor installed a water filtration system for the village.

Walking to Martineau Village

 

Bishop Paul Nguyen Thanh Hoan and Fr. Nguyen Khac Hy from Baltimore, MD, US examining the newly built homes.

 
First baby born in Martineau Village, 2009

Having a home is a big start but how will they survive?  What can they/will they do for a living?  “We need to give them the fishing rods, not just the fish.” Bishop told me.  There’s never enough fish to give, but the fishing rod will reel in more fish. 

Checking out the pig pens he recently built for the villagers, Bishop nodded contently. The pens were clean meaning the pigs will grow fast and healthy; more money will be made when the pigs are sold.  With each family receiving 6 pigs and grains from the Community, the villagers have done what Bishop asked them to do:  Clean and feed the pigs twice a day.  In about 2 months, the pigs will be heavy enough to be sold at the market and the villagers will make and keep the money from the proceeds.  The sum will be twice a teacher’s salary.  For the first time, these families could stand on their own feet, regaining their dignity.

Bishop Paul (in white cap) checking out the recently built pig sties. A clean sty helps pigs grow faster.

 
Bishop Paul and Martineau villagers greeted each other.

Beautiful smiles from Martineau Village - 2009

As for me, I dream a simple dream for Rose and the children gathered around me.  She’ll eventually get to go to school with her friends, she’ll be proud to read her parents her first book and write her first short paragraph.  I looked around to see the smiles on everyone’s faces, thanking God for this blessing of being among so many roses in what used to be a desolated, hopeless place.

I could see Sister Cecilia staying up late in front of her laptop writing letters as more letters asking for donations will need to be sent out, more gala dinners to host to fund raise for these children’s welfare.  The Community and Vietnam Dream For Success (VDS) are working to get these children scholarships since school is not free in Vietnam.  These organizations also provide room and board, school supplies for the children who have to study away from home.  The goal is to eradicate poverty with education, one child at a time.
 

 

A child’s laughter brought me back to the presence.  A Rose I’ll always remember!

Hong (Rose) from Martineau Village, July 2009

Theresa Le
July 2009

For more information on Houses Of Love project (and photos) please visit:  http://bacaixahoi.org/HousesofLove.html
For donations and The Community's contact:  http://bacaixahoi.org/DonationsContact.html

 

The Good Things I Did Today

by Theresa Le - 7/08

Viet translations and mp3 by Minh-Nguyet. :)

She was more or less a social worker; at least the things Di Hai did reminded me of one.  She visited a lot of people and they had one thing in common:  They were either sick or homeless.  I knew for a long time she was visiting the poor and the sick, she had told me, and I had asked her, pleaded with her, to take me along. I watched as she left the house on certain days, watched as she reached her hands inside the gate to carefully lock the door before leaving.  My eyes curiously followed her and wondered where she would go this day.  She thought I was too young to come with her.  "When you're 12, I can take you", she used to tell me.

I was brought up a Catholic, praying in front of the altar of Mother Mary every day before school.  The prayers were good for me because this was the only time my mom would give me money, enough to buy a little snack during recess at school.  The altar was also my aunt's dresser; inside she kept her belongings and a little notebook which she scribbled after each “visit”.  I never read it, never needed to, because one day she decided that I have begged enough, and that she would take me along with her.  She told me I need to start a journal.  Inside it I would write: The good things I did today.   

That started an adventure that forever changed my life!  I not only saw poverty, I actually talked and listened to the poor people.  At first I was quiet, shy and observant, but as the people saw me, the little girl with a bob haircut who was non-threatened to anyone, they started asking me questions which got me talking. The people lived in dirty corners of some alleys, small, wet, hot, smelly...  Their "houses" were made of cardboards, nothing to shelter them from the rain.  One time, I saw Di Hai lifted the cardboards and I could see people lying underneath; from time to time I would find a child too.  I often wondered what they ate when they barely had clothes to cover their bodies.  My heart ached for them!  I noted these things in my journal.

Another time, when my uncle took us out to lunch, a child guided his blind father into the restaurant and begged for food, they were quickly shooed away by the customers.  They were hungry and without money and asked if they could eat the leftover that someone had left on the table.  My heart tightened and felt angry at people who made them leave.  The next time I went to eat with my uncle, I ordered a big bowl of noodle soup hoping the little boy would show up, and to my excitement he did!  After a few bites, I made excuses about a stomach ache and how I couldn't finish my soup.  I endured listening to my uncle preached to me for having bigger eyes than my stomach but my reward was the little boy and his blind father had a decent size, still hot, bowl of soup to eat. 

I was on a quest looking for good things to do to add to my journal.

Despite what the French Vietnamese Catholic nuns at St. Paul thought of me, (and they thought I was the most devious, menacing child in 5^th grade!), my journal filled up with "the good things I did today".  I should add that I think the St. Paul nuns were mean (and mean is still a nice word to describe them) and some of the mean teachers deserved black ink squirted from my pen onto their dresses!

I continued to follow Di Hai around to different corners of Saigon.  But there was one time that struck me the most; it was when Di Hai took me to a hospital. 

It was before 1975, I was 10 or 11, and the Viet Nam war was raging, the country – North, South - torn apart.  Bullet shells scattered the sidewalks in front of my house, the neighbor kids and I used to collect them for fun.  Small shells, big shells...They would show up the next day, even after we cleared all of them the day before.  The nights were not still, there were flares in the sky, rat-tat-tat of gunshots nearby, bombs exploded in the distance, airplanes rumbled in the sky... The radio morbidly announced names of dead soldiers; my grandmother listened endlessly to see if she recognized any of the names.  Images of mothers wailed holding their dead babies, wives holding husbands…reoccurring on televisions, with the Theme from Exodus playing the background.  To this day, every time I hear that song I still get flashbacks!

I saw numerous wounded soldiers lying outside that hospital, apparently there were not enough room for everyone to be inside.  Di Hai told me to stay put as she crossed over the lawn to talk to the soldiers.  I could hear them moaning and see a lot of red on their bandages from where I stood.  It was hot, the flies were buzzing and the mosquitoes were merciless.  I stood helplessly looking at my small hands, wishing I could do something for the soldiers who seemed to be in so much in pain.  My aunt returned shortly, "Too scary for you to go near…too bloody…missing body parts", she panted, “Even I am scared.”  I could see the pain in her eyes.  I prayed to become a doctor.  I prayed I could ease the soldiers’ pain.  Never would I forget that burning desire as I stood there, “God, oh GOD!  Let me do something to help!  Let me BE somebody who can help!”  For many years, that image of wounded soldiers dangled in front of me, pushing me to study hard. 

The Fall of Saigon in 1975 made us leave home and left Di Hai and my grandmother behind.  It was a very sad day for all of us and many people’s lives turned upside down.   I was a few months shy of being 12 when I left Viet Nam. 

My journal of good things dwindled after I came to the States. America was big, everything was big, big houses, big roads, big cars, big yard, big refrigerators...At the time, we were the poor people who needed help since we came here with nothing, and we had to be on welfare and tried hard to rebuild our lives.  People were visiting us, not the other way around.  My journal consisted of “I did my homework…” far different from “I visited the poor, 3 times today.” 

I picked up playing the piano again at 13, paying for my own lessons with money made from babysitting the neighbor's children.  I joined a band at 16 and played for 10 years straight, donating the money I made to the church.  I didn’t mind, I loved playing music.  Since I’m quiet by nature, the piano became my best friend as it could speak and express my feelings for me.

I never made doctor and I was so crushed.  I was disappointed with myself.  I did so poorly in Biology and Chemistry that I had to pick Computer Science, not because I like computers, but because it was the only degree at George Mason University that didn't require a natural science to graduate.

Years went by, the dreams of becoming a doctor evaporated and playing in the band was the thing of the past, but the yearning of helping the poor and sick never ceased. My heart and soul are of a gypsy.  I dream of music and peace, and helping the poor.  Mother Theresa was my all-time hero.

It was only a little more than a year ago that I found myself playing music again in a "band". This band has no name, it couldn’t give itself a name, and it couldn’t agree on a name if someone suggested a name for it, but it would accept playing music for charity in a few heartbeats.

All of a sudden, I found myself not just playing a lot of music again, but playing music to raise money for the poor!  I even traced the money trail by going back to Viet Nam to see that the poor children get their sandals, bicycles, to see that the students get their room and board and to see that the people who want to be doctors are given scholarships to finish their medical education, so they can go on to help the sick. 

I have come full circle!

                                                               -0-0-0-0-

Saigon was so crowded when I visited this past July.  It’s been 10 years since I last saw my Di Hai.  Poor Di Hai, she was so excited to see me that she could not sleep the night before.  She is now 81 and still so beautiful.  I told her stories of my family, my siblings as she sat, intently listened.

“Do you remember you used to take me to visit the sick and the poor?” I asked her, to which she said yes.  I cried and was so delighted that she remembered that part of our lives, that precious window of my childhood I hold so dear to my heart.   I had feared she would not remember, as she seemed to be losing her memory. 

“I don’t need to be a doctor to help people”, I said to her.  I can help people with a smile and a song.  I am happy and content.

I ought to know better, Di Hai wasn’t a doctor either, neither was Mother Theresa or the Dalai Lama, but one can see the lives they’ve touched.  Their journal of “good things I did today” would have stacked up in volumes.  Di Hai not only taught me love, compassion, kindness, empathy by living a good example, she provided me with the opportunity to exercise these traits with other human beings!  It is in the giving that I receive and find much happiness.  I consider myself blessed.  I’m forever grateful for what she had instilled in me.

I held Di Hai, I held her hand for a long time and kissed her.   Best things I’ve done in years!

Theresa Que-Huong Le, July 2008

Written for Di Hai, with much love.

Viet translations and mp3 by Minh-Nguyet. :)

VN pictures - July 2008

I went home to visit my Di Hai, the only close relative I have left in VN. Our house looks so tiny now, compared to everything else around. I no longer recognize the street.

Our house is now used as a boarding house for nuns and students who need to study or be in Saigon. Most of them come from Phan Thiet or the Central. It's a good thing, the young nuns look after Di Hai, keep her company, bath her as she's in a wheelchair. I'm so grateful for these people are taking care of her.

I really miss Di Hai now that I'm back. So much memories in that house.

Besides doing the 1-week tour in Hanoi and visited my aunt, I went for an adventure ride with Sister Cecilia. We hired a driver, guide, and van, going from Hanoi to Nghe-An, Phi Loc, a small rural town in North VN. Here we distributed bicycles and sandals for poor children.

I also visited Bishop Paul Hoan's pigs farm in Phan Thiet http://www.bacaixahoi.org/history.html to see the work he did to help the poor in that village. We played music to raise money for his cause too.

I also visited Sis C's boarding house, where our VN Dream For Success (VDS) charity gig money goes to. The money provides scholarships for poor girls who get good grades, poor family condition, and had already been accepted to college but have no means of financing.

Everywhere I went I was so touched by the simplicity, hospitality of the people and the innocence of the children.

I really left my heart in VN!

Please see article(s) I wrote for details (and how you can help if you wish to.)

http://heohocbong.multiply.com/journal/item/1/Sandals_and_Bicycles_

Thanks for visiting! I'll post more pictures soon!

Que-Huong

H'mong Teenagers Singing - Sapa, VN.

July 2008. While I climbed Dragon's Jaw mountain Sister Cecilia stayed behind and made new friends... (I don't think she likes climbing!) When I came back I saw her talking with a bunch of students and got them singing in both H'mong and Viet languages. The song is a popular religious song.