Not just another day....

We stayed put for one more night in order to buy the computer for Tang. Bao Anh's friend arranged it and had it brought to us, which was great and we took it to Tang about 9:00 this morning. You would not believe the look on her face when we walked up carrying the big boxes! It was priceless and I felt I had never given a more important gift to anyone! Her mother was afraid she would begin having seizures because she often does when she gets too excited but they kept her in a chair and she watched while everyone unpacked the boxes and set up a desk area on a little table for her. She took a pen and paper and began to write. When she finished, she said it was a note to us ( and to you!)  I would like to share it with you:

My name is Tang. I am very much a daydreamer girl. I have many dreams to become a singer or teacher but I cannot do that. Today I am so happy to get this computer from the Orange Walkers. It will be very helpful to me to be able to connect to the world. I want to wish my friends, the children with Agent Orange, happiness, good luck and many hopes for their life. I believe that life is always fair to everybody.

This girl and her family are so precious and could not be more grateful or kind. We took Bob, who was not with us yesterday, up to the graves again with Tang's father. He goes there everyday to light incense for the children. And once again, he carried his handicapped child on his back. We talked to him for a long time about the children. He told us that he and his wife kept having  children because they wanted to have a healthy child. They felt hey had done something bad in their life and were punished by having sick children. So they kept trying to be better and better people and kept hoping for a healthy child. They did not know about AO for a long time and thought they had caused the misfortune. This way of thinking is common in Vietnam, as I'm sure it is in many parts of the world. I listened to him and could not imagine how difficult their life has been or how they could possibly be any better. When I hugged Tang goodbye, she said "Hen gap lai" or "until next time". I promised her I would come back to see her and she promised to email me.

Bao Anh received a call from her Uncle again, who had 2 other families for us to visit. This area was heavily sprayed with AO and was bombed extensively during the war and I was told today it was a staging area for troops going South. The 3 families we saw are within a few hundred yards of each other.

The second family had one child, who lay on a wood slat bed, motionless. It was especially sad, because the mother seemed like a stranger to the child, very distant and would look at him as if she didn't know him. The father was the one who talked to us and was somewhat affectionate to his son. The child only moved his eyes and hands and only when you touched his face. I put my hand to his face and his skin was so cold and I wondered if he could hear, could he see, did my hand feel warm to him? We made the decision to make a significant donation to this family. The mother wants to work and this money would be used to a helper to come in to care for the child. I am hoping the caregiver will touch him and talk to him. I don't think he gets much of this. 

The third family we saw will be hard to describe. I hope my pictures tell the story because I don't know if words will. I have seen many sad children in terrible conditions, but the two young brothers we visited at this particular house made me wonder about mercy, how is it that it skipped them.  I looked into this room and thought to myself "I can't go any further". The boys were side by side on a rickety bed, flies swarming around them. The smell was horrible and took constant effort not to get sick. The mother sat one of the boys up and took his shirt off. His lower back and rear end was covered by bed sores, infected. I won't be anymore descriptive than this but I thought I would pass out. I tried to hold in the tears but couldn't. It just was the most tragic sight. I will never forget them. I will never forget what made them this way. I hope I never forget their faces or the face of their mother. Even the large donation we gave her seems empty to me. Bob is buying them new beds with inflatable mattresses. Seeing what Agent Orange has done to these boys will poison my sleep.