Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Gettin' our hands dirty

Meet 13 year old Duong. He lives with his father (pictured) and mother in a little house in suburban Hanoi.


Duong has an intellectual disability, so Blue Dragon supports him to attend a special school called Vo Thi Sau.

As well as being disabled, Duong has the double disadvantage of growing up in a family that is quite poor. His dad is not well enough to work, so his mother is the sole breadwinner: she works, when work is available, as a housemaid for her neighbours.

Some of our social workers came up with a plan to bring some cheer to a gloomy situation: Paint the house!

Yesterday, a team of social workers, uni students, and 4 street kids from our center spent the day scrubbing, painting and rebuilding. That's the group below, with the exception of Mr Hai who took the photo. This is the 'after' shot - notice the difference!


The nice new look for the house was intended as more than a paint job. It was our way of showing this family that we care for them. It also gave some of our street kids, who receive a lot of help from us, to give back to the community.



A happy day for all. I hope we'll be doing more projects like this soon.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

You know Michael, when I started reading this entry and saw the photo of Duong and his father I thought to myself "Gee, their house could sure do with a coat of paint!" Well done.
Lindy

Deadmanshonda said...

that's great! really...I applaud your work...

Anonymous said...

You are all so fantastic doing this good work. I would give anything to be in Vietnam and working with you. I am in Ireland and have 2 adopted daughters from Vietnam. Maybe when my girls are adult and making their own way in life, I can return to Vietnam and help give a future to those beautiful street children. God bless you for your kindness to these families.