Wrapping things up in Viet Nam

Well, I am home now.   What an amazing trip I had.  The last couple days were just as amazing as the first few.

In order to make sure that all the people who came to be trained for wheelchair distribution were able to apply what they learned we held a couple wheelchair distribution ceremonies, where they had to assemble the wheelchairs and demonstrate what we had taught them to the wheelchair recipients and their families. They were perfect.

Wheelchair distributions are always emotional.  Just a mix of emotions.  It is such a great feeling to be able to transform a life, but there is still much sorrow, that these people face and they have many challenges.  As I touched and talked with each recipient I always said a little prayer for them that they would feel joy and know that Heavenly Father knows them and loves them.

Both of these guys have Cerebral  Palsy and had outgrown their previous wheelchair 7 - 10 years ago. Today they became friends!

One of my favorite students, Hanh, yes I had favorites. 

Father and Son, life just got a whole lot easier

All smiles!

Proud owners of Free Wheelchair Mission wheelchairs!

We came we saw and I'd saw we conquered.  But we weren't quite finished.  We had one more day to go.  We had each of the "students" take an exam to test them on their knowledge of the things they had learned and applied during our week together.  And I am happy to say that each one of them passed with flying colors!  We had a fun celebration lunch and ceremony complete with certificates and official shirts.  \

Diem got 100% on her test!

Truc was awesome when it came to helping the other trainers!

All certified and official

We ate to our hearts content!

Oh and if you're looking for a fun, beautiful, exotic, tropical place to travel, Vietnam is pretty amazing.

Here some other things we saw in Da Nang and ate.

Lady Buddah and Happy Budah

Beautiful Views

Oh, did I mention we ended our celebration night with some Karaoke!

Mangosteen, pretty much the most delicious fruit I've ever tasted

Seafood Hot Pot.  Amazing!

Street Food

Before we left for home we spent a couple days in Saigon to see another orphanage and so the Physical Therapy students could do some pediatric PT there.  We also had a day to be tourist.  We walked around Saigon and enjoyed the bustling city then headed out to Chu Chi Tunnels.

Hard to believe that 16,000 Vietnamese men and women lived in here.

It was definitely interesting to hear about the war from the Vietnamese perspective and fairly difficult at times too.  They call it the "American" War over there.  Really made me realize how senseless it all was.  But that's a topic for a different day.

A room full of babies hoping to find a family

Doing some physical therapy with one of the children with CP.

Being in this orphanage was so emotional for me.  I broke down and cried several times.  All these sweet children hoping that someone will come adopt them, but many of them end up there for life, especially those with more severe diseases or disabilities.  American's are not allowed to adopt children from Viet Nam right now.  If we could, I might have just ended up bringing one home with me. 

A few other memories I don't want to forget.
I will never again try to use a stair well in a highrise building in Vietnam.  I basically got trapped inside one.  I tried to go from the 4th to the 8th floor using the stairs, only to find every door I tried to open locked!  So they let you open the door to get in the stairwell, but they lock when they shut behind you!  Not exactly to code!  It was actually really scary, I had to bang and kick on a door, yelling help me for several minutes before some random Vietnamese man opened the door for me.  I've never prayed so hard for a door to literally be opened for me in my life!

We spent $6 on a Vietnamese Massage.  I will NEVER do that again!  It was awful!  So very strange and not private nor relaxing at all.  I was pinched and slapped and my massage therapist, if you could call her that, was just super sweaty and pretty disgusting.

I did however enjoy the cucumbers they put on my face.

  

I am so thankful the opportunity I had to go to such a wonderful country have such incredible experiences!  Can't wait for what is in store next!