Notes from the Orphanage: What Money Could But Didn't Buy

In her conversations with the head monk, Ava Van learned that it costs the orphanage at Ky Quang Pagoda 2 about $100 U.S. to feed 155 children each day and take care of medicine and hospital expenses. In a year, that comes to $36,500 U.S. Run this through a currency converter using this week's rates and the cost in Vietnamese Dong is 775 million.

Van also learned that the temple as a whole operates on between 2 billion to 3 billion Dong a year. So the orphanage's normal operations take up about one-third of the temple's yearly budget.

Where's the rest of the money go? There is overhead to running a temple: building maintenance, utility bills, staff salaries; and then there's missionary work. Van expressed shock when she learned a large portion of the funds support the monks' traveling expenses. “Monks regularly travel to different countries to preach Buddhism,” Van wrote in an explanation to Patch. “It doesn't make sense to me why they go on these mission trips when most of the countries that they go to, they don't speak the same language and by the looks of their missions, it seems more like a vacation...”

Meanwhile, a child suffering from hydrocephalus lays in pain in her bed in the orphanage, unable to tell her foster mom she doesn't want to eat the liquid cereal she's trying to feed her because she'll gag. Treatment requires surgery, and depending on who performs the operation, costs can vary. Van points out Hydrocephalus Project Vietnam quotes a cost of $2,000 U.S., not counting rehabilitation and post-operative care. But the orphanage doesn't appear to want to pursue that for this child – in fact, while Van was a volunteer, there were two children in the orphanage with this condition. “I asked them why not do the surgery,” Van said. “They said they couldn't locate the brain because there was so much fluid inside. I think they weren't willing to spend the money. The child has been laying on a death bed. She would have seizures and scream and everybody would just ignore her. She eats and has seizures so she would cry and they keep feeding her and feeding her and watching her gag. They're not properly taking care of that child.”

Van and fellow volunteers were understandably ecstatic when during her time at the orphanage, while friends and family were following her work on her blog and making donations to support her vision, an anonymous person wrote that they were going to donate $5,000 to Van to implement at the orphanage.

That money would cover surgery for both children, she thought, and there'd be funds to continue buying supplies, hire more staff to care for the children, buy better quality food for the orphanage, and of course, more toys. Van had left the U.S. with $1,000 in donations collected from friends and family and used the money to buy an assortment of supplies for the orphanage and children. In this case, however, what sounded too good to be true was – the 'donor' perpetuated the fraud until Van was ready to receive the funds at a Western Union with what turned out to be a fake code. “It just really broke my heart,” she said. “We spent all that time planning.”

Though she was able to purchase new gifts, help the children celebrate their birthdays and give them much needed TLC, Van left Vietnam with a heavy heart, sad and upset she couldn't help the children to the extent that she had wanted, but optimistic for future trips back to continue watching her kids grow. Meanwhile, she tracks their progress by staying in touch with a few of the foster moms.

More Information:

Van's volunteer trip was organized through New Zealand-based International Volunteer HQ (http://www.volunteerhq.org/). Up front costs included $2,000 U.S. to pay for insurance and fees. Participants choose a country and the organization helps connect them to a specific program in a given city.

Van encourages those who would like to make a donation to the orphanage to contact her at avavanphotos@gmail.com for more information. She would use the money to purchase supplies as needed when she next returns. The temple will take donations but they do not go out and buy items, she said.

Read More: Ava Van: 57 Days in Ho Chi Minh

Read previous stories:

• Renton Resident Crowdsources Humanitarian Trip to Document Vietnamese Orphanage
• Renton Resident Shares Love, Heartache for Children at Vietnamese Orphanage
• Notes from the Orphanage: Enhancing Relationships with Gifts
• Notes from the Orphanage: No Options for Adoption
• Notes from the Orphanage: 'Six Babies Called Me Mom'
• Notes from the Orphanage: 'She Still Remembers Her Dad'

Coming Friday: The Footnotes