Renton Resident Shares Love, Heartache for Children at Vietnamese Orphanage

Ava Van posted to her blog a total 95 entries covering her 57 Days in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, this past spring.

The blog was her way of staying in touch with friends and family who had supported her with fundraising for the trip, and a way of reporting her experiences in serving as a full-time volunteer at an orphanage overseas. A journalist at heart, Van sought to document all that she saw and experienced while giving of herself completely to the children.

"I hope to gain life experience from this," she told Patch earlier this year before she embarked on her trip. "I have never done anything like this before."

From the looks of her blog, the orphanage was small and resources were limited, but the children seemed mostly OK. They smiled for pictures, sang, and Van gleefully describes indulging the youngsters’ penchant for sweet treats such as freshly pressed sugar cane juice.  Dig a little deeper, however, and the polished veneer fades into something less palatable.

Why is there a child tied to the bed? Van writes in her blog that the child is tied there all day.

Why is it, that when there is only one nanny (or ‘foster mom,’ as Van calls them) to care for 19 infants, the orphanage will not allow the many volunteers there to help comfort the children and hold them, opting instead to let them cry until fatigued on their dilapidated sleep mats?

Why is it that when a child suffering from hydroencephalitis is wailing incessantly, all the ‘foster mom’ seems to do is continue to force feed her an unappetizingly watery baby cereal, all of which she spits back out?

Van hints that there are things amiss, from a Westerner’s perspective, at this orphanage, but she refrains from saying too much. There were those at the orphanage, run by Buddhist monks and staffed by women who themselves came from poor rural areas outside the city, who were also reading her work, and she did not want to upset them.

She did not want to lose access to the children who became so dear to her heart.

Now back in the States and with time passed to gain a different perspective, Van wants to fill in the missing information. “I debated if I should come forward with all this information,” she said. “I love my kids a lot and I want to see them in the future. … In my heart I feel like it’s the right thing to do, to talk about it and discuss it, even if I can’t see them any more. I think words are very powerful and I want to use journalism as an act of faith and bring positive change.”

Editor's Note: Ava Van provided detailed notes and observations about her experiences overseas, which Patch will bring you over the next several weeks.

Coming Monday: Bribery as a Tool

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