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| Monday, 27 November 2006 | |
 Many of the children in the orphanage are the victims of the Vietnam War that still ravages the Vietnamese countryside and its people over thirty years later.Evidence of the war lingers on in many ways: since the war ended, an estimated 10,000 Vietnamese have been killed or maimed by landmines. The legacy of Agent Orange and other chemical defoliants continue to wreak widespread environmental damage. Around 20 million gallons of chemicals were dumped on Vietnam's forests by the Americans between 1961 and 1971. Most poignantly, the defoliants have had a dramatic effect on children who continue to be born with terrible deformities. The Vietnamese government estimates that half a million children have been born with congenital defects, and that two million have suffered cancers and other ill effects. During a trip to Vietnam this year, I was lucky enough to visit the Kianh Foundation which is a small UK charity helping disabled and disadvantaged children at the Hoi An Orphanage in Hoi An, Central Vietnam. The Vietnamese Government own and run Hoi An Orphanage. Members of the Kianh Foundation work alongside the authorities to improve the health, education and quality of life for the children there. They have around seventy children in their care, many of which have a range of physical and intellectual disabilities, mainly cerebral palsy-related.  Although the children are happy and alert, many of them suffer from incredible hardship through the basic lack of facilities that we take for granted that are available to children in the UK. They lack basics, such as toothbrushes, as well other more urgent necessities, such as medicine, or even meat and vegetables in their diet. They also miss human attention and affection. This became very apparent in the way their excitement when we visited them. They are fun loving, enthusiastic children who are intelligent and articulate. One child we met, Tuan, had learn English in a matter of months in order to be able to communicate with the English speaking staff. A visit to the orphanage certainly put our comfortable lives in the UK into perspective. In the UK we have enough to eat and wear, and have access to medical attention, and heating, the children of the orphanage are simply fighting for survival. Jackie Wrafter, the founder of the charity mentioned that she was experiencing ‘the usual round of deaths, sicknesses and drama, which is day to day life here at the orphanage.’ Although the Vietnamese government funds the orphanage, money does not stretch to providing the children with enough nutritional food. They previously existed on large bowls of rice and occasional pieces of fatty meat, but the Foundation is now supplementing the meals to ensure that the children eat properly.  It costs 10,000 vnd (33 pence/62 US cents/81 Australian cents/0.48 Euros) to feed one child at the orphanage for one day with three decent meals. The Vietnamese Government currently pay 5,000 vnd per child, per day and the Kianh Foundation has now committed to paying a further 5,000 vnd per day. The Kianh Foundation is also helping the children in many other ways, from providing them with medical care, physiotherapy, toys and a library through to help for able bodied orphans when they have to leave the orphanage at eighteen. The Kianh Foundation relies solely on voluntary donations to continue their support to the children. If you would like to make a donation, you can do this in a number of ways. Please visit their site http://www.kianh.org.uk/makeadonation.htm . To find out more about the Kianh Foundation, please visit www.kianh.org.uk |
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