Tuesday in Vietnam

I’ve had a wild day traveling in the countryside visiting all the shelters. There were seriously many times when the driver slammed on his brakes so suddenly that we all gasped. It was a typical day of traveling in Vietnam. These shelters are a great.

I’m amazed at how Bao is being used in the area of “prevention” here. She is setting up shelters where the kids come and eat two meals a day and they have a caregiver who is teaching them basic English and the alphabet.

Most of these kids were latchkey kids who were left alone all day while their moms worked. Unbelievably, their average age is four to six-years-old. It makes so much sense to intervene now by offering support to these working mothers. The kids are being cared for in a healthy environment while the mom’s can make a living to support them.

Most of them are tribal kids who have no paperwork and cannot even go to school because their mother is too poor to retain a proper birth certificate--without which they cannot attend school. We must start the whole process of retrieving documents for these kids.

I cannot stress to you how beautiful these children are. Once again I clearly see that these little ones are the “heartbeat” of Touch A Life. They are considered the lowest class of society--even in the countryside. They are “the least of these” spoken of in Matthew 25:33-46. It’s so perfect.

There are many visions being birthed on this trip. Bao and Claude have great ideas.

Both Aimee and I prefer the mottos over the SUV but had to endure the trip today. We are completely wiped-out and will head to Phan Tiet tomorrow morning to visit two more shelters up north--ne in Phan Tiet and one near Nha Trang. We will treat Bao to a little rest and relaxation and share some good “girl time”.

Aimee and I will head to Phenom Penh, Cambodia on Sunday and meet up with Marie. She has a group of twelve visitors there and I will get to meet her son, Rod, who is taking on more and more responsibility at The Rescue Center. It appears that he may follow in his mama’s footsteps (What mighty big shoes to fill!!!).