Han (journal entry)

9 February 2007
Another lovely day in Tam Ky, Viet Nam. The weather is gorgeous, though I will admit to it taking its toll on me when I ride out to the orphanage. It makes me more tired, so it's a bit harder to play with the kids. Not the way they want me to, at least. They really love the grabbing and tickling and chasing and carrying, but it's hard to do that after getting all sweaty and tired from the bike ride.

Today I rode in the car-only the third time to the Baby Orphanage. Jo and Charlie came along, as well as Kim, so it was quite a crew of us--nine of us in all. The kids all seemed to love it, though, especially to have another 'boy' to play with.

We picked up Han on the way to the Baby Orphanage. She lives at the Rehab Hospital during the week, but comes back to the orphanage on the weekends. She came to the orphanage five or six months ago. First, her grandmother brought her in, but they would not take her because she is disabled (no muscle tone or control in her lower body). So that night the grandmother left Han in front of the orphanage. GVN volunteers felt really bad for her and two of them are paying for her hospital stay and rehabilitation.

There's high hope for her gaining muscle strength since Mrs. Hanh's son Trung had the same sort of issue going on and he lived at the hospital for two years and now he can walk okay. Still has a lot of trouble with eating, but his muscle strength is much better. So there is hope for Han to get a bit better. Stuart seems to like her a lot. She laughs at his antics--always a good thing.

[Rumor has it that Han is being adopted by an American family. I can only hope it's true; she's such a cutie.]