Can Tho and Rural Orphanages

So turned out that after the crazy floods, the roads were in pretty reasonable shape outside of Ho Chi Minh City, and our larger bus that took us to the Province of Can Tho had no real issues.  How does a relatively small storm disable a huge city when its no big deal beyond the city?  Not sure I get that, but apparently the drainage in HCMC is just really bad.  Either way, we rolled the 3.5 hours to Can Tho in good shape, getting my first glance of the Vietnamese countryside.

I guess every American has seen the Vietnam country side in movies about the war, but I wasn't prepared for how beautiful it would be. Or how wet.  I don't think its just during monsoon season - seems there are little twisty streams every mile or two, with standing ponds everywhere between the rice fields.  

The bus was able to go fast as few cars were leaving HCMC and we arrived for a quick lunch in Can Tho before heading out to a rural orphanage that Ophan's Impact works at.  Can Tho is super fertile, and where most of the countries fruit is grown.  Funny how protected we are with fruit - like the average american things the only fruit in the world is what we see in Safeway (and maybe that it grows in Safeway).  Here there were huge markets (including one right below our hotel), and the majority of the fruit was stuff I had never seen.  Even the dragon fruit seemed tame!

Name the weirdo fruit - hint: the red ones are not apples!

We take the taxi outside of town and then hike over this tiny footbridge with no railings - apparently if you take a motobike taxi (a hug taxi they are affectionally known) they'll keep driving right over this bridge, even though its a bit scary just to walk over it.  The pictures don't really do it justice.  We got to see our first computer class with Tad's team at this orphanage.  A really beautiful place right on a river, with kids jumping into the water to cool off after class.  We poked around on the internet to see how View works out in these settings and generally tried to understand what its like to run a class out there.

The only way in to this orphanage

On a personal note, I'd mention to Tad my interest in playing guitar for the kids, so he said this is the place - I'd like get a place to play after class.  So I was super excited about that prospect, and of finally getting to hang with some of the kids.  Class was interesting - they have the system dialed, and I think the focus on training and curriculum is really what sets Tad's team apart from many NGOs we hear about here, who often dump equipment or courseware on a school that's not really prepared to make it work on their own.

Hiking along the river to the orphanage - cringe worthy selfie

The class is run by a local teacher , Nho (apologies if I'm blowing that!), that Ophan Impact recruited here - recommended by the orphanage themselves.  Scaling the teaching piece is one of the harder challenges for OI, so this local recruiting model really helps solve that challenge.  Nho is an amazing woman, who's had many challenges, but has a light bubbly persona and is super sweet.

Nho teaches the starters class with aplomb

Finally between classes I was given the nod to get ready to play.  Honestly I was feeling both rusty and nervous, as I haven't played a lot since Hong Kong.  But what an amazing opportunity, to play in front of the whole orphanage before bed.  I knew most folks wouldn't know my songs or understand the lyrics, but I still think music is a unique way to communicate without language.  The kids were super excited and a perfect audience!  We had them sit in rows - I naively suggested they stand and dance, which led to more pushing and rough housing than dancing.  Helped me get over some of the nervousness of finally getting to see these kids I've been thinking about for a while.

So cool to play in this place - I'll never forget this

Anh made a video of me singing Stereo Hearts, which is over here if the link works, but not sure if google and FB like each other enough to allow that.  Tomorrow we're off to a new orphanage that the organization has never visited, which should be really exciting.

What its all about in the end is this right here

And just to make things exciting, a "super typhoon" is headed right for us!  In theory I can leave just before it gets here, but let's see - either way, its pretty scary for Vietnam, which is so wet already.  Here's a news story about that if you are interested.