One of our OC chapter cofounders said, “I can’t tell you how happy it made me to read this email today from Kathryn Schindler, ‘Hi Tara, I’ve been really slow to get back to you, since returning from Vietnam, about our very successful visit to the orphanage in Hue, Vietnam. The Minh Tu (also known as Duc Son pagoda) orphanage is run by Buddhist nuns and has 110 children currently. I really loved their philosophy there. That is, they are a family who takes care of each other. Originally, they allowed children to be adopted by new parents. But those children were so missed inside the community, and it created such a sense of apprehension, that the orphanage is now a home for children to grow and learn and become contributing members of society. The head nun said she couldn’t count at this point, how many times she has stood in as the parent in weddings of children who grew up there. Our group had a lot of little gifts from home that we had planned to give to the orphanage, so it was all sort of overwhelming in the moment. The head nun was managing about 1,000 things at once, including hosting all of us. Our guide told me though, that the next day she called him to especially thank him for the suitcase of supplies. She was very appreciative and they will be well used within this community. I’ll also attach a lot of photos from our time there. The younger children sang several songs for us–in English and Vietnamese. The big red banner reads “Happy New Year” in Vietnamese. We were there during Lunar New Year which made everything a little more special. Thanks again for this opportunity. It worked really well and I look forward to contacting you again for my next overseas trip!'”
