This year (2009), The Vietnam Medical Assistance Program (VNMAP) selected Lam Dong, a province in the Western Highland, as its site for examining and treating patients. Each day our team worked in a different commune: one day in Lam Ha, another day in Gan Reo, then Darahoa, or Gia Lam, etc., but to me (and perhaps to most members of the group) our day of work (June 19, 2009) at Luc Hoa Orphange in Dinh An is the most unforgettable one.

Behind Bi Ngan wooden bridge is Nguyen Khong Pagoda. “Bi Ngan” means “The Other or Different Bank of the River.” The name of the bridge implies that people who visit the pagoda, passing this bridge, will awaken to the Buddha’s teachings and will see a different world, a different “river bank” which is much better and happier than the illusory “river bank” of the world they formerly saw. I don’t know if this was caused by natural erosion from rain and sunshine or whether someone intentionally erased one letter and changed an accent to deface the sign, but the name on the sign over the bridge had somehow been changed to “Bi Nan” (“Got into an Accident”)! Past the pagoda is Luc Hoa Orphanage. When we arrived, patients of all ages from the commune and the nearby neighborhood were waiting in patience and in silence. Buddhist Nun Superior Tam Hanh and her disciples as well as the orphans from three to fifteen years of age here welcomed us with happy expressions and friendly smiles.

The front yard and some rooms of the orphanage were used as our medical site. After arranging medicines and setting up tables and chairs for examinations, we began our work. Our team that day consisted of doctors in our group, Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Lien together with some people from the Lam Dong Red Cross who volunteered to help us, a pharmacist, and medical students and translators. Before patients came to see us, their blood pressure levels were taken by Hoang, Van Anh, or Uyen (people from the Lam Dong Red Cross) and they were asked a few questions to see whether they had diabetes, hypertension, hepatitis B or other chronic diseases. Most patients were ethnic K’Ho, many of whom could not speak Vietnamese very well. One example: the examination of one patient, we found the word “diabetes” was checked on the patient’s form (in Vietnamese we call this disease “tieu duong,” “tieu = urinate” and “duong” = sugar; “duong” is also a homonym of “street”).  With caution, the doctor for whom I was translating that day told me to ask the patient more questions to elicit additional information about the patient’s disease so that he could appropriately prescribe for this patient.

I asked:
- Do you have diabetes?
He replied (without standard accents, the way the K’Ho pronounce the Vietnamese language)
- Yes!

I continued:
- So what are your blood sugar readings before and after meals?
- I don’t know.
- Did you go to see your doctor?
- No!
- You did not see any doctors, nor do you know your blood sugar levels. So how come you know that you have “diabetes” (“tieu duong”)?
- I did not have a place to urinate at home so I “urinated” in the “street”; that’s how I know I have “tieu duong”!

Oh! This man understood “diabetes” as “urinate in the street”! No wonder this patient and many other ethnic people checked the box on their “Patient Intake Form” saying that they have “tieu duong”!

In another case, I told a patient, “The doctor said you have hypertension.” She seemed not to understand me, so I used more simple words, “Your blood pressure is high.” In Vietnamese both “high” and “tall” are expressed as “cao,” so another way to say “high blood pressure” is “cao mau”; if translated word by word, it might sound like “tall blood.”) She looked at me and the doctor with skeptical eyes; I gave her a friendly look to encourage her to ask us more questions. After some hesitation, she said to us: “I don’t know if the doctor was right to say that I have ‘tall blood’ because I am this short, how can my blood be tall?”

This was the “experience” we “transmitted” to each others’ ears when we asked patients about “diabetes.” Finally we came to a “solution”: We would ask “if they saw any ants coming to their urine” and we would hear an exact answer. We also spent more time on explaining the meaning of “hypertension” and guiding them on their daily diet for their blood pressure to be more stable.

In the afternoon, delicious vegetarian food was served with sweet starfruit (carambola) and jackfruit for dessert. The food was all homemade; even the fruit came from a tree growing in the orphanage yard. It was a lot of fun when on our break some of us climbed the tree; some used a long stick to pick the golden, sweet startfruit! The tree is really high, laden with ripened fruit. The children eagerly brought us plastic bags or baskets to help gather the fresh starfruits. Delight radiated from those little ones’ faces!

That day more than 200 patients were examined, treated for common acute diseases and given medications that our group had brought with us. We finished working quite early that day.

Leader of VNMAP, KhoiNguyen Nguyen, offered a little sum of money to the Buddhist Nun (with the hope we could “compensate” her for the cost of buying food and for cooking for us); nevertheless, she did not accept because “most of you are students who have traveled from the other half of this planet to come here, sacrificing your time, effort and money to come help the sick and the poor. I recorded here your good will but money I could not accept!” KhoiNguyen persisted at length in his efforts to persuade her and finally she accepted the money “to help the people who are poorer and in more urgent need.” Then she showed us around the orphanage. All the furniture here was simple, clean and in neat order. Before saying goodbye to us, she invited us to enjoy the dancing and singing performance of the “little actors and actresses.” They passionately performed one song after another. All the songs were so nice. Let’s “listen” to Hanh Khai (wishes to be a singer when she grows up), who is going to “sing” for us the song “Let’s look at each other in the
eyes!”

“I invite you, my older brothers, older sisters, younger brothers and sisters,
Let’s come here to hold hands.
This is a place there is no more anger or sadness,
This is a place that had room for nothing but smiles,
This is a place that had room for nothing but kindheartedness
Let’s look at each other in the eyes!
We will find overwhelming compassion for humankind,
Now look at each other in the eyes,
You will find sweetness of human love.
Let’s look at each other in the eyes!
Let’s look at each other in the eyes!”

Yes, this was a place where only kindheartedness and overwhelming compassion for humankind could be conceived! Let us open our hearts, sharing with one another the fond gaze and human warmth, to relieve some of the pain in our sick bodies.

Check out the other cool programs you can volunteer with>>
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The Viet Nam Medical Assistance Program (VNMAP) was started by a group of students from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine and Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. The pilot mission trip took place in June 2007. During the mission, they found that there is a tremendous need for medical assistance from the poor and the ethnic minority population in the central region of Viet Nam. In addition to providing much needed health care for the people of Viet Nam, they realized that the experience provided a great opportunity for medical students and volunteers to acquire a valuable education ranging from everyday clinical work to learning about the health care system of Viet Nam.

VNMAP is recruiting Volunteers, Pharmacist, Medical Students, and Doctors for the upcoming mission. The application deadline has been extended to Jan 20th, 2010. Please go here for more info or contact Huan Tran at huan.tran@vnmap.org

I was born in America and had never visited the home of my parents. To the Vietnamese community, I was “Viet Kieu,” a Vietnamese expatriate, and walking around the country, people reminded me of my status. It made this first trip to Vietnam difficult: I no longer completely fit someplace, to one people, my family and I are immigrants, and to another, I am American.

I went to Vietnam for the first time this summer of 2009 with a medical mission trip named “Medical, Educational Missions and Outreach.” Together, a group of students and doctors had the opportunity to go to hold free clinics to provide medical help and orphanages to provide financial help. For two weeks, we volunteered in Vietnam, but it was not until the fifth day that I truly felt at home in Vietnam.

That day, I was still afraid, afraid of not being accepted, of being stared at, treated differently. We were going to an orphanage and I knew there would be a language barrier. I was anxious about what was to come.

The day we went to the orphanage, it was during the Vietnamese tropical storms. Never in my life had I seen rain come down so hard. It was only noon and the entire countryside was dark gray and gloomy.

We ran from the bus to the Buddhist temple, holding umbrellas, backpacks, and ponchos over our heads. When we got there, the monks stood on the wet floor barefoot, smiling at our arrival. As we looked anxiously around, we were told that the orphans were still at school, that it would be an hour before they returned.

While we waited, the monks cheerfully stood by us making sure we were comfortable. One began to talk to some of the volunteers and me about the orphanage and his life. Because I could only understand and not speak Vietnamese, I merely listened to his wisdom. As the conversation began to go deeper into ideals about forgiveness and friendship, I felt calm; the heavy rhythmic rain behind his words separated me from my fears and doubts. The monk never acknowledged our differences, only our similarities. Our conversation ended when the children arrived. Their bodies were soaked from the heavy rain and they greeted us with a bow. I had faced the judgmental sneers and comments in Saigon, but here, we were greeted with hospitality and welcome. I felt at home and the purpose of this mission trip came to me: we were helping our own people, to help them get past the hardships of life. I was no longer a foreigner in this temple. As we left, they stood in the rain and waved to us goodbye, giving us each a small Vietnamese dumpling as a parting gift. As I ate the snack on the way back to our hotel, my body felt happily warm and comfortable, whether it was the dumpling or the experience, my mind already had the answer.

MEMO Mission 2007:

There are many other wonderful philanthropy projects featured on VTP. Please check them out under Initiatives category

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MEDICAL MISSION: On September 2009, a group of doctors, health professionals, and student volunteers will travel to Vietnam to hold free health clinics in villages in Binh Dinh. We will conduct preliminary needs assessment, administer vitamins for the severely malnourished population, treat patients to the highest ethical standard, and sponsor referrals to those with needs beyond our capabilities.

HOPE PROJECT: Through this project we hope to give children an opportunity to have a future. Funds raised will be used to help orphanages provide the necessary healthcare for these children in addition to sheltering and caring for them. Funds will also be used to buy school supplies, clothing, and provide an education to these children.

SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM: There are 21.6 million people in Vietnam living in rural poverty. The only way they can rise from their current living conditions is by attaining a good education, however, many children are unable to because of lack of money. Their families cannot afford to keep their children in school and they need to beg in the streets. Please consider sponsoring a child and helping them escape poverty. A donation of only $60 will allow a child to stay in school for an entire year.

HEART PROGRAM: We will bring surgeons to Vietnam to provide children with congenital heart disease with life saving surgery. Last year we were able provide surgery to 3 children that could not afford treatment. They are now living normal lives.

For more information, please contact MEMOatUCLA@gmail.com.

Change lives, one at a time.  This is the mantra and goal of the Good Samaritan Medical and Dental Ministry.  This is why I joined the mission back in 2008, to be a part of this vision.  During that Summer I would embark on not only the experience that would change my life, but also a trip that really taught me what true love is.  Being a Vietnamese-American that  was coming back to Vietnam–especially the North–was a bittersweet experience for me.  I knew that a great deal of our older male patients were the same people that I lost a lot of my family members to.  However, we had a job.   Our team of medical professionals and volunteers would travel to the most remote towns and provinces to bring medical care to our patients.   During this time, my eyes were open to such a vast medical need in this part of the country.  Many people came with unusual ailments, such as massive goiters.  These people reminded me so much of my own family members.  This was when I came to a realization that we are all in the same boat.

Regardless of what happened in the past, we were now all united by a same country.  My Que Huong, our Que Huong–this is our common bond.  This epiphany really changed the way I cared for, and conversed with these patients.  I recall one evening at the clinic, I was talking to an older male.  He was showing off a certificate that he received during the war, when he was an officer of the CSVN army.  He told me that those times were so tough on his family, and he lost many brothers.  War hurts everyone, and at the end of the day, there is no winner or loser.  Many lives were lost on both sides of the 17th parallel.  After this mission, I really felt a sense of peace by forgiving what happened in the past.

I really learned how to love my patients in a divine way, and the patients see that too.  They see that these group of people that came to help them comprised of people that used to hate and despise.  Americans, Vietnamese-Americans, and Christians, came to their rescue when in the past, these groups were direct threats to them.  I believe this paints the most beautiful picture–just like the biblical story of the Good Samaritan.  Because our team was able to step out of our comfort zone, to really love those which were hardest love, we really showed the same love Jesus Christ did when he came to the Earth.  That is true love.  I found that through this mission that not only were our patients lives changed one at a time, but my life was one that was changed too.

A touching video featuring GSMDM on HTV Vietnam:

There are many other wonderful philanthropy projects featured on VTP. Please check them out under Initiatives category.

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About Good Samaritan Medical Dental Mission (http://gsmedicalministry.org)

The Good Samaritan Medical and Dental Ministry is a fully comprehensive mission that operates in the rural regions of Vietnam in efforts to spread God’s love through providing medical and dental care.  GSMDM brings together dedicated physicians, dentists, pharmacists, optometrists, and volunteers to provide extensive state-of-the-art and  health services.  Some of these services include blood chemistry analyzation, eye exams and eyewears, dental care through mobile dental units, mobile pharmacy, and full surgical capabilities.

The mission spans two weeks in during midsummer , and  for 2010, it will be from July 22th to August 8th. For the summer of 2009, GSMDM saw over 3,500 patients and operated on 37 patients.  GSMDM’s capabilities are extensive and opportunities are numerous.

For more stories, photos, and videos of GSMDM, please visit our blog at: http://blog.gsmdm.org/