Allambie

Before I left Saigon I wanted to do something more than teaching and eating at restaurants.  I have bought my sorta-nephews more toys than many kids in Saigon get in a lifetime and I wanted to make a few kids happy.  In researching orphanages, I read about how many of the orphanages parade foreigners through as a form of tourism.  They keep the kids in the worst conditions because they believe that will net them the most in donations and the kids really don't see much benefit from the donations.

When I happened upon the Allambie website, I was touched by Suzanne's story and knew Allambie was different.  After watching this video, I emailed Suzanne and asked to learn more:



Suzanne agreed to meet me for coffee and we had a nice chat.  She told me about all of the kids and her vision for Allambie.  The kids have made tremendous progress, some of them from orphanages where they slept 80 kids in a row on the floor - now the oldest is studying for her entrance exams for college.

I asked what types of items they needed because we (me and some of the students) wanted to make a donation.  She said "torches" - we had a laugh because I didn't realize that what the Brits call a flashlight.  Suzanne invited me and a few students to come by with the rechargeable torches, pens, notebooks and other fun things.

On Thursday, with four other students and the other prof, I visited her home and met the children.  They taught us a Vietnamese card game and played pop music.  We also played a game that is popular here that is best described as hackysack with a spring-loaded shuttlecock.  Of course, I had a great time kicking that toy around, even if it only served to remind me of my age.  We did a lot of laughing - it was a really fun time.  The kids were happy and confident and very appreciative of our donations.  One of my students brought playing cards and candy (and toothbrushes to balance it out) and they all cheered "cards and candy!!"  You can meet the kids on the Allambie website.  Suzanne is a kind soul and the kids are in such good hands - really a wonderful afternoon.  I plan to keep in touch.