On October 6, 2011 we arranged a visit to the Mai Am Anh Dao Orphanage in Ninh Hoa. Khanh recently called Sister An Son to say hi and ask about the children. With the coming of the rainy season, she said that all of the school-aged children needed rain ponchos. There are a few bicycles at the orphanage, but most of the kids have to walk to school in the pouring monsoon rain. When asked about the children’s diet, she said that while the kids all get 3 meals a day, their evening meal is always very plain, sometimes consisting of rice and little else.
When we told the Boisson family about this, they wished to help out as quickly as possible. They set out to help the children get to school through the rain, and to give them a more varied diet for their meals. They went on a shopping spree like no other!
When they unloaded the truck at the orphanage, there were 10 boxes of noodles, 50 kilos of pasta, bundled packages of soy sauce, 5-liter containers of cooking oil, flavored drink syrup, 10 kilos of dry fish, packages of sugar, 600 eggs, condensed milk, chocolate milk, toothbrushes and toothpaste, 35 raincoats, and 3 bicycles.
The children were so excited! They held up the raincoats to see the sizes and styles, and traded when they found a better fit. After living on very simple meals, the dried fish received the most anticipation and excitement for upcoming dinners.
It was a wonderful visit, and we thank Jeff and Khanh Boisson for their heartfelt generosity.
