Our Mission in Hoi An is:
"To improve the health, education and quality of life for children at Hoi An
Orphanage by working with the people
of Vietnam."
What we do at Hoi An Orphanage is therefore centred around the three key elements of our mission: health, education and quality of life.
From being a place where the disabled children had no access to education, rehabilitation, trips outside, or any of the good things generally associated with childhood, we have helped Hoi An Orphanage to become one of the better centres for children with disability in Vietnam.
The following is a summary of previous and ongoing work being carried out at the Orphanage.
HealthSurgeries and Improved Health Care
We have worked with other charities to bring better health care and surgeries to
the children. Tendon release, cleft lip and palette surgeries, shunt and heart
surgeries are amongst those that the children have benefited from in the last
few years. These have been life saving.
Recent arrivals at the Orphanage have highlighted the need for further surgeries, including thechildren who arrive with hydrocephalus.
Physiotherapy
Our Physiotherapy programme is now one of the best in Vietnam. German
Physiotherapist Kalli Heinemann comes every year to train our staff and to help
them develop rehabilitation programmes that look at, and develop, each child as
a whole; not merely focusing on, for example, a bent foot or a crooked spine.
Dental Treatment
When we first started to treat the children’s dental problems four years ago,
none of them had ever visited the dentist before; the dentists involved said that
they had the worse teeth on mass that they had ever seen. At least once every year,
we take the children to the nearby city of Danang and the excellent dentist
facilities and services provided by the East Meets West Foundation.
Special Education
We have established a thriving Special Education programme that caters for, and
develops, children with all levels of physical and intellectual disability.
Children who just a few years before could not talk, read or write are now doing
all of these things and more.
Staff Training
Existing Orphanage workers have been trained, and we have employed additional
qualified staff. The Orphanage nurse, employed by the Vietnamese government,
is currently receiving structured medical training.
Improved Living Conditions
Unsanitary living quarters have been renovated, a bathroom equipped for disabled
access has been installed; bright, well-stocked therapy rooms have been established.
We provide regular maintenance, repairs and building assistance to ensure that the
Orphanage premises are a safe environment for the children to be in.
Social Activities
We have provided countless birthday parties and happy days out, to the beach,
the park, local restaurants – no small thing to children who, until a few years
ago, had not been beyond the Orphanage walls. Every month, we aim to organise
parties for children celebrating birthdays.