Father Vinh Dong and a group of parishioners from All Saints Parish in Greenwood spent three weeks in Vietnam recently, where they distributed 300kg of donations to some of the country’s estimated 1.5 million orphans.
Fr Vinh, Fr Peter Nguyen OP and 28 parishioners were in Vietnam from January 20 to February 12, where they combined sightseeing with charity work.
The latter revolved around a Dominican-run orphanage on Phu Quoc Island, where 15 nuns care for about 80 children, most of whom are disabled.
“We visited two orphanages and one ethnic community where the nuns work,” Fr Vinh explained.
Clothing and toys, which the parish had collected in the lead-up to the trip, were given to the nuns to distribute among the children.
The parish also raised an incredible $16,301.90 from various fundraisers, which was donated to the orphanages and the ethnic community, and donated 14 laptops to the Dominican nuns.
Fr Vinh said the donations would make a significant difference to the lives of the orphans.
“In Vietnam the government is very strict, they don’t look after the orphans at all,” he said.
“The religious community looks after the orphans but they don’t receive any funding from the government.”
The mission trip was the first time Francis and Daryl Barr Kumarakulasinghe had been to Vietnam, and the couple said they were struck by the plight of the nation’s poor.
“We come from Sri Lanka originally so we know what poverty is,” Mr Barr Kumarakulasinghe said.
“But the difference in Vietnam is it’s still ruled by a Communist government, so the sympathy is absent.
“We were surprised to see that there is no assistance, no help, and they purely live on providence, and yet they are so content, and so happy with their lot.”
Mr Barr Kumarakulasinghe said the immense joy visible in the orphanages was deeply touching.
“It is not a morbid place where they’re left to rot. They live a full life… which is thanks to the nuns and the work they do,” he said.
“These are young women in their mid-20s, not older nuns, and they’re doing this work and there’s so much joy.”
Having seen the orphanage and meeting some of the orphans, the Barr Kumarakulasinghes decided they would commit to being the godparents for one of three orphans who Fr Vinh baptised during the group’s visit.
“We know it’s a lifelong commitment,” Mr Barr Kumarakulasinghe said.
“It was not an emotional decision, we saw the need and we thought this was our way of giving back.”
Mrs Kumarakulasinghe said she was amazed at how the nuns functioned from day-to-day and were grateful for even the smallest of donations.
“[Visiting the orphanages] was definitely the highlight for me, it put a whole different sphere on my trip,” she said. “It has left an indelible mark, I think, on us.
“We all had the same highlights, visiting the orphanages and seeing the happiness on those children’s faces, and even the nuns’.”
Sr Theresa My Nguyen, who is one of the nuns in charge of the orphanage, told The Record via a translator there are orphanages set up all over Vietnam to deal with the rising number of children without parents.
She said the Dominican nuns often convince young, pregnant women who are unable to provide for their baby or ashamed of having a child outside of marriage not to abort their baby by offering to care for the child at the orphanage.
“We try our best to give [the orphans] an education like any other child… and we try our best to raise them up as if they were raised in a home,” Sr Theresa said.
She added that the orphanage is in continual need of benefactors, without which they have no means of caring for the children.
“The government always harass us because they often come to our place and they say that our place is too small and we have too many children,” Sr Theresa said.“So the most urgent need now is for more space… because there are orphans coming in all the time but we don’t have enough space for them.”
Fr Vinh plans to take a youth group on a mission trip to Vietnam in October.