In 1990-91, Vietnam vets visited Polio Orphanage #5 in HCMC/Saigon with Vets With A Mission. VWAM agreed to help Sister Jean Marie, orphanage director, repair the inoperable rehabilitation pool. Volunteers connected with the children, and a special bond was created. In 2016, some of these children, now adults, contacted VWAM seeking help to renovate their homes. In 2017, 4 homes were renovated. In 2018, 2 more were repaired and in 2019, 3 were renovated. Now 2 more houses need to be renovated.
These houses provide lodging for adult male & female polio victims. The majority do work, but their jobs provide a only a subsistence level of living. This means there isn't any extra income to make repairs on their homes. A couple are only able to crawl, and cannot work outside the home. So they do the cleaning, cooking, etc. In May, 2018, Cedric Yumba, Global Giving's Southeast Asia Rep, made an on-site visit to inspect previously renovated/repaired homes. His report was very positive!
Renovating and repairing these last two homes (Number 10 & 11) will improve these polio victims quality of life, and remove them from what are sub-standard living conditions. And it will assure them of having no worries with a house that shouldn't require maintenance upgrades for a decade or more. Major home repairs, now un affordable, will allow them to keep up with minor maintenance issues on their own.
An improved quality of life threshold will be met providing long-term benefits associated with a cleaner, safer, more secure and functional living space. Vets With A Mission's three decades plus relationship with the children of Polio Orphanage #5 will come full circle with the final repair and renovation of these last two homes.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
