A Special Visitor

I am lucky to have a chance to work with sponsors and visitors of HSCV. I always enjoy watching the happy moments when the generous sponsors meet with their grateful sponsored children.

Ms. Janine Bartram has been faithfully sponsoring rice and scholarships- to two families for many years. Through numerous emails, I have finally managed to get in touch with her. To me, she is a very special person and I am very excited to be able to escort her on this journey to meet her sponsored families.

Let’s take a trip to visit these sponsored families with Ms. Janine Bartram.

On the first day:

We departed at 8:15 am and headed for Soc Son. Our destination was 40 km from the centre. At 9:30am, we saw the mother of the first family from a distance.

The lady was awaiting our arrival at the side of the road. Her face paled when we warmly invited her get into our car. She shared that she had a severe motion sickness problem and she has never been in a car before, thus the phobia sets in when we extended our invitation. We assured her that it would all be well.

As we drove along, she became more relaxed and soon revealed a wide smile. When we arrived, Janine little daughter, Ngoc greeted us with a lovely smile. The little girl held her mother’s hand tightly all the while, hesitant to see so many unfamiliar faces in her home.

The family is very poor. Three of them live in the small house with basic amenities, whenever it rains, the roof leaks, posing inconvenience to the family. The single mother struggles to work on the farm during the day.

When she returns home in the evening, she has to take care of the daily household chores and her two young children. Despite these, she remains her cheerful self, always smiling. We chatted for a long while. She was very happy to know that Janine has agreed to continue supporting her family and was elated to know that the generous sponsor will also be giving her 20 chicken to start a family business next month.

Our next stop was the second sponsored family of Janine. Her sponsored child, Que held a special place in Janine’s heart, as this sweet child always wrote beautiful letters to her. Que’s simple house was next to the river. As we walked towards her home in the village along the dirt road, it everyone seemed to know that we were coming. Many curious children waved at us to say “hello, hello” and followed us along. When Que saw Janine, she rushed towards her to give her a big hug. Though they have never met in person before, they are no strangers to each other. Both of them looked blissful and contented. Que has been looking forward to this day when she would meet her sponsor for the very first time. Tears of joy rolled down her cheeks as she was overwhelmed by emotions meeting Janine for the first time.

We shared lunch with Que’s family, took pictures and told them the stories about the other HSCV children and their sponsors. The house may be void of plush furniture or latest electrical equipments but the laughter and the happy spirit in the house was obvious and infectious.

On the second day:

It took a good 60 minutes and 10 phone calls to locate Janine’s sponsored children. Once I have successfully located them, I headed straight to the hotel where Janine was staying to bring her to the home of her sponsored child.

The children were excited to go shopping, an experience that was rare for them. We strolled along the streets to buy clothes for them. The considerate mothers always checked the prices of these gifts mindful of spending Janine’s money. Some snobbish shop owners turned them away at the doorsteps at the sight of their tattered outfits. Little did these shop owners expect that they have missed the chance to serve these customers and earn profits from their purchases.

The kind sponsor, Janine even went the extra mile and invited the family for lunch. Que enjoyed her bottle of coke and chips just like a typical Western girl. As this is the first visit to the capital, Hanoi, they were fearful to touch anything, but couldn’t stop themselves from gazing at everything around the unfamiliar environment.

Things we city dwellers often take for granted are completely foreign to them, from taking the lift, using the flush system toilet to a simple soft drink. The endearing Janine showered the children with great hospitality and love making them feel like princesses. The two days with Janine were indeed an unforgettable experience for these children. And it was memorable and touching for me too.

Tran N. Lien