The tiny girl in Bo De Pagoda

There is a little girl with the beautiful name of Tam Anh, who is being sheltered at the Bo De Pagoda *** (See note below). When visitors meet with this young girl, they cannot but feel pity for her. She’s physically very small for her age and should be receiving the care and love from her parents and close relatives. Instead, at end of May, her mother abandoned her by the side of the road. Luckily for Tam Anh, a street vendor saw her and picked her up and brought her to the Bo De Pagoda. When she was abandoned, Tam Anh was only one month old and weighed less than 1 kilogram - a mere 2 pounds! A tiny infant!

Later, the good monks at Bo De Pagoda discovered that Tam Anh was born in Phu San Hospital. They also discovered that the mother has HIV and is close to death. According to the doctors of Phu San Hospital, this little girl was given anti -HIV drugs and medications at the hospital. After that, with the tender loving care from the monks and nannies at the pagoda, she is much better than before. Tam Anh sleeps very well. She is able to drink 70cc of formula at each meal (about 2.3 ounces) and is now regularly gaining weight.

However, Tam Anh repeatedly coughed sometimes. Since she is such a very tiny infant, she especially needs medical care. With the support from HSCV’s sponsors Carrie Brennan, Yvonne Ngo and their friends, HSCV arranged to bring Tam Anh to the National Pediatrics Hospital for a check-up. After having this check-up and some additional tests, the doctor diagnosed Tam Anh as having pneumonia. Tam Anh needed to stay at the hospital for 5 days for additional treatment of her condition. She was given medicine and injections every day. Unlike most other young infants in the hospital, Tam Anh was very easy to care for. She ate and slept well during her time in the hospital and almost never cried or fussed unlike other infants of the same age. With the care and treatment from the nannies and the doctors here, Tam Anh is much better and she now coughs less than before.

On the day Tam Anh checked out of the hospital, everyone saw her much bigger than before after only 5 days. We are happy to see this positive improvement in her!

HSCV hopes to follow-up on her condition and continue to give our help and support in the future for this darling little girl.

If you would like to sponsor a child like Tam Anh or find down more about the Bo De Pagoda, please visit our website at:

http://www.hscv.org/orphanages

*** Bo De Pagoda is a Buddhist shelter and place of

worship. The female monks who live in the pagoda always help people in need. According to Buddhist custom, a pagoda is a place that not only welcomes all kinds of people in different situations but also helps them to find solutions to their problems. Bo De Pagoda takes in children (mostly orphans) living in the pagoda: infants, street children, runaways, and in the case of Tam Anh, abandoned babies. In addition to the Buddhist monks, there are also some women (called nannies) who also live at the pagoda and take care of the children.

Blogged by Do Thi Thuy Hong