The kids of Red Cross

Redcross orphanage is one of the places I go 4 days a week.... So I thought I would introduce some of the kids I spend a huge amount of my time in Vietnam with!



This is Ha, she is about 5. Ha is a lovely and engaging girl, she adores playing with people and getting attention, and is very good at pointing or showing you exactly what she wants you to do. Unfortunately when there isn't anyone paying her attention, she goes wandering and has been found almost on the highway before! To prevent this the mother's tie her by her waist to the walls of a playpen (she can climb out very easily if not tied in!). Today I requested that we add a latch to the gate of the orphanage the is up high, hopefully if we keep the gate closed, she can't get out the road.... so won't need to be tied up all the time any more!

Ha doesn't have individual play skills, she can't entertain herself without someone to show her how to play, learning to play is made significantly harder by the lack of ANY toys left for her to play with. Everyday I give her toys and practice my OT skills by doing some pretend play with her and try to encourage this. But every morning when I arrive there is nothing in the play pen. Next week I am going to make someone talk to the carers EVERY MORNING when there is nothing in there for her (non of the carer's speak English. So I have to get a translator to discuss this with them). I am hoping that if I make the conversation happen every single day, maybe eventually they will realise that just getting a couple of toys for her when they wake up in the morning (I assume the issue is that toys go away at bed time) is easier and quicker than listening to my lecture.

Ha's hair is so patchy because apparently she pulls it out. I have never ever seen this, I can only assume that the reason I have never seen it is that when I am there she has toys to play with, so doesn't need to pull out her hair!


Here we are working on independent feeding skills. Ha and Thanh are both able to feed themselves when given the opportunity, so we try to give them the opportunity as often as possible. Like any kid learning to feed themselves they take longer than if I just fed them, because it takes slightly longer.... the carers don't give them the chance.





Thanh is about 5 year old. She is practising walking using a frame, or with help at her shoulders. As well as independence skills such as taking her clothes off and on by herself.





Here we have the beautiful Tam, she is a gorgeous 4 year old with severe cerebral palsy. Tam can't really use her arms or legs at all, but she can look to what she wants with her eyes, turn her head to look at you, and will let you know straight away if she doesn't like what you are doing!
I work with Tam to try to stop her getting too contracted. Tam is a classic extender, in her cot she lies almost in a C shape.... but her back is inside the curve. she is very difficult to move, because as soon as you touch her she extends and stiffens! but When you ask nicely she will reach for toys as much as she can, or turn to look at you and offer a beautiful smile!





Nga is about 5. Her disability is suspected to be a result of Agent Orange contamination passed down from her parents or even grandparents. Yes, it is amazing that kids are still being born with agent orange contamination - but it is possible that the contamination happened relatively recently, I have been told that there are bright orange barrels stored in Danang. This was a major American base during the war, and they didn't take horrible, toxic, potentially deadly stuff like that home with them. Locally, how are people meant to deal with it!

Nga has some amazing problem solving skills, she has great motor skills and can stack objects to make a ladder, climb up to get whatever she wants, open any packet or container. Unfortunately she also likes eat things... this includes any of the medications that she gets a hold of including topical creams. Nga will repeatedly try to get at candies, or chips, watching where you hide them. She also likes to pull toys apart, or take the strings off zippers or shoes. I think some of this is because she doesn't know how to play productively by herself. And some is that she has learnt when she is naughty, she gets attention. Yeah, it comes in the form of yelling, or getting chased until people retrieve whatever she has stolen. But when you get nothing - any sort of attention is craved!

I have been trying to encourage giving her lots and lots of positive attention when she is playing or doing puzzles with us, or just when she is walking around nicely - I say hello and give her a cuddle. Harder is to avoid giving her attention when she is being naughty. Today, because she repeatedly was breaking into the physio room, trying to get medications, stealing things.... I made her sit in time out in the corner where I was working with another kid. I completely ignored her (but watched her out of the corner of my eye so she couldn't escape until I said). She did not like it at all. I got a chair throwing tantrum (so then she had to sit on the floor), plenty of crocodile tears and general body thrashing.... But as soon as she calmed down and sat with out kicking me.... We went and played with the puzzles pictured above!

I work on my Speechy skills with Nga - trying to encourage her to vocalise for each piece, at the moment she will sign "thank you" (in Vietnam this is hugging your body with both arms and doing a little half bow) and will hold out her hand instead of snatching. We also play with a peg board and I hold out two colours, say one colour and she will usually pick the correct colour. Considering that I have only been working with her this way for a week.... I can't imagine how well she actually could function if she was in a normal home, with boundaries and structure and attention.



Here we have Minh, as you may be able to tell he has hydrocephalus. While he has had some sort of brain scan in HCMC, apparently the doctors couldn't shunt him because "he would die". So his head keeps on getting bigger, and I am going to hazard a guess that now that he is getting old enough for his skull to fuse.... as that fluid increases his epilepsy is probably going to become more problematic. I couldn't establish why the doctors think he will die if they put a shunt in. He can't communicate verbally, but he will smile and laugh when he is given attention and protest if he is unhappy with whatever you are doing.



These three are very cheeky, and extra adorable! They are the oldest of the "typical" children (and how any of these kids end up fairly typical amazes me!) I believe the girl in the stripy shirt has been adopted by a couple in France, but is waiting for all the paperwork to be completed, so she has to stay here. France must have easier international adoption laws than most, of the 3 kids who have been adopted while I have been here, all have gone to France.





This littlie is affectionately nicknamed Buddha.... because, he's chunky!