Tan Phu Dong district (comprises of 3 islands) is the poorest of 8
districts of Tien Giang. It takes nearly 2 hours to reach Tan Phu
Elementary school as we have to travel a long way by car and cross the
Mekong river by ferry. We are prepared, we brought a lot of toys with
us for the kids on this island.
As we enter the school yard, I can see that things are not going well.
The classrooms we supposed to set up are covered in dust, the floor has
numerous broken tiles, some are in piles, dust covered everything, the
Red Cross staff were trying to clean the mess. The principal is away,
only the second in command is available and he thought that we can set
up clinic in the abandoned classrooms in the old wing of the school.
Once I told him that we can't use the old rooms, a group of school
officials frantically search for another 2 suitable classrooms. We can
tell that school is in session and some classes must have to be
disrupted, teachers have to stop teaching, the kids have to move out,
tables and chairs have to be moved, it is truly an unprepared mess.
Then some fellows from the village Health Department show up to check
"our autoclave". We don't use autoclave and that didn't make them
happy, so to make the long story short, we opt not to set up clinic,
instead we will carry out dental health education for the students and
give them gifts we brought for them. We will just make lemonade out of
lemons today.
It is English lesson period in this classroom. The teacher invites
Robin and Mickey into the room and read some books with her students.
The kids were excited to meet "real English speaking" people, probably
first time in their lives!
Dental Health Education classes are given in the courtyard and gift station is set up under a shade tree.
It was P.E. class for these kids, they were playing catch and kick the
balls, Paul and Padraic played with them and notice that many of the
soccer balls were soft and needed more air. Paul and Robin brought with
them a very nice soccer ball and a nifty pump, they were waiting to
find the right school to give the ball and pump to.
They found the school! One memorable moment happens when Paul gives the
P.E. coach the pump and see his happy delighted expression on his face,
what joy - on both sides!
And there are more unforgettable moments that day.
This evening, Dr.Lien came to our hotel to give us her support, assuring
us that we just need to continue to do the same as we have been doing,
today was only a single incident that won't happen again. There is
always something unexpected in doing volunteer dentistry in remote
villages of developing countries and we will have to figure it out as we
go. I went to bed praying that tomorrow will be a better day.
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