FEB 23 8:00 PM (ALASKA) JAN 29- PLANS FOR EYEGLASSES FOR HONG HA

En route to my hotel from Ms. Dung's house, I informed Khanh that I'd like to come up with a project for Hong Ha, the mountainous village about two hours from Hue, on the Ho Chi Minh Trail, and near what was known as Hamburger Hill during the war. And I want to do it within the next five days or so. He gave me that "here he goes again" look.  My thought was either chickens or eyeglasses. We agreed on the latter. Khanh doesn't mess around. He immediately phoned Dr. Trien, who said that he could be at the school with his staff and equipment the following day to check the vision of all 300 students. I said that we could cover 100 pairs for those most in need. The glasses would be produced and ready for distribution in five days. Amazing. The wheels were set in motion.

The next morning, as I was gathering my things to travel back to DaNang, my Macbook failed. Just like that...out of the blue...no warning. Never again will I go over without a backup of some sort. Lesson learned. 

 

Images of Hong Ha:

Pathway to Hong Ha


 


 









 

 

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

JULY 15 10:45 AM (ALASKA) QUILT OF VALOR AWARD

Image
𝑰𝑻 𝑾𝑨𝑺 𝑨𝑵 𝑯𝑶𝑵𝑶𝑹 𝑻𝑶 𝑩𝑬 𝑨𝑾𝑨𝑹𝑫𝑬𝑫 𝑨 𝑸𝑼𝑰𝑳𝑻 𝑶𝑭 𝑽𝑨𝑳𝑶𝑹 𝑨𝑻 𝑨 𝑪𝑬𝑹𝑬𝑴𝑶𝑵𝒀 𝑶𝑵 𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝟒𝑻𝑯 𝑶𝑭 𝑱𝑼𝑳𝒀 𝑨𝑻 𝑮𝑳𝑬𝑵𝑵𝑨𝑳𝑳𝑬𝑵, 𝑨𝑳𝑨𝑺𝑲𝑨. 𝑻𝑯𝑨𝑵𝑲𝑺 𝑻𝑶 𝑮𝑹𝑬𝑮 𝑳𝑬𝑬, 𝑾𝑯𝑶 𝑹𝑬𝑷𝑹𝑬𝑺𝑬𝑵𝑻𝑬𝑫 𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑸𝑼𝑰𝑳𝑻𝑺 𝑶𝑭 𝑽𝑨𝑳𝑶𝑹 𝑭𝑶𝑼𝑵𝑫𝑨𝑻𝑰𝑶𝑵 𝑨𝑻 𝑻𝑯𝑰𝑺 𝑬𝑽𝑬𝑵𝑻.   https://www.qovf.org/
Read more

MARCH 6 10:15 AM (ALASKA) ALMOST THERE!

Image
My goodness, this laptop file restoration has been a drawn-out endeavor. However, the process shows to be 100% and I expect a call-back from Carbonite today. My fingers are crossed. Hopefully, I'll have access to photos from the last few days (pre-crash) in Vietnam and will be able to share them with you. I apologize for the lengthy delay.  I bought an iPad and will have a back-up next time.  Thanks again for your support and your interest in helping and healing in Vietnam. YOU are making a huge difference.  Neil     
Read more

FEB 25 5:30 PM (ALASKA) FEB 3- EYEGLASS/DENTAL PROGRAM AT HONG HA SCHOOL

Image
Just before 7:00 AM, Khanh, Dr. Trang (Khanh's wife), and I departed Hue with a destination of Hong Ha. This is the same village where we attended the Rotary Club latrine project closing ceremony on January 26. The route, actually the old Ho Chi Minh Trail, leads to a very mountainous region. Visible is Hamburger Hill, which was the site of a May 13-20 battle between US/South Vietnamese Forces and North Vietnamese Forces. The drive is rather slow, with continuous sharp turns. The mountain scenery, though, is beautiful. If time permitted, I would have liked to do some hiking there.     Eventually we made it to Hong Ha, where students and faculty were waiting at the school.    Road to Hong Ha With Khanh at Hong Ha School   Dr. Trien and his staff were already set up and ready to begin eyeglass distribution. Recall that it was just five days prior that we first contacted Dr. Trien about the possibility of screening 300  Hong Ha children, selecting the 100...
Read more