Earth-Info.Net takes an active interest in how the disabled children in a Vietnamese orphanage are doing and has just received the following update from a local physiotherapist employed by the Kianh Foundation:

"Vu: His daily activities are good. He’s made a lot of progress in speaking and understanding. He’s one of the cleverest and most progressive children.

Sen: His walking is much improved. He has just been supplied with a knee support, so his walking gets much better than before.

Thuy: Her two legs and body are stronger than before. The spasm of the leg muscles is reduced so her walking is better.

Hai: Arms good, legs more flexible. He can squat for a relatively long time; particularly he can sit when he holds onto the bed. He can crawl by himself a long way.

Van May: Better than before. He can move to and fro between his room and the exercise room independently. His wisdom has developed. There’s a good harmony between his arms and head and neck: taking a spoon of rice into his mouth, or a glass of water. Van May is a good boy, who tries so much in physio-exercise.

Luu Mai: His arms and legs are stronger and more flexible. His awareness of physio exercise is better. He can go back and forth along the parallel bars with a better movement.

Xi, Bong and Gai: They have made much progress. They can move their arms and legs with conception. Their spirit is good. They feel happy when they get physio exercise. Xi’s condition of illness is better thanks to her development of spirit and movement.

Van: Her head and neck control is relatively good. She can sit by herself for a long time.

Hong Nhi: The spasm of her legs and arms is reduced, so her movements are easier than before. The movement of her fingers is better too.

Hanh: Her health and spirit are very good. She looks so happy when she is in the physio room. She usually smiles, quite different from how she looked a few months ago.

Anh: His past habit of sitting and lying is no more. Instead, he usually stands and moves. He stands and moves between the parallel bars. He can stand by himself for a short time. His spirit is better than before.

Anh Nhi: Her right arm and leg are stronger and more flexible. She can push the walking frame by herself. Her spirit is better.

Khanh: His daily activities and awareness of independence are improved. His right arm and leg are better than they were.

Phuc: The spasms of his leg muscles are reduced. So his walk is relatively better, He’s too active to have good posture in walking when there isn’t a supervisor. It may take a long time for us to change his habit."

THE DIFFICULTIES AND SOME INFO ABOUT HAO:

* The able-bodied children here are very active and have a liking for damage. The management and preservation of disabled children’s things, such as wheelchairs, walking-frames, dining tables, are not good. So they are soon damaged.

* Thuy: It is taking a long time for us to treat her. She has had to stop going to class so that she has more time for physio. I am trying my best to treat her so that she can go back to school as soon as possible.

* I’m going to open a course next month to train the carers here in physio, in how to help the children to lie and walk, and to help them in their daily activities.

* Equipment for the physio room is almost sufficient, except a treatment appliance (which is too expensive. Maybe later).

* I’m very happy to work with Jackie, and the volunteers that sometimes come here, especially with the disabled children.

* The improvement and development of the disabled children makes me happy. That encourages me so much in my work, although it is very hard. I’d like to thank you for your help to the unhappy children in HAO. I hope that we can do our best to bring the best that we can to them.

Please visit the Kianh Foundation website if you would like to find out more or support this life-enhancing work.