A few remarkable coincidences led me today to visit a centre which takes care of disabled children. Some of them effected by Agent Orange and some with more run of the mill mental and physical disabilities. This was brought about by the visit of Mel Thomas from Trentham who had seen a documentary by her friend Gilda, which had been inspired by a meeting with Manus Campbell who I wrote about yesterday. Just to make the karma thicker It turned out that Gilda had stayed in My Le's homestay while she was making the doco! So reluctantly, speaking for myself, we went to the centre which is very close to here so Mel could present them with the money she had raised in her cafe in Trentham. I say reluctantly as I had no part in the fundraising and I felt uneasy about intruding on the lives of these poor children. I have included photos in which you can see Nick and I being very uneasy about it. My Le and Nhi were very active in playing with the children but the westerners were more reticent about it I think. It is a seemingly very well run place and the Vietnamese woman running it spoke very well about the problems and suggested that Agent orange was to blame for much of the disabilities.

Before and after the visit was an orgy for the girls buying stuff lanterns, bags, shoes, aand clothes. They spent a lot of time in My Le's shop getting massages and mani pedicures and buying Thams old stock from when she ran a shop next door. It was a bonanza for the Le family and Nick and I ferried the women to and fro all day, from the ATM to the tailors and back to the shop. The four of them were in and out all day, they bought about 50 lanterns to takes home among many other things. My Le was in her element helping them hither and thither and tonight she actually came out to eat with us as she was so happy she had made money and didn't have to work in the shop earning more.