Gianna's community

Gianna lives in an orphanage that houses approximately 48 other orphans outside of Hanoi. Compared to orphanages in HCMC that house over 250 children, her orphanage is rather small. Vietnam just celebrated Tet, the Vietnamese new year. The house mother that works for a mere $50/year, invited some of the orphans to her house for a Tet feast featuring banh chung cake and lucky money. In Northern Vietnam, this is the cold rainy season, so many of the children spend the day wrapped in blankets on the floor. Food and supplies are scarce. The orphanage director said that when there is not enough food to feed the children, a worker will donate a day's wages to get food. And she lives in one of the "better" orphanages in Vietnam.

Part of our adoption fees will go directly to Gianna's orphanage to offset the costs of her care. Some of the money also goes to sponsoring another child, pictured here. What a pretty young lady. Huong Thi is 12 years old and lives at a different orphanage outside of Hanoi. She had ricketts and therefore is the size of a 9-year old. They describe her as having a "good morality" and living in harmony with her two roommates. Since she is in Hanoi, we may get the chance to visit her when we are over there.