Movies with the Orphans

I visited the orphanage yesterday with my cousin Hanh Dung and my co-workers Nghi and Nhi. We took a taxi drive out of the busy streets of Saigon to out skirts district 2, “Nha Nuoi Day Tre Mo Coi” which means the house which cares for and teaches orphans. It is adjacent to a pagoda.





I was surprised to see the size of it since it was four or five stories high and teaming with little children. There were many very young children and even toddlers. I can see that the teenagers that were sent to our English class were specifically selected for their aptitude and maturity as compared to the majority of the little children. We were greeted by Co Bao who appeared to be one of the monks from her attire. She was friendly and motherly as she suggested that we show the movie in the dining area.




I had brought along a LCD projector and a DVD player. She then said that there was a separate room upstairs that was cleaner. She then looked upon us to make the decision. I could tell that there was no precedence for this and that we were wining this movie event. I have not seen this “other room” so I asked if we can see before deciding. As we climbed the stairs, we were accompanied by little boys that were precocious yet absolutely adorable.




The room did turn out to be more appropriate since it was open and clean. In our makeshift efforts, we were able to coble together some extension cords and project an image onto the lime walls. The colors were distorted and the little speakers we brought were far from high fidelity but the children were enthralled by Monsters, Inc, the animated movie.




It was in English and most of the children did not understand. The sound was too low to overcome the chatter. The children were engrossed with the physical humor of the characters. The older children would express their own interpretations out loud which were right on target from the images they were seeing.




The children from our English class showed up late since they had another class to attend. They waved at me across the room. Looking across the sea of young children sprawling on the tile floors, it was like meeting old friends.




While sitting on the hard floor, the children just surrounded me and a little boy sat in lap with complete trust. It was quite a heart warming experience. These children needed love and I couldn’t help it but hugged the boy throughout the movie.




When the movie ended, the children politely thanked us and we ventured our way out of the school yard to the streets. It was quite a different world. I can not get over the sheer number of children that are so adorable while parentless.




It was heartbreaking in some ways but I also felt good that they have a place rather than being in the streets. They were being taken cared of. We left that world and emerged back to the busy streets of Saigon. Even within Saigon, it felt as if the orphanage was a different world.