She Said Yes!!!
Lives can be changed. You can make a difference. Read below about how a life was forever changed by my being in Vietnam this past summer. Then, think about how you can go on a trip this year and make a difference. Remember to sign up for updates to hear about new amazing things happening in Vietnam. Add your email to the left and as new blogs are posted you will receive an email. Visit our trips page to find some amazing trips that are headed out soon!!
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Her name is Nguyen.
And she said yes!!
I can remember back to when I first met her. It was the very first day that I spent in Mang Thit, the village that I lived in for 100 days this past summer in Vietnam. Heather, Daina and I were walking into town searching out a variety of things from the market and then boom…there she was. She had spotted us from across the roundabout and had already started jetting across the street to come meet us.
Instantly, she became fondly known as Market Hoodrat.
Over the next 100 days, the three of us were able to develop a relationship with Market Hoodrat. We learned that Nguyen was 10 years old. We also learned that she was 11, 12, 13 and even 17 years old. Really, it just depended on how she felt that day. We learned that she lived with her grandmother and that she had to drop out of school in the 2nd grade. She is now a lottery saleswoman and works 6 days a week in the city market and streets struggling to make her quota for the day so that she has money to take home to feed her grandma, cousin and herself.
She was amazing though. From the very first moment we met her, she was super helpful to us. Even though we spoke no common language, we could communicate with her. And she helped us find anything we needed. Bank. Food. Tea. Barber Shop. We would ask her and she would deliever. So over the next 100 days, it was very common for the three white people to be sitting at the coffeeshop on the roundabout with Market Hoodrat. Everyone would Moto and bike by craning their necks to see us sitting there with her. We would spend many hours just sitting and laughing with her as we would get to know her better.
As we continued to get to know her, her story, and more things that surround her life; we wanted more for her. More for her than just working the streets with dirty feet. More than just waking up and making the 3 mile trek into town to make her $3 for the day. It was so sad to see her day in and day out working the streets, running up to anyone on the street trying to sell her lottery tickets for 10,000 dong; the equivalent of $.50. We would ask her about going back to school…but as a 13 year old going back to 2nd grade would be too embarassing and not very accepted in their culture.
She was trapped. No way out. No future. No hope.
But, she said yes!!
Just the other day, Heather, who now lives in Vietnam to be able to continue working with our friends we met while we were there last summer, got to offer Nguyen another chance at education. She found a tutor who would personally work with Nguyen in order to get her up to speed. To work with her and help her with all of her studies. To work with her to help give her a future. To give her hope. To develop her into the woman she was supposed to be before circumstances stole hope from her.
And she said yes!!!
So starting very soon, Market Hoodrat will begin taking steps towards her new future. She is going to get an education. She is going to be able to chase after her dreams rather than chasing after villagers to see if they want to buy a lottery ticket.
Life is different now for Nguyen. She had a choice and she said yes.
It is amazing to be able to see how we can make a difference. Last summer, it was coffee everyday. But it was a chance to pour into a 13 year old girl that we could see so much potential in. 11 months later…her future begins. It becomes a reality.
Congratulations Nguyen.
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