Sài Gòn: Mái Ấm Hoa Hồng Nhỏ
Part of WISEN's initial trip is not only to conduct trial workshops with Vietnamese college and high school students. Nor is it solely for us to legalize documents and make logistic preparations. A large focus of our trip is also to survey the communities and populations at risk for STI/STDs as well as social stigma.
Mai Am Hoa Hong Nho, or the Little Rose Shelter, is a shelter, care, and educational center for girls aged 12-18 years who have a high risk or who were victims of trafficking, labor abuse, or sexual abuse in Vietnam. They provide basic needs, health care, education, and job opportunities for these girls. WISEN was able to stop by and meet both the volunteers as well as the girls who live at the shelter. Here are Huy's words from his experience there day:
I am so grateful I got a chance to meet you today at Mai Am Hoa Hong Nho with other WISEN members.
I don’t know if you’ll remember me months from now, but I promise you I’ll always remember you. You really remind me of my niece, she’s in 8th grade too! She’s my angel, my love, my baby, my everything. She’s the reason I do anything in life, she makes me always strive to be a better uncle, a better man, and a better role model for her. She also really likes the singer Son Tung-MTP, and those Korean boy bands that a lot of Vietnamese teenage girls are into. She’s also in that stage of life where dreams are wild, golden, and sweet and possibilities are endless. You really reminded me of my niece. And naturally, I clicked instantly with you.
I love my niece, with my whole heart, and I can never, ever, even dare to imagine my niece having to go through what you and the rest of the girls in Mai Am Hoa Hong Nho had to go through at such an early age. I can never imagine ANYONE having to go through sex-trafficking, or being sexually abused by their own relatives, by the people who were supposed to love them the most.
I asked you at one point whether you liked living at Mai Am. You said yes, you bonded with the sisters a lot, but you said that sometimes you would cry during the night because you would really miss your mom. Yet, you always found a ray of light in the presence to help you stay positive. I totally resonate with you, being a student living half a globe away from home, but I can never imagine being far away at such an early age, and not being able to come back frequently, and ALL because of the man that was supposed to love you the most. Your bravery and resilience inspire me.
Thank you for the endless inspiration you have instilled on me today.
Thank you for bonding with me and teaching me the simplicity of happiness.
Thank you for your love, thank you for hiding my shoes and telling me not to leave. Thank you for talking to me and making my day.
Thank you for everything.
I promise you, I will come back. And one day, we shall continue conversing over all the drama that happened in your class again.
Your new friend,
Huy
