Severe Scoliosis

Chuc Mung Sinh Nhat Em Alex

When our team elects to interview for this mission and commit to this adventure, they also commit to celebrating VMCO style. This, however, has put all members who have a birthday during or around mission time on high alert. Thanks to our joining Alumni, Hang Nguyen and Dhimo Vrusho, we were able to devise a plan that did not include a suspicious me. Cam on Dhimo for participating and Hang for organizing. Happy Birthday Alex Dinh,

Clinic

Sweet Woman (Maybe??)

Heel Spur

Ben Tre Clinic

Learning the history and culture of Saigon

After flying for over 22 hours and 10,000 miles, it is proper for the group to be exposed to the culture of Vietnam, including Saigon. We visited the War Remnants Museum, which chronicles the devastation of war on people and the environment. Next we toured the Independence Palace, famous for government activities beginning with the French through the Vietnam/American war. Next was a short walk to the Cathedral of Notre Dame and the well-known Saigon post office. It is important for the team to learn the history that build the values of the Vietnamese patients we begin to provide care for over the next few weeks.

Visit to Cao Dai Temple

Due to the alteration of our clinic plans in Tay Ninh we were able to visit one of Tay Ninh's Cao Dai Temples. Caodaism is a monotheistic religion officially established in the city of Tây Ninh in southern Vietnam in 1926 and was granted legal recognition in 1997. We learned about this religion during our mission in May-June 2017. The Temple we visited is the largest Cao Dai Temple in Vietnam. Caodaism uses ethics and values from many worldly religions including Buddhism and Christianity.

Charitable donations to Tay Ninh

The first part of our mission was to be a 2 day mini clinic for the patients of Tay Ninh with another charity organization consisting of past partners and local university students. This province is on the border of Vietnam and Cambodia. There is a subset of people who are left to fend for themselves due to various reasons. They have no access to medical clinics, no access to proper schooling and live in make shift wood huts along the river. Their personal hygiene is compromised due to lack of clean water supply etc... After arriving in Tay Ninh and preparing all of our medicine, we discovered a glitch in the approval paperwork, therefore we could not hold an actual clinic. However, we were able to donate medicine for various pain conditions and vitamin supplements. In addition, we donated over 150 toothbrushes and toothpaste tubes, especially for the children who have very poor dental care. Even though our original plan had to be altered, we were able to assist this needy area in the best and safest way we could.