Living in a nursing home, Ba Vi, Hanoi, about a hundred people live there alone, mostly elders, orphans, and the disabled. I had the opportunity to visit the SOS village alongside a volunteer crew from a high school in Hanoi. We went there around New Year’s Eve to visit and give the people a visit.

People with Down syndrome, autism, and intellectual disability also play a major part in the popularity here. Most people there don’t even acknowledge that they were left alone by their family and had to be taken care of by strangers.

A Mother told us about some lives there, a grandmother who had a family came to the shelter 10 years ago. She had a broken leg and had to move around in a wheelchair, her back was weak so most of the time she had to stay in bed. There were two other elder women in that room with her and they took care of each other with the help of Mothers. The woman cried when she talked about her family. She had a happy home but they could not afford to take care of her because of her condition so they had to send her to the village.

There was a room with more than 20 kids below the age of 10. When we walked in with gift baskets on our hands, they got so excited, but none of them came to us right away. They were scared. Only when a Mother gathered all the gifts and allowed them to come, they all ran to her side and, surprisingly, they were all very well-behaved. The big kids gave the presents to the younger ones, and they all said “thank you” afterward.

“All lives matter, even the little ones”

Vietnam, 2019