Final Numbers!

Final Numbers:
This post is copied from our fearless leader - Caroline


Our expedition is over - most of us are home now and going through some culture shock and of course dealing with jet lag. For such a huge group, we were an amazing team that worked hard with an exhausting schedule in just 8 short days. We want to thank all those that have followed our blogs, donated money, toys, stickers, hats, t-shirts and everything else. Your generosity is amazing and so much appreciated.

Here are our final numbers:

over $53,000 raised and priceless in-kind donations

350 children & 40 chaperone's went to camp (including transportation, lodging, meals & clothes) to see the ocean and have fun! (they traveled by bus up to 14 hours to get to camp!)

250 bikes given to every child in our scholarship program in 5 different towns

10 kg. of rice, 10 kg. of dried beans, 5 kg. of sugar, 1 box of instant noodles and some candy :) to 280 families (that's enough to feed a family of 4-6 people for a month!)

700+ "fun bags" given to school children in 5 different villages - the fun bags were 100% made with donations of toys, clothes, stickers and drawings (mostly from school children in the U.S.)

350 "fun bags" given to all the children that attended camp.

2 new houses started in Rach Gia (Kien Giang)

2 houses renovated in Tan Hoi Trung (Dong Thap)

1 new house started in Tan Hoi Trung

1 house renovated in My Hiep (Dong Thap)

1 new house started in My Hiep

2 houses renovated in Sa Dec (Dong Thap)....all in 5 days*

we also funded the construction of 2 new houses (1 in My Hiep and 1 in Sa Dec)

for medical check ups:

in Rach Gia (Kien Giang - day 1 - 82, day 2 - 275, day 3 - 182, total= 539

47% were treated for parasites, 100% of the patients work and live in the garbage dump

in Tan Hoi Trung (Dong Thap) day 4 - 277 total (192 under age 18, 2 needed follow up)

in My Hiep (Dong Thap) day 5 - 313 (203 under age 18, 5 needed follow up)

in Sa Dec (Dong Thap) day 6 - 231 and 7 kids at our orphanage...

a grand total of 1367 patients in 6 days

after flying thousands of miles to get to Vietnam we then traveled:
120 miles via plane to Rach Gia (Kien Giang)

70 miles from Rach Gia to Cao Lanh (Dong Thap) by bus and two ferries - 6 hours

10 miles from Cao Lanh to Tan Hoi Trung (Dong Thap) by bus and tuk tuk - 1 hour

15 miles from Cao Lanh to My Hiep (Dong Thap) by bus - 45 minutes

25 miles from Cao Lanh to Sa Dec (Dong Thap) by bus and one ferry - 1 hour

85 miles from Sa Dec to Saigon/HCMC by bus - 4 hours

15 miles from edge of Saigon to our hotel by bus - 1 hour

75 miles from Saigon to Long Hai (for camp) by bus - 3 hours

80 miles from Long Hai back to Saigon by bus - 3 1/2 hours

*our bike team traveled 100 miles from Cao Lanh to Saigon in 12 hours and survived!We're already looking forward to the next expedition (I think!)...thanks again for all your support! More pictures will be posted soon!THANK YOU for being the Catalyst for positive change for the children of Vietnam!

I am exhausted just reading about what we did!!! It seems surreal!

we are home!

We are finally home! We got in around 10 pm last night. I have never been so happy to see our little house!!!! The flight home was LONG! We flew straight from Singapore to NJ, about 18 hours. Maya barely slept, which means I barely slept. Maya was then up at 6 am! I feel like I've been run over by a truck!!!!!!
Glad to be home :)

The girls go shopping!!!!

goodnight Vietnam!

smoothies at Gloria Jean's
The Rex Hotel

Okay, we did some serious shopping damage today!!!!! Maya and I set out at 8:30 and just returned. We hit the Tax Store, which is a mall like place with 3 floors of everything you could imagine! For example we bought beautiful embroidered t-shirts, $2.00 each, au doi's for $4.00 a piece, embroidered wall hangings, $15.00, you get the picture! Now we just have to find space in the lugguage to fit everything!


Maya was a pro. She had her own purse filled with Dong, Vietnamese currency. I'm not sure how much she started with, but she has a little left over :) She insisted on paying for her own stuff with no help from me!


We ended our shopping spree with smoothies at Gloria Jean's, the coffee shop. It was soooo nice to have something ice cold! I still have yet to find an iced cold Diet Coke!!!


We leave tonight on a 7:50, pm flight to Singapore. In Singapore we have a 12 hour lay over. Fortunatley the airport has a transit hotel. We'll check in, catch a good night sleep and hop on a 22 hour flight from Singapore to Newark. We should arrive in Newark around 6 pm on Thursday. We are both excited to get home. We have been missing everyone!


So long from Saigon!

Back in Saigon

The Opera House
The Carvel Hotel


Well, it's our last night in Vietnam. to celebrate Maya and I just ordered room service! Spaghetti no sauce, just butter for Maya and steak and fries for me, we are soooooooo excited!!! The food this trip has been very, very traditional. At times I had no idea what I was putting in my mouth. I just opened and hoped for the best!!! So tonight we are jazzed to have a good solid meal! The only thing missing is diet coke! I have seen a diet coke in 2 weeks! Instead i went for a tiger beer!


Being back in District 1 is bring back so many memories from when I was here for Maya's adoption. We are staying in the Huong Sen Hotel, right around the corner from the Carvel Hotel which is where we stayed 9 + years ago. The area has developed beyond belief. It's more like 5th Ave! The smell is gone and the shops and resturants have sprung up! The prices have gone up a tad as well! Every shop we went into the shop workers looked at Maya and asked "Vietnam baby?, I give you a better price". We got some neat stuff! We are off to the market tomorrow to finish up our shopping. We have a flight out at 8 pm, so we have most of the day, YEAH!!!!
The largest change is that we can actually cross the street with relative ease! when we were here before gail and I never crossed the street! Maya and I crossed many today and did not totally fear for our lives. They finally have signal lites and cross walks! You still have to be careful, but most motorists obey the signals. In 1999 there were no signals and nobody obeyed any type of road rules!!! Crossing the street literally meant you had a very, very good chance of being run over!

We have arrived at Binh Chau, Ho Coc. This is a ecotourist resort that is amazing!!!! This is our little bungalow!
Maya outside our little house
We did a mud bath! This resort sits on hot springs with theraputic mud! We sat in a giant tub of really hot water, got out smeared our selves with the "mud" and baked in the sun. Then we got back in the fiant tub to rinse off! We had such a blast!!
Maya and friend Zach, riding on an elephant at the ppol!
This place is beautiful. The gardens are amazing. There are acres and acres of green space and gardens, a far cry from all of the other places we have been!
The entire team has arrived at the resort. This is our last day and night all together. we are having a big cook out tonight as a farewell. Everyone will go their seperate ways tomorrow. Maya and I will be heading to Saigon for 1 and a half more days. We plan to shop, shop, shop!!!! Afew other families are heading there as well. We leave Vietnam at 10 pm Wednesday night. We fly to Singapore and have a 12 hour lay over, then we ly straight from Singapore to Newark, 22 hours on the plane non-stop!!! While we are in Singapore we will get a Transit hotel room in the airport. In the moring we will take a 2 hour tour of Singapore and then head back to the airport. We should arrive in Newark at about 6 pm!
We will be glad to get home, but sad to say good-bye to so many new friends! This has been a fabulous experience! We have seen sooooooo much and really experienced Vietnam in a way we never could have on our own!!!!

A woman selling squid and shrimp, she'll even cook it for you, Yum
arts and crafts at camp
fresh seafood anyone?
a young boy recieving a new bike and food for his family
these are paper cranes that maya recieved as a gift from a child at one of the schools

a day at the beach!

Today we spent the day at the beach. It was camp day! All 300 of the children that Catalyst sponsors plus our 25 kids and 80 or so adults took over a large section of beach for games, food and swimming! It was amazing!

Imagine 300 kids that have never left their villiage, never been in a hotel and never having a day off from work enjoying 1 entire day that was designed just for them! We played games did arts and crafts and just had fun. the kids were so delighted. My favorite was the little girl in the tiarra! Every little girl whether they live in a dump in Kien Gang or in a penthouse on 5th ave. should have a tiarra!!!!

The day started with "organized" games. That last about 30 minutes. All the kids wanted to do is go in their rooms and take showers!!! I guess having never seen a shower it was a much larger attraction than any of us could provide! After lunch we brought our kids back to our hotel for hang time while the Catalyst kids showered, again and rested. Many of them did not feel well after lunch. the poor babies ate so much food they were sick. this is probably one of the first meals they did not have to gather on their own, imagine what that must have been like for them!

we then all gathered for dinner and skit night. the children all put on skits, it was hilariuos. We were treated to traditional dance, music and song.

Tomorow we say good-bye to the kids and head off for our last day as a team. We are spending the day and night at a hot springs resort, about 45 miles from Long Gai. i can't remember the name of the place! It will be our celebration day for loads of hard work!

This trip has been incrediable. Maya and I have made friends that I hope will continue to be friends for many years. as I sit here freshly showered and comfy I can honestly say that I am so glad we did this trip. It has been rewarding, eye opening and some of the hardest work I have ever done. I am so proud of Maya who has worked her little tail off with very little complaint. She has been bagging 10 pound bags of rice, helping to move 100 bikes from one space to another, helped children learn new games without understanding a single word they said. She has been out of bed and ready to move to a new site by 5:30 in the morning and she has figured out friendships with 25 children from all over the country. During most of this time she has done all of this with a smile on her face!

I am ready to come home, eat some good food and sleep in a comfy bed! It didn't help when Gail reported to me what Tyler Florence was cooking on the food network, TEEHEE! Seriously though, we have tried some really, really traditional foods. Some was fabulous and some was not. I have to say that one of my most favorite things was fried sticky rice balls, simply amazing!!!

I am off to bed. Hopefully we will have internet at our next spot and I will post more!

Martha

new day, new place!

We are now in Long Gai. A beautiful beach resort town on the South China sea. We arrived after a long day in Saigon where we played games and distributed about 100 bikes, beans and rice. After our hard work we had pizza for lunch! We were All excited to see pizza!!!!! It was probably the worst pizza I have ever had, but it tasted so good!!!!!!
Today we have a fun day with all of the children, 300,that we have been visiting for the past week! For all of them this is their first time out of their village, fist time in a motorized vehicle and the first time staying in a hotel! Their little faces are amazing!!!!!
I have to run, breakfast at 6:15! I hope to get on-line tonight. The internet out here is sketchy at best! I alos hope to post pictures tonight, so stay tuned!!!!

once again, pell check does not work so please excuse the typos or the just blantant misspellings!!!!

pictures

this little girl took a shining to Maya:)
Yup, that's where we go potty! We call it the squatty potty!

typical "houses" outside of the city

pictures

Maya playing Viet, Viet Goose!

Another sweaty day!

Well it's Thursday night and it's hard to believe we are almost halfway through our trip! Today was another amazing day of interactions and food distribution. In the morning we went to a school to play games and exchange art work. The children at this school were working on their English. I had so much fun with about 20 kids. They all took turns saying "hello my name is_____, what's your name? i am x years old and how are you today?" I would answere and would ask them the same questions. Then they tried to get me to ask the same questions in Vietnamese. All I can say is that it turned into and giggeling session and then into "pee in your pants" laughing session. They thought i was so funny! I may take this shstick on the road!

I would have to say the funniest part of the day was when another woman and I went to the "grocery store". We need to get snacks for the kids and I needed to get some stuff for Maya and a couple of beers for me! We take a taxi literally 2 blocks because the gals at the hotel said it was much to far to walk... We arrive at the store and soon assemble a large antorage to follow us through the store. They follow along and giggle, good thing I have a decent self image! We get all the stuff we need and go to check out. Well, I guess people don't wait in line here. If yoiu are unloading your cart, everyone goes ahead of you! Charlene, the woman I was with is unloading onto the counter and 1 guy goes in front of her. She says out load, "sure go ahead, I'm just unloading, no need for you to wait!!!!". Of course no body understands and they all start giggeling. Another guy cuts her off she says the same thing and they all react the same way Number 3 comes along and Charlene, a middle school principal, throws her hand in the air, yells STOP, I AM NEXT!!!! and they all stop, stare and giggle! The 2 of us were laughing so hard we couldn't even get our money out to pay! The people at the store came over to help us!!!

We took the kids to a great park to play. When you go anywhere you usually have an official following right behind. Well, this one official was standing and watching all of us play soccer and frisbee oh and my darling child was letting balloons go flying and making a hidious sound as they lost air through out the park, cute, huh? Well, this one official began to play frisbee with the kids. It was amazing!!! we have great pictures, just have to find out on who's camera so I can post. The officials in Vietnam are not typically shall we say out to make friends, so this was really amazing!

Tomorrow we leave Dong Thap and head back to Saigon. We will do work on saturday and then have camp on Sunday and half day Monday. will post more from Saigon.

I also want to apologize for typos and the lack of a ton of detail. By the time I sit to do this it's late and I am exhausted!
Love to all!
oh and Maryann, i tried to email you, but it wouldn't go through!
and Stepahnie, just in case I don't get on line tomorrow night, have a fantastic wedding day!!!!!! Congratultions to both you and Dane! I will raise my glass to you at breakfast on Saturay as you all raise yours to toast your wedding!!!!!!

And... to get more info on our trip and other perspectives check out the catalyst blog and sand's blog, both listed under "other sites" to the right of this page. don't go to catalystfoundation.org, that's just their web site, go to the 2 others!
Off to bed for me! have a great day everyone!
Love,
Martha

pictures

Our Tuk-Tuk!
Girl recieving a fun bag


eating at the beach. Notice all the people watching us! They are standing off to the right.

On the road again.....

Sorry for not posting last night. We took a 5 hour bus ride over the scariest bridges and the bumpiest roads I have ever been on! We have moved from Kien Gang to Dong thap, i think! It's hard to keep track, but anyway after 5 hours and 2 ferry rides we arrived very late, so no time to blog!!!

Yestarday,Tuesday, the school team got the day off, YES!!!!! We took 25 kids to the beach. We went to Ha Tien which is located as far south west in Vietnam you can go. We had a blast!! I have added a couple of picture, but the best was sitting to eat luch. people just lined up and stared at us. We now know what animals in a zoo feel like. We are getting use to the stares. People just come to a dead stop and stare and I mean stare! It's ver unusual for white people to be in this area, nevr mind white people with vietnamese kids!

To Mrs. Smo's class: Great questions! We understand very little. we can understand hello, thank you, and good bye, that's about it! The children here love to yell hello to us and then they giggle! We can not read any signs what so ever!!!!
We are enjhoying most of the food. Maya is being very adventuresome in her eating. Last night she was eating and came acroos a chicken foot! She stopped eating!
There are no american resturants.
The hotels are okay. not as clean and nice as American hotels, but they are not too bad. We do however have a geko living in our room, yew!!
The actual temp. is about 100-110. The humidity is very high, higher than anywhere in the US. We ahve to drink at least 20 bottles of water a day to stay healthy!
On the TV we have found cartoon Network and Disney Channel, both in english!!!
Please don't hesitate to ask more questions, those were great!!!!

Okay, here is what our day is like! We are up at 5:30 and on the bus by 6:30. We take a bus to a town and then travel by Tuk-Tuk for about 20 min. into the villiage. The tuk-tuk goes over these bridges that the planks rise up after we go over it! When we arrive in the village we head off to the school. They usually preform a dragon dance, have a little ceramony to welcome us and then we play games and pass ou beanie babies.
We taught soem students, about 40, how to play duck, duck, goose. Only we called it Viet, Viet, goose! Viet (VIT) is chicken in Vietnamese. It took us 20 minutes to get the kids to understand! I have never laughed so hard! Our kids and gthe school kids really don't interact. They both keep a distance from one another. This game helped to bring them all together, it was really neat to see.
I think the language barrier and the obviuos difference in "status" is the barrier. We are really working hard to get them together!
After the school we take another tuk-tuk ride to the food distribution area. In this area the kids are passing out food and bikes. This is also where they are handing out fun bags. The reaction of the children recieving all of this is very somber until they hit the street, the the smiles begin and the giggeling. It is the most amazing thing to watch!!!
I can't even begin to tell you how amazing all of the kids are. They are working so hard in very difficult conditions, never mind the emotional stuff with being in their birth culture! They whine very little and complain even less. I told Maya that the bar is being raised at home now that I know what she is really capable of!!!!!!
This trip continues to humble me! It is truly amazing to see first had how the Vietnamese people must live and what they must do meach day just to survive! I shall never complain of my small house again!!!!! So we are happy, hot, tired, dirty and humbled!
Once again I will post pictures, they really are worth 1000 words!!!
Love,
Martha

a few more picture!

Maya eating pho for breakfast, the beach and our hotel in Rach Gia

Getting the fun bags organized for all of the children. It is so hot they we all ahve to drink at least 20 bottles of water a day!

We are here, we are here, we are HERE!!!!!!

It is know Sunday night about 9:30, i think! I have not gotten the time thing down yet! the trip here was long but fine. Maya was a trooper for the 30 hours we spent traveling. In singapore we discovered the "transit Showers"!!!! We all ran in and took a quick shower before we boarded our last flight to HCMC, Vietnam. I can say that a shower never felt so good!!!!!!!!

We arrived in HCMC at 11 am Saturday. They have built a new airport, just opened 7 months ago. It is beautiful!!! Customs and immagration were a breeze! The immagration officers were so nice and helpful. A FAR cry from 1999!!!!!!

Once we got to our hotel we called Ahn Tuyet, our translator from Maya's adoption. We then went off to the Bihn Thi Market. Just as amazing as I remember! Maya was in her glory!! We then went back to the hotel for a quick swim and dinner with Ahn Tuyet. Sadly Maya did not make dinner. We sat at our table and Maya fell instantly asleep, as did Jesse and Noah. We will meet up with Ahn Tuyet again on the 1st!!!! Mayabe Maya will be able to stay awake!

To all of my friends in Mrs. Smo's class: I can't wait to tell you about the market. I bought each of you a small gift. but, it's a surprise!!!

Today, Sunday we flew to Kien Gang Province. We are in Rach Gia. this is where Catalyst has their school. Today we sorted and added to over 700 "fun bags". We also scooped and weighted 85 bags of rice. The kids were AMAZING. It is beyond hot here and when I say hot I mean HOT!!!!! All who know me know just how much I love the heat! But I remain cheerful and happy, after all it's just a state of mind! I am posting pictures that will say more than I ever can!

We al so want to send out a really big HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY TO SHEALYN!!!!!!!!! We love you tons!!!!!

Martha and Maya

the bags are packed!!!

Okay, the bags are packed, the bills are paid, the house is clean and yet my Mom is still on her cruise!!!! Actually she wont be back until Wednesday night, just in time to hand off the dog and fish and a quick catch up before we leave Thursday!
I am amazed that all of our stuff fit! I just have the carry-ons to pack. I'd take a picture but I think the camera got packed!
Our visas should be here on Monday, just 74 hours before we leave, good thing I don't sweat the small stuff! Now I just hope that the visa with my old passport number will be okay with my new passport! The Vietnamese embassy assured me that as long as I bring my old passport and my new passport all will be fine. We'll see!
I am amazed by the papers I feel I need to bring! As a single mom I have to prove that I and I alone am my child's parent, thus I am able to take her out of the country alone! I am bringing her; passport, certification of birth, name change, adoption papers and her certificate of citizenship. This should cover all of the "single parent" bases!!
Now if only the government had consulted with me when they were re-designing the passport. I would have suggested a "parent page"! One page that lists the parent(s) of minor children. This page alone would prove whether there are 1 or 2 parents!!! If there are 2 and only 1 parent is taking the child out of the country then they would have to have the proper paper work! Don't get me wrong, I think the steps taken to prevent child abduction are wonderful, but as usual the government did not take the easy route!!!!
So off we go with a file of papers, fun bags, ramen noodles, a few outfits, Polaroid cameras and film, and so much more...

1 week away!

One week from today we will be on our way! The house is trashed, the bills have not been paid and to top it all off my Mom is on a cruise!!!! Seriously though, the house is trashed, strewned with all of the fun bags, zip lock bags, Polaroid film and cameras etc... The bills will get paid and yet my Mom is still on a cruise! For those of you who don't know us, my mom lives about 1.5 miles down the street and is an amazing source of support! I LOVE that she is out having a wonderful time with her group of friends, but we sure do miss having her around!
Maya has collected over 100 "fun bags" and about 100 pictures to bring with us to Vietnam. Hopefully they will fit into 2 hockey bags! This weekend I have to get serious about packing. My dream is to have everything packed, the house cleaned to a shine and all of the bills paid by Sunday. I would love to live in a clean house for our last 3 days at home. With all of the fabulous donations and items we need to bring our tiny little house is busting at the seams. Every nook and cranny is full! In fact last night I had a supply slide in my bedroom, it landed on the poor dog! She was buried under zip-lock bags, cameras, film, peanut butter, ramen noodles and I-Pods! She moved to another room for the night!

2 weeks away!!!!

Two weeks from tonight we will be all cozy in our seats on the plane. We are leaving on Thursday March 20. Our flight departs at 10 pm. In only 25 hours we will arrive in Vietnam all rested and ready for our adventures, YA, RIGHT!!!!!!!!!
This weekend I hope to pull out all of the summer clothes and see what still fits, Maya has grown about 2 inches and I will not reveal how much I have grown, GROAN!!!!! Hopefully everything still fits. All of the summer clothes in the stores seem to be "cruise wear" we don't need cruise wear, not this year anyway!
After a conference call last week, Maya and I have a better idea of what we will be doing on our food distribution/school team. It seems we will depart each morning at 7 am. We will travel to a distribution area where large sacks of rice, sugar, beans and nuts will be waiting for us. We will package and distribute enough food to last 150 families 2 months. We will distribute the food at 2 separate locations each day. At 11 am we will take the kids back to the hotel, have lunch and hang out for a short while in the AC and then set off for our school visits. i believe we will visit 3 schools each afternoon. During the school visits the children will pass out the bikes that have been donated, pass out school supplies and exchange art work that all of the children have been collecting. At 4 pm we will head back to the hotel, have dinner and go to bed!!!!
Our team has it a bit easier than the others. The home renovation team will leave at sun up and return at sundown. I think the sun sets pretty late! The medical team leaves at sun up and returns when they run out of patients. They are expecting 500 patients per day!
So, it seems that we will all have breakfast together and that's about it. I am so delighted that I get to spend my day with the kids! In am really excited to see the interactions and the excitement!
I have added an "interesting sites" section. Catalyst has an "official blog " site that should prove to be really informative. The teens on the trip will be responsible for gathering info from all of the teams and blogging each night. Check it out if you have a chance!

change in departure plans, agian.... Looks like we will be leaving before Sandy, Patty and their kids rather than after them! You see it's Gail's 50th birthday on April 7 and the thought of not being able to ring in her 50th year just wasn't sitting right! So, Sandy spun her magic once again, and Maya and I will return home on April 3, no stop in Singapore. Now I can be there to help Gail celebrate the way one should celebrate their 50th birthday! Funny how things always work out in such a wonderful way!

ALIVE meeting and more "fun bags"

We had our ALIVE meeting tonight. All of the kids put together "fun bags". With the help of the ALIVE mentors, the children were able to draw pictures and write greetings in Vietnamese. The kids had a blast. Here are a few photos of all the fun! I had to add a photo of the yummy chocolate covered strawberries! Thanks Katherine and Micheal!!!

Packing up the goods!

We got together with Sandy, Patty and the kids to pack and ship all of the donatins that we won't be able to bring with us. The airline only allows 35 pounds per bag, 2 bags per person with no option to pay for over weight bags! So we are shipping them off to Catalyst in Minnesota where there are 20 people going and are willing to take our extra stuff! We only have about a month before we leave. I guess it's time to start packing and weighing all of our bags!!
Maya has collected over 40 fun bags thus far! I expect we will gather at least 50 more over the next couple of weeks.
Here are a couple of pictures of the packing party! We als had snow on friday so I through in a couple of pictures of Maya and Sally in the snow (sally is the dog!).