First Meeting with the OBV Children: Harsh Reality Sets In

The following post includes a bit of difficult and uncomfortable content. We invite you to read at your own discretion.

Arriving at the OBV House

Taking the bus to the OBV house

Early on our first Saturday morning in Vietnam, Thuy, OBV employees An and Quynh Anh, and I traveled to the OBV compound.



We took the local bus, an hour-long ride that took us through multiple districts and rural backroads to our final destination. Upon arriving, we then had another short walk to the compound.



We were greeted at the gate by a spirited young girl, no more than five or six years old, who flashed us a smile as she struggling with the gate's lock. A few more girls poured out of the house to get a glimpse of their foreign guests. We were soon welcomed by the nun who oversees the place. The nun is an older woman who clearly shows the demeanor of a loving yet stern mother who has her hands full with the responsibility of raising 20 girls.

Acknowledging Reality

Maybe it was the heat, or perhaps it was the cheerful welcome we received from the girls, but Thuy and I both, for a very slight moment, forgot the nature of why these girls are here in the first place.

A few seconds after we took our seats at the community table, we were surrounded by a few more of the girls who got wind of our arrival and wanted to see us for themselves. One young girl in particular, a four year old, caught our eye and made us snap back to reality. I turned to Thuy and asked her a grim question to which I already knew the answer: "Each one of these girls were rescued, weren't they?"

Indeed, each of them had been rescued from the sex trafficking industry. Their youngest is the four year old, their oldest is twenty.

A chill went up both of our spines. We had a mix of emotion. Sadness and sympathy for what these girls had to go through at such a young age. Levity from watching them play with each other and listening to the welcome song they practiced for our visit.

The nun overseeing the compound gave us a few brief examples of what some of these girls had experienced before arriving at OBV. An interpreted for me how one young girl had to change her appearance and go into hiding from her captors after running to the police for safety. And the aforementioned four year old? We were told that she wasn't sold to a brothel like many of her fellow OBV sisters. She was given to OBV because raped when she was two years old. Her mom was poor and unwed, she was powerless to protect her daughter. Her mom saw OBV as her daughter's only chance at a better life.

Touring the OBV House

Sewing machines for the girls to practice

The nun then gave us a quick tour of the compound. It's a modest house. On the far end, there are two rooms for guests, usually board members and volunteers stay here when they travel to the OBV house to check-in, bring supplies, and provide assistance. Next to the guest rooms there is a study room, a computer room, and a vocational room where some of the girls learn textile work.

Mats for us to use during Krav class

Much to our delight, OBV also has one room already allocated for martial arts training. Apparently OBV had an Aikido instructor stay with them and teach the girls Aikido basics. They have the same foam mats we're familiar with at Dojo 3. This will make training that much easier and more comfortable for the girls.

We were given an explanation of the general schedule the girls follow while staying at the OBV house. They're really busy for being so young. Their days start at 5:30 AM and ends around 9:00 PM. Interspersed among their hours of studies is lunch and vocational training opportunities. OBV often times find themselves having to play catch-up for the school time these girls lost while in captivity, so naturally education is a top priority in order to give these girls a chance at a normal adult life.

In meeting these young girls and in learning of their busy schedule, it dawned on us that we're going to have to reconfigure our original expectations for how we're going to execute on our original mission. Their weekdays are packed with learning and various other activities, so we determined that adding my Krav class and administering Thuy's physician work on top of everything else will be a bit overwhelming.

Getting Involved

Our current option is to spend our weekends at the OBV compound.

I figured that it would be easier for all involved were I to divide the students into two groups and teach two separate, one-hour Krav classes on Saturday and Sunday. Division would be by age. Having met the girls in person, I realized that I'm going to have to modify my original class plans and figure out how to teach one of the world's most violent fighting system to a room full of kids.

Thuy will make herself available for doctor office hours. The girls can visit with her and share their ailments and anything else on their mind that might warrant assistance by a doctor. She will also explore implementing a web-based medical records management system that can be used by the nun and future volunteers.

Nothing is set in stone just yet. We'll have to figure out all of this as we go along. Nevertheless, it was exciting and sobering to meet the OBV children and staff, and we can't wait to get started on our respective projects.

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Note: Pictures of the young girls of OBV will be posted only with the consent of the OBV organization. Approved photos will be altered to protect the identities of the young girls.