About once a month, OBV Vietnam organizes an awareness and prevention mission trip to areas with a high prevalence of sex trafficking and sexual abuse of children. OBV sees such outreach as a critical first step towards the reduction of child sex trafficking.
It's worth noting that OBV VN is officially a counseling and consulting company, believing that education and family counseling is key to prevention of child sex trafficking and abuse. Each trip includes seminars on parenting and child psychology, along with OBV message on sex trafficking and child abuse. With Dr. Phuong, a visiting OB/GYN, and myself on this trip, sessions on women's health and prenatal care were added to the program.
On November 15, 2013, I joined OBV on this month's trip to Ca Mau, the southern most city in Vietnam.
The Journey
Our team consisted of seven members and volunteers of OBV, plus our regular driver for these kinds of road trips. On this trip was Mr. Binh, OBV VN President, Dr. Phuong Nguyen, an OB/GYN visiting from the U.S., Mr. Sy, a professor of psychology at a local university, Miss Quynh Anh, OBV's counselor who specializes in love, marriage, and family counseling, and Mr. Dang, OBV employee who lives at one of the rehab houses.
Ca Mau is about an eight-hour drive from Ho Chi Minh City. We started out at 1:30 PM and arrived at our hotel after 10:00 PM. We stopping for dinner along the way. We were up early at 6:00 AM to enjoy a quick breakfast before meeting the representatives of the Ca Mau women's union, the group that organized our trip. We then drove another one-and-a-half hours into a village; our seminar was held in a local meeting space.
Our journey into the village took us through very narrow roads bordered by sugarcane fields;
past newly planted rice fields,
The Seminar
Mr. Sy was the main speaker for our seminar. His primary focus was on good parenting techniques, child psychology at each development stage, and ways to help each child succeed in school and life. His engaging delivery was coupled with group activities to increase audience participation and ensure that his message was received.
I followed up with a session on self care for women and the prevention of some common women's personal hygiene problems.
I observed in the local area a trend towards using douche and feminine washes; this practice is advertised everywhere and is prescribed commonly by local doctors. I spent part of my talk explaining the benefits of abandoning such cleansing products.
Seeing how receptive the audience was to the idea of asking questions during Dr. Phuong's presentation, I opted to hold Q&A session around general women's health and hygiene.
As culture dictates, Vietnamese women tend to be extremely shy about women's health matters. I got around this by enforcing upfront the fact that I've been trained in the States and that there is nothing they could ask that could embarrass me. I then started calling on individuals who looked like they had a question but were hesitant to ask.
Mr. Sy concluded the seminar with a session on the OBV mission. He discussed the sex trafficking of young children and gave case examples of sex trafficking that occurred in Ca Mau. His talk emphasized the prevention of sex trafficking, the signs and symptoms a child will often exhibit after sexual abuse, and how OBV can help these children.
At the end, each participant was left with informational brochures and our contact information for free family counseling and help for cases of child sexual abuse and trafficking.
Extra Credit
Of course, this trip was not all driving and hard work. We spent Saturday lunch time at a local eatery, and then we took a short nap in the hammock cafe next door.
Me being me, I wanted coconut juice whenever I'm in a hammock cafe, which was not shockingly not offered here!
It's worth noting that OBV VN is officially a counseling and consulting company, believing that education and family counseling is key to prevention of child sex trafficking and abuse. Each trip includes seminars on parenting and child psychology, along with OBV message on sex trafficking and child abuse. With Dr. Phuong, a visiting OB/GYN, and myself on this trip, sessions on women's health and prenatal care were added to the program.
On November 15, 2013, I joined OBV on this month's trip to Ca Mau, the southern most city in Vietnam.
The Journey
Our team consisted of seven members and volunteers of OBV, plus our regular driver for these kinds of road trips. On this trip was Mr. Binh, OBV VN President, Dr. Phuong Nguyen, an OB/GYN visiting from the U.S., Mr. Sy, a professor of psychology at a local university, Miss Quynh Anh, OBV's counselor who specializes in love, marriage, and family counseling, and Mr. Dang, OBV employee who lives at one of the rehab houses.
Ca Mau is about an eight-hour drive from Ho Chi Minh City. We started out at 1:30 PM and arrived at our hotel after 10:00 PM. We stopping for dinner along the way. We were up early at 6:00 AM to enjoy a quick breakfast before meeting the representatives of the Ca Mau women's union, the group that organized our trip. We then drove another one-and-a-half hours into a village; our seminar was held in a local meeting space.Our journey into the village took us through very narrow roads bordered by sugarcane fields;
past newly planted rice fields,
and across many small bridges and tiny rivers.
The Seminar
Mr. Sy was the main speaker for our seminar. His primary focus was on good parenting techniques, child psychology at each development stage, and ways to help each child succeed in school and life. His engaging delivery was coupled with group activities to increase audience participation and ensure that his message was received.
Dr. Phuong Nguyen, OB/GYN, was the next speaker for Saturday. She shared her experience and advice for prenatal care and the importance of the first few weeks before and during pregnancy.
She then opened up the discussion to audience for an hour-long Q&A session related to OB/GYN. This was highly appreciated by the villagers, as opportunities to discuss such matters with an OB/GYN doctor from the States are few and far between.
I followed up with a session on self care for women and the prevention of some common women's personal hygiene problems.
I observed in the local area a trend towards using douche and feminine washes; this practice is advertised everywhere and is prescribed commonly by local doctors. I spent part of my talk explaining the benefits of abandoning such cleansing products.
Seeing how receptive the audience was to the idea of asking questions during Dr. Phuong's presentation, I opted to hold Q&A session around general women's health and hygiene.
As culture dictates, Vietnamese women tend to be extremely shy about women's health matters. I got around this by enforcing upfront the fact that I've been trained in the States and that there is nothing they could ask that could embarrass me. I then started calling on individuals who looked like they had a question but were hesitant to ask.
Mr. Sy concluded the seminar with a session on the OBV mission. He discussed the sex trafficking of young children and gave case examples of sex trafficking that occurred in Ca Mau. His talk emphasized the prevention of sex trafficking, the signs and symptoms a child will often exhibit after sexual abuse, and how OBV can help these children.
At the end, each participant was left with informational brochures and our contact information for free family counseling and help for cases of child sexual abuse and trafficking.
Extra Credit
Of course, this trip was not all driving and hard work. We spent Saturday lunch time at a local eatery, and then we took a short nap in the hammock cafe next door.
Me being me, I wanted coconut juice whenever I'm in a hammock cafe, which was not shockingly not offered here!
Seeing my disappointment, one of the men at the cafe offered to get me coconuts himself.
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