Thus, watching Thuy walk through the airport doors was tough. We did this trip together. Without her, I know I wouldn't be pouring my heart out on this here blog.
If you've met Thuy, then you'll know that she's a very humble person who will most likely never bring up some of the awesome things that she's done in her life. Since Thuy is about to board her flight and will be without internet for the next 17 hours, I'm going to take this chance to gush about what she accomplished during her time here in Vietnam, Cambodia, and the Philippines. If she doesn't bring any of this up when you see her, feel free to do so yourself.
Being a Doctor for 20 Girls in Vietnam
The main part of Thuy's work was to be the primary doctor for the girls of the OBV house in Vietnam and in Cambodia (we'll get to Cambodia in a bit). It's worth reiterating for those new to this blog that the girls in the OBV Vietnam house all have an unfortunate history of sexual abuse. When we first arrived at the house back in October of 2013, the youngest girl was six, and the oldest was in her early 20's.
As their doctor, not only did she have to perform doctor work (using stethoscopes, providing medicine, doing similar doctor things...), but she also had to be the gentle ear and listen to their personal stories. She shared with me one or two stories, and they were tough. Thuy held back from telling me more.
I know doctors are trained to keep themselves together when listening to their patients' histories. However, when you listen with a kind ear and sympathetic heart to back-to-back(-to-back) first-hand accounts of young girls being sexually abused and not break down in front of them, you become a saint-like to me. Even if you did shed a tear, you're still a saint. These girls needed to talk to someone. For the short time that she was here, she was that someone.
Sharing Medical Knowledge to Rural Towns Outside of HCMC
Another part of her work with OBV involved joining them on mini medical mission trips to different rural towns outside of HCMC. These places have less access to professional medical care, so they're grateful when groups like OBV stop by to share their knowledge and answer their question.
Thuy never really enjoyed public speaking. However, as a member of this mission group, she was responsible for putting together her own 1-hour presentation about women's health. Her challenge was threefold: present on topics that, at least for Vietnamese people, were rather taboo for open discussion, present to a room of about 50-100 people, and present in Vietnamese.
From what I heard, she nailed it. Said measurement of "nailed it" could be seen in peoples' receptiveness to her content and their comfort in asking follow-up questions both in public and in private.
Because of Thuy, there are a number of women in different parts of southern and western Vietnam who are a bit more caught up on how to properly take care of themselves in a more healthy manner.
Helping Me Teach Self-Defense
One of my personal language goals was to teach the self-defense class by myself in Vietnamese. During the two hours between the girls' lunch and the start of my class, Thuy would help me review and practice using terms and phrases, correcting me when I didn't make sense and improving my script to help me get my point across more effectively.
Within a month, I was teaching the class by myself. Thuy would occasionally pop her head in to see how it was going and help explain things to the girls in ways far better than my own. She wants to see the girls succeed in Krav, and she was happy to help get the class started with me.
Delivering Medicines to Poor Vietnamese Villages in Cambodia
Thuy and I would take monthly trips to Cambodia to visit the OBV Cambodia house. Eight girls live in this house. From what we understand, these girls don't share the same history as their sisters in the OBV Vietnam house. However, they are deemed at risk of being sold for their virginity or sold outright to someone else in a neighboring country. CNN wrote about such stories in their human trafficking awareness campaign in December of 2013.
All of these girls come from poor Vietnamese villages either along the river that runs through Phnom Penh or on the outskirts of the city. Each visit to Cambodia entailed a visit to these villages. There was one village in particular that was in really bad shape. This village is without a name. The OBV Director of Operations for Cambodia simply refers to this village as "the workers' village," as all of the men there work as laborers for the nearby construction projects.
On our second visit to Cambodia and to the workers' village, Thuy was given the task of making herself available for medical consultation for the village elders, women, and children. Armed with the most basic of medical equipment, a notepad, and pen, she was invited into the village, given a spot to see patients, and within five minutes had a line of about 20-30 patients waiting to see her. Without breaking a sweat or showing any signs of fatigue, she learned about the patients' histories, jotted down their ailments and required prescriptions, and gave recommendations on how they can treat themselves between now and the next time she would stop by to dispense the medicines.
You could see just how happy and satisfied she was after her work was done. She felt at home seeing these patients and helping those far less fortunate than herself.
I wrote about this particular experience at length (part 1, part 2) in a previous blog post. It's worth a quick look if you're interested.
Being a One of Five Super Doctors in Tacloban, Philippines
In the early part of 2014, Thuy was invited to join the Vietnamese Houston Medical Mission trip to Tacloban, Philippines. Tacloban was devastated by typhoon Haiyan back in the fall of 2013. Most of the place is still in shambles months later.
This mission team consisted of five doctors, two dentists, and about 10 support staff (myself included). Thuy and I were in the area, we had the bandwidth, and Thuy had always wanted to participate in a medical mission trip, so we jumped at the opportunity to join the team. We were happily welcomed by Father/Doctor Tam and his leadership team.
On the last day of the mission trip, she had to take over as the primary pediatrics doctor. The pediatrics line is always the longest. If I recall correctly, she said that she must've seen nearly 100 kids during that 3-hour clinic.
Again, she did this all with a smile on her face. This was her moment. She looked completely at home and in her element.
Here's the Vietnamese Houston Medical Mission Facebook page with all of the stories I wrote and pictures I took of the experience. You can see Thuy in action here.
Posing as a Prostitute to Learn About Prostitution in Singapore
During the One Body Village annual mission trip to Vietnam, Cambodia, and Singapore, our visit to Singapore included a walk through the red light district. Prostitution is kinda sorta legal in Singapore. Legal activities are regulated to a very specific set of streets. Any transaction conducted outside of this area is illegal. It's all a bit confusing and grey.
On the first--or maybe second, I can't recall--night in Singapore, Thuy and a fellow mission member had the idea (not sure why or how) to "dress the part" and approach a pimp to learn about how a women enters the trade, how much they make, and similar pieces of information.
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| What a pimp might look like. Source: Pitchfork.com |
Seeing before him a really attractive Vietnamese woman who can speak English fluently, the pimp obliged her questions and eventually asked if she'd be interested in giving prostitution a try that same evening. She feigned hesitation and made an excuse to leave and think about the opportunity a bit more before giving him an answer.
Yes, this actually happened. Very dangerous. I was impressed and mortified at the same time. Talk to her about it.
All This and More...
This is just the tip of the iceberg. My parting words to her (aside from "I love you," of course) was that she did a lot of good for a lot of people in a short amount of time.
In a few weeks, Thuy will be back home, and she will most likely start her locum work for the Seattle Indian Health Board. She'll live with her family (our house is rented out for the summer), rejoin the medical profession that is familiar to her, and resume her regular life back in Seattle. However, I suppose that it might be difficult to view life in the same way once you had the kinds of experiences she's had and met the various people that made those experiences possible.
Whatever direction life takes her (and us), I hope that she won't ever forget the lives she changed and the people she healed.
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