Because she is an avid reader, Hoai, and 8th grader, often goes to the school library to look for good books. She, along with a few other students, decided to volunteer to arrange books and clean the library to help the librarian whenever they had free time. Hoai is also one of the students who read the most books in the class, reading an average of 10 books a month. She said that reading to her is a way to relax after stress.
At that time I felt lonely whenever I saw other children with their mothers. My mother went missing in 2013. I lived with my father who was very thin and ill. My father struggles with mental illness and spends all day seated on a chair. He often did not care for me or himself. I was malnourished from birth. As a 9 year old I weighed only 16 kilograms (35 pounds). I played by myself in the garden most of the time, with no friends, and no toys. That was my life until my local leaders and YWAM Mercy Vietnam came to visit my family in 2017.
Most of these things may be normal for other children in the community, but not for me if there was no Children’s Home.
