Matt, Sharon and I (Faye)?arrived at the orphanage, which is situated just outside Ho Chi Min City on Sunday evening, with Bee (the star) escorting us. All of us were a little nervous and did not know what to expect when we arrived, and the journey there did not help matters, as the taxi driver did not know where we were going and subsequently decided to reverse back up the dual carridge way when he realised he had missed the turning!! When we arrived, sister Kim was there to meet us and show us around, as she is the Nun who runs the orphanage. There are only really two rooms to the orphanage, a main room and a therapy room, which is just basically a play room. They have no sensory equipement, or toys, which they could really do with. Then there are three bedrooms and a corridor which they use for a fourth sleeping area. All the children were up to greet us, and the youngest infant was 17mnths (he was gorgeous, I want to adopt him). The oldest resident was a 26yr old, who was very depressed and rarely communicated. Some children had multiple complex health needs, others had physical disability and some were able bodied children with behavioural problems (probably caused by their situation!). There were around 35 kids although the place is also used as a respite/day centre, so some children come and go, sending the number up to 54. The staff were friendly and welcoming, and we had dinner that the resident cook prepared for us then Bee went home. We subsequently got involved with the bedtime routine which consisted of the children being picked up put in to iron cots (even the 26yr old!). Then, mosquito nets were put over the top of the cots so the children were caged in like animals (nice to know they are protecting them from bites but would have been nice if the nets were hung from the ceiling). Then the kids were left to cry themselves to sleep, with the only communication from the staff  being shouts for crying. It was all a bit of a culture shock, we were glad to have each other for support. We then slept on the floor of the therapy room, (well I managed to nab a trolley used for treatments which was good). The next day we assisted in feeding the kids and generally giving love and playing with them, which was really nice to see smiles and laughter. Feeding time was another shock, as kids had food rammed down their necks (we appreciate the staff were busy but was still hard to accept). The following day we took the kids on a day out to a Vietnamese theme park/zoo with staff from the orphanage, with Bee, a fellow teacher and some 6th formers. The day was great but very emotional for some children as it was their first time out of the orphanage, lots of smiles and tears from sister Kim. I have never been to a zoo as I think they are cruel, and this was the worst zoo I could ever have gone to. Animals were caged so that they couldn't even turn around! But the kids loved it so thats all that mattered. The kids were all great and we all fell in love with them, there were some real characters like a boy called Han, who could speak a bit of english. We taught him to count to 20, he constantly made us laugh. He is so intelligent, it made me sad to think that he did not attend school. He gets tutoring at the orphanage which is good, but I can only presume he doesn't attend school because of the culture here (disability being looked down on). The following day we helped paint pictures on the wall of the day room and put the winnie the pooh stickers I bought up in one of the bedrooms, which bought smiles to a lot of faces which was great. When it was time to leave we were all very emotional, the staff were sad, and the kids, and we were all crying!We all hope to go back some day and fundraise, so that we can perhaps pay for some of the children to have operations that they need and any equipment supplies. Overall we all thought that this experience was amazing, we felt so priveliged to be able to bring smiles to these childrens faces, but was also a very heart breaking one that we will never forget.