This morning did not start off so well. As I went to bed at the granny time of 8:30pm, I was awake at the ridiculous time of 5am. Since I was behind in both my blog and my interview notes, I thought I'd spend some time on my laptop.

At about 6:40am, I was just about getting ready to go down for breakfast (we were leaving at 7:15am) and BANG, I heard this sudden gush of water. Now when I say gust, at first I thought that it was the shower, but then quickly realised that it wasn't. I run into the bathroom to see that the pipe underneath the sink has either burst or something and there is water going EVERYWHERE!!! So I immediately pick up the hotel phone, only to realise that I don't know who to call! So I run downstairs (but first put my valuables to some higher ground!) to reception and the woman doesn't understand me. She says "I"ll get housekeeping for you" and I reply "you're gonna need more than housekeeping, love". So I run to the restaurant where a member of our team is quietly enjoying their breakfast and ask them to come and translate for me. Next thing I knew we were upstairs again and someone was ankle high in water in the bathroom with their hand behind a tile trying to turn the water off. Eventually we got the water to stop and I've put all my stuff high off the ground in case of a repeat of this morning's efforts!!! What a start to the day!

I missed out on breakfast and we left at 7:15am for Huong Phung commune. In the 30 minute drive there, I reflected about what I'd seen in Vietnam so far. Some serious, others not so serious:

- Animals in Vietnam will sit/lie down/sleep anywhere they please. This includes the middle of the road, under your table where you are eating dinner or on a motorbike. And when I say animals, it's not just dogs, it's cows, cats, horses, goats, pigs, chickens.

- The Vietnamese carry EVERYTHING on their motorbike. I have seen a family of four plus the grocery shopping, plus a wipper snipper and a 10L container of water, all on one bike! And the fact that everyone does it means that you're abnormal if you don't have a motorbike.

- Kids will be kids wherever they live. This was evidenced by the temper tantrum I saw a child throw yesterday when he didn't get his way. All children want to be loved, to be noticed and to have friends. One great thing this project is doing is pairing up disabled and non-disabled children together in 'friend circle' - the non-disabled child will also give their disabled friend a 'dink' to school on the back of their bicycle and they sit together in class and help each other learn. Not only learn what's being taught in the classroom, but about compassion, humanity and dignity - and that everyone has the right to be treated with respect.

- Parents will be parents wherever they live. Especially mothers. They only want the best for their children and want them to have all the opportunities that other children have.

In Huong Phung, I interviewed four mothers of children with disabilities and heard their stories. One mother said that her child has multiple disabilities and that other children don't want to play with her child. It was very sad. But the great news is that World Vision is assisting the family by providing training for her mother on agriculture (to be able to raise animals to sell for income to provide for her child) as well as training to help improve her knowledge and learning of how to take care of her child. Her daughter doesn't go to school now as her disability is such that she requires special education. Yet, the closest special school is 75km away in Dong Ha, and even if she went there, one of her parents must go with her. But this is not possible as they have another child to take care for. I'm not sure what the future of this child is now.

In the interview we had 2 mothers from the Kinh ethnic group and 2 from Van Que ehnic group. The Van Que mothers were particularly shy and they laughed a lot to hide their shyness.

After the interview, I went to visit the home of one of the mothers that I had interviewed who has the daughter with multiple disabilities. I have some fantastic photos of the family and their home is really nice compared to the homes I saw yesterday.

It was a really special experience to be welcomed into their home. We're now on a break until about 1:15pm when we will head off again for the afternoon when I will interview more parents of children with disabilities.