Biker Baby

Now Molly and I were alone together in Ba Ria. The first couple of days were really hard. It started with getting a taxi to the orphanage. It seems that the taxi drivers are not aware there is an orphanage in their town. The hotel family would call a taxi for me, talk to the driver for a while - there was some nodding of heads - then we would drive around for a long time. Finally, after asking a couple on the street, we would be around the corner from the orphanage. I had trouble recognizing anything until we were on the same block.

The first night, there was a mis-communication with the orphanage staff. I had dropped Molly off, then went to settle into the hotel. When I went back to pick Molly up to take her back to the hotel with me for the night, the nannies chased me to the gate and stopped me! So I phoned Loan to sort it all out. But she didn't answer! I tried explaining that I would be back in the morning and she needed medicine, but it was hard to get the message across. I phoned Loan about 26 times. I sat and cried. Finally, I was walking Molly back to the baby room, resigned to leave her there for the night and solve the problem the next day. Then Loan called me back! Problem solved, and we were on our way.

The morning came early. Molly slept well, but I spent most of the night staring at her, making sure she was still breathing, and waking up every time she stirred. I also got up at 5am, to make sure we were ready to be back before 7am.

It was a long and exhausting day for me. I was in the baby room holding Molly most of the day. She quickly became very attached to me, and would wail if I put her down. I only had freedom when she napped, or if a nanny held her. The nannies took a nap after lunch, but I wasn't completely aware of the schedule, so I held Molly and tried to keep the other babies quiet.

There were 19 kids in the room when we first arrived. 3 of them were handicapped, and the other 16 were babies under 2 (including Molly). Four kids were toddlers - they could walk and get out of the cribs by themselves. All the other kids were younger, but the youngest is about 3 months. There are no newborns at this time. Loan said that they all had parents in Canada waiting for them, with the exception of one little boy. His file is complicated, so he is available for domestic adoption only.

Within a day or two, a new little girl with hydrocephalus was brought in. She is a bit older, but she will be fed, washed and have her diapers changed by the nannies in the baby room, as there are no other resources available in the orphanage for these older kids that cannot care for themselves.

I took a walk during the day, and found a coffee shop right across the street! After a wonderful Vietnamese iced coffee, I wandered further up the block and found a restaurant. It wasn't a place I should have eaten, but I had no other choices. I pointed to a big pot of steamed rice and asked for 1 dish (mot dia). I was given a bowl of greens in broth, a dipping sauce, and then a huge plate of rice topped with bean spouts, cabbage and cucumber, plus some shrimps and a piece of meat. I picked up the meat with my chopsticks and tried to ask if it was beef or pork, but the ladies couldn't understand me, so I set it aside. They took it away and brought me more shrimp plus some braised tofu! I guess they thought I was vegetarian. Anyways, it was a very delicious meal, it cost about 65 cents, and I didn't get sick afterwards. I found a fruit stand on the way back, and also a store to buy water. But walking a block or two in the blazing sun with 85% humidity was all I could take. I went back to the baby room to rest.

At the end of the day, Molly was falling asleep, and I had another taxi come to take us back to the hotel. I put her down, and was trapped in the room with no dinner, and no breakfast for the next morning. The lunch I had earlier was my only meal of the day plus some bananas I bought at the fruit stand. I repacked the diaper bag, got clothes ready for both of us for the next morning, and went to sleep on the mattress beside my daughter.

The next day, Loan and her boyfriend came out to Ba Ria to take care of me. We were at the orphanage when they drove in on a motorcycle. Loan suggested they take me out for dinner, and she arranged for us to use the orphanage's car, driven by Quy (pronounced 'Whee'), a young man who grew up and still lived at the orphanage. He is the driver who takes the children back and forth to school. The four of us had a wonderful seafood meal, my second meal that day! Quy dropped Molly and I off at the hotel that evening, and Loan and her boyfriend followed on the motorbike. They took a room in the same hotel for the night.

The next morning, Loan took Molly and I back to the orphanage - ON THE BACK OF HER MOTORBIKE!

I took my baby for a ride on the back of a motorbike - deal with it! She's Vietnamese.