Morning of Day 1:
Evening of Day 1:
Day 2:
Beneficiaries: Leprosy villages of Làng Đăkdve, Làng Đăktrôi, Làng Ngol & Hlang & Wâu
Location: Pleiku, Vietnam
Date: January 2015
On our first day in Pleiku, the eight of us stuffed ourselves into a vehicle that drove approximately 2.5 hours on treacherous roads to the Village of Làng Đăktrôi to distribute 100 packages of necessities (rice, cooking oil, instant noodles, soya sauce, sugar, cooking spices, bag of dried fish, condensed milk, sausages, laundry detergent, candies, toys/balloons) to families affected by the Leprosy disease.
From there, we drove another 1.5 hours on bumpy rutted gravel roads, mostly in the dark, to reach the Village of Làng Đăkdve to distribute 30 packages of necessities. As there are quite a few deformed seniors affected by Leprosy, we also gave out medicated oil to help them with their aches and pains. To see the smiles on the children’s faces and receive the warm welcome from the seniors made the rough lengthy terrain worth it.
On our second day at Pleiku, GGB paid to transport families affected by Leprosy from Villages of Làng Ngol & Hlang & Wâu to gather at An Mỹ church grounds in order for them to receive the 170 packages of necessities. With local help, we were able to offload the goods off the truck, then sorted out into individual packages for distribution. It was very rewarding to see how much they appreciate the gifts with smiles on their faces.
In total GGB distributed the following to these three Villages:
- Village Làng Đăkdve – 30 packages
- Village Làng Đăktrôi – 100 packages
- Villages Làng Ngol & Hlang & Wâu – 170 packages
Leprosy is a chronic infection caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium leprae and Mycobacterium lepromatosis. Initially, infections are without symptoms and typically remain this way for 5 to 20 years. Symptoms that develop include granulomas of the nerves, respiratory tract, skin, and eyes. This may result in a lack of ability to feel pain and thus loss of parts of extremities due to repeated injuries. Weakness and poor eyesight may also be present.
GGB would like to thank our Goodwill Ambassador, Ms. Minh Quan Tran, and Sister Hòa for helping us with months of planning, coordination and arranging of this project. We would also like to thank Sister Tố Tâm and Ms. Nu for accommodating us with this project.