Sister Act

Do you remember how awesome Whoopi Goldberg was in Sister Act? Well, we encountered quite a few nuns who were MORE awesome than her. We spent the entire day with nuns; first with the Daughters of Charity in Cu Chi, and then with The Lovers of the Holy Cross in Ho Chi Minh City.

Yesterday, we spent the first half of the day meeting with the Daughters of Charity in Cu Chi, where they took us to a home for children living with HIV/AIDS. But, before we started our journey to Cu Chi, I got my very own War Wound (I must have forgetten for the moment that the war has been over for quite a few years). As i was walking across the street (which is an adventure in itself), I clipped my arm on a flag post that had a metal rod sticking out. It didn't hurt at all, but when I looked at my arm there was blood EVERYWHERE. Luckily I got a tetnus shot before traveling to Vietnam. Also, the Daughters of Chairty run a school on their property, so they took me to the nurses office there to stop the bleeding and bandange me up. But I digress, back to the children.

Even though the kids had smiles on their faces, and showed us how they play with each other, it was sad walking around knowing that these kids are forgotten about. For the young kids, they dont even know that they are living with the disease, and the older kids are very shy and timid because they are so used to being looked down upon.

It is amazing to think that there are well over 50 individuals living in this home and only 3 (yes 3) nuns take care of everyone. They cook, they clean, they watch out for the kids; they act as teachers and nurses, but most important they are seen as the motherly figure for these children. We had lunch at the HIV/AIDS home with 2 nuns, our translator, and our driver (very nice guy).

When we returned to the hotel we had just enough time to take a little rest and a shower and wait for Sister Kim to pick us up at our hotel. It took us about an hour during Vietnam rush hour to drive to her convent. This was the nicest convent I have ever been to (out of 2, 1 from Naples in Italy). Additions have been made in the most recent years to house the nearly 300 sisters living there! I can not explain the amount of hospitality Sister Kim and her fellow sisters showed us. We feasted like kings (and Queens for Doc Sama and Alina). I knew dinner was going to be good when one of the sisters cracked open a Heineken for me and poured it into my glass! (Be jealous). Dinner consisted of pasta, fried chicken and french fries, fish soup, broccoli, spring rolls, fried rice, and salad. The sisters reminded me so much of my grandmother, because even though I had more than enough to eat, without asking they would put more food on my plate and tell me that I wasnt finished (how thoughtful of them!). After dinner we had a chance to tour a small part of the convent. We werent able to see the whole area because of the massive amount of rain that appeared out of no where. This was the first time it has rained since we have been there, I guess weather.com has been lying to me since I have checked everyday since March and it showed rain every day.

The most important part about our dinner with the Lovers of the Holy Cross was to introduce our program, GLOBE, to them. We explained to them our operations and that we are hoping to help some borrowers in Vietnam! The sisters seemed very interested, with some concerns of course. They were concerned with what would happen if a borrower could not pay back their loan. We made them understand that the sisters are in no way held responsbile. We also told them that the nature of our program is to help. We could issue the borrower a smaller loan, or extend their repayment period. There was a sigh of relief by the sisters when they understood this.

It is easy to forget that we are not here on vacation, but more importantly on business. We are here to spread the word about GLOBe and try and find borrowers. It was very reasurring that the sisters were so interested. We have noticed that GLOBE will be able to help greatly. Hopefully we can try to explain to the sisters more about our program and the microfinance industry so that they feel comfortable. I think we will definitely be able to open relations with them.

Until next time friends.

Marco

P.S. Many people believe that on May 21, 2011 the world was going to "end". Well, take it from me as I post this blog in the afternoon of May 21, I am safe, and alive!