I will never forget the way his face lit up

Image above: Anh at the Song Cau Primary School holding the stationary packs we gave all the students in the school - thanks to the fund raising conducted by the 2017 Premier's Anzac Spirit School Prize students.

A journal extract from 2017 Premier's ANZAC Spirit School Prize student Hannah Zerk. An extract about our visit to the Trung Tâm Công tác Xã Hội Tỉnh BRVT Orphanage School and the Song Cau Primary school in the Phuoc Tuy Province on 4 October, 2017.




I will never forget the way his face lit up


"We visited an orphanage that Tim Fisher help build. He was a Vietnam Vet and later Australia’s Acting Prime Minister. The orphanage was particularly eye opening for me, I know I have and will say this heaps but I have a family that looks after and care for me and all these kids have is their friends and their carers and I have so much more. Family really is everything. It made me stop and think about how lucky I really am. I may not have everything that I have always wanted but I have a family and to me that is everything. I gave two teddy bears to a girl by the name of Mai, she was very shy. She was extremely cute and I do feel for her.

We arrived at the Song Cau Primary School and what can I say? I will never complain about school again. The schoolyard was very small and basic. We walked into the first classroom and it made me realise how good we really have it. It was much like the school you would find in our local museum. The classroom had wooden tables and chairs. They had a blackboard and no lights. Do not be deceived, despite having hardly anything these children were so happy. We gave the children each a package and the girl I gave it to said 'cam on' which means thank you. The next classroom we went to I met a boy called Anh. I will never forget him. I did the chicken dance with him and his little giggle was infectious. Although Anh spoke little English it did not stop him from trying to communicate with me. I could hardly understand him but a smile is universal.  I gave him his present and I will never forget the way his face lit up when I gave it to him. I could tell that this was not just a simple package to him, it was everything. We went to the next classroom and sang kookaburra sits in the old gumtrees. They sang a song back to us and it was extremely cute. Once again our goodbyes were said and we moved along to the next classroom. I sat next to a shy little girl. I must admit I found it hard to communicate with these children but I will never forget how happy these kids were despite having hardly anything."