I will never forget it.

Lila Weidenbach writes:

Every day in Vietnam I learnt something new. I was in a new and interesting place with an amazing group of people, but there was one day in particular that I will treasure for the rest of my life. Visiting the orphanages on the trip was unlike anything else I have done before. I had written an essay and went on a study tour to learn about an important piece of history that cannot be forgotten. But still the most important thing for me was visiting the orphanages. I believe that was because they were real children still being affected by real events.

The children at the orphanages were excited to meet these new and different people. Most of the children were running around and playing. While a few were a little shy, I remember one little girl who I spotted looking at me. I walked over to her and she was very unsure. I sat with her and taught her how to spin to show me her pretty dress. Later, I was sitting on the floor with my legs crossed watching a group of boys playing together when a little two-year-old boy came waddling up to me and sat on my lap. He was quiet. I was wondering if he would have ever seen a phone before and I knew we couldn’t communicate, so I pulled out my phone and showed him the pretty colours on the screen. You could see he was amazed by the colour-changing, bright, flat thing and smiled and looked up every time his tiny finger made it do something. We sat together until it was time to go. Unable to tell him I was leaving I lifted him off my lap and sat him on the floor with the girl in the pretty dress. He watched me as we left and leaving was a very difficult task.

 All I could think about is that these little boys running around are just like my little cousin. He loves playing with balls, they were playing with balls and they were similar in age. Then I thought, I love my cousin to bits, I make him his Halloween costumes, we go on the trampoline together and we love spending time together. This little boy was being looked after by wonderful people but this boy will never have someone just for him, not a cousin, not a brother or sister, not even a mum or dad.

Visiting the orphanages was by far my favourite thing we did on the trip. I will never forget it.