Aug 2008 - Mai Am Ba Chieu (Orphanage for Girls)

This is a late posting.

The Women's Federation of Saigon introduced us to a small orphanage for girls so Jack and I visited them in August 2008 to learn of their needs. We donated money to help keep these girls in the home and in school. In 2009, we will continue with our support.

Christmas Project 2008 Mai Am Mai Tam

This Christmas, with the help of our friends the Woodrings and Joe/Theresa, we brought smiles to 55 boys and girls living in two HIV/AIDS family care centers. The children, many of them orphaned and/or infected with HIV, received clothes, milk, toys, and school supplies.
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=ssiskindergarten&target=ALBUM&id=5280894769557712081&authkey=7bLZ3mDPxNw&feat=email

Singapore Marathon 12.06.08

It's been a while since I last logged on. Work, school (yes, INSEAD program) and lengthly business trips have made life stressful these past several months. For November, sadly I was only home for 7 days which isn't something I am proud of. Luckily for me, Khanh was there and with the help of our ladies (chi Hanh & chi Tu), Lucie and Tristan are doing great. Being on the road, training was challenging and those long runs were especially hard to squeeze in.


On December 6th, I just ran the 2008 Singapore Marathon with Jack, Susanna and John. This was Susanna and John's first marathon and we were glad to be there with them. They told us our stories of previous marathons helped inspire them to make the commitment. So since September, we trained together on weekends and during the week, we paired up.


The Singapore Marathon had 50K+ runners for the full, half, 10K, etc. Surprisingly, everything was very well organized and there were plenty of volunteers/water & gel stations all throughout the race.

The start time was 5:30am so after an evening in our hotel room stuffing ourselves with "homemade" spaghetti (boiled 2 bags of pasta in the electric kettle and mixed with jar of pre-made sauce), Jack and I were up at 3am.

We felt great but were anxious to get going.

The path was relatively flat, shady and scenic. We started at the Esplanade and ran through the East Coast Parkway along the sea.










At around 37km marker, we slowly wind back towards the city center and not too far ahead was the finish line by the Fullerton Hotel.

At the finish, we met up after collecting our finisher shirt and medal. Susanna was very happy.

The marathon was the symbolic finish to the months of self-discipline, conditioning and many, many, many early morning runs. In the end, we were all SO relieved it was over (until the next one in June 2009).

Christmas Project 12.22.07

For our first of hopefully many care projects, I wanted to bring a little bit of Christmas joy to children infected with HIV/AIDS. The reality in Vietnam and in many developing countries is that the number of newly HIV infected persons is on the rise as a result of high-risk behaviors compounded further by fear/stigma, low awareness and poor education about HIV/AIDS. In Vietnam, intravenous drug users (i.e., through the sharing of used needles) account for most new infections but it is now more common to find cases of married men getting infected outside the home and passing it to their wives. Some of these women then become pregnant and unknowingly pass it to their babies. Antenatal care is still rare in most rural areas of Vietnam. In these instances, the women and children are shunned and forced to hide out in cities. This vicious cycle can be stopped. For example, infected mothers today can get treatment that will significantly reduce the risk of HIV tranmission to their babies.

In early December, I met Dr. Doanh (from Harvard-CDC Vietnam) who referred me to "Mai Am Mai Tam", a local halfway house for mothers and children affected by HIV. I visited the home and met Sister Kim Huong who oversees care for 36 children (ranging from 1 month to 15 years old) and 23 women. They reside in a narrow three-story house in a long winding alleyway in Phu Nhuan District (northeast of Saigon central business district). The lower floor serves as the work area where the women work as piece-meal seamstresses by day while their babies are cared for on the upper floors. Those children who are older and still healthy enough go to school (confidentially placed).

Sister Kim Huong in front of the home.
Work space for women and mothers. Stairwell up to children's living and play areas.Children take their daily afternoon naps. Sister Kim Huong is holding a little boy who wants his mommy.

To prepare for our visit, Jack and I spent the day shopping for items requested such as powdered milk (most children were too sick to take in solids), clothing and toys. That evening, our family were busy wrapping the care packages which were customized for each child.














On delivery day, we were as excited as the kids. Our family (Khanh, Lucie and myself) were joined by Thong (Khanh's adopted brother) and our dear friends the Woodrings (Jack, Linda, Kayla, David and Daniel).

Father John Phuong Dinh Toai (Archdiocese of Ho Chi Minh) assembled all the children in an upstairs room and none of them knew what to expect. As the packages were distributed one by one, you could tell that they weren't used to getting gifts by their reserved and timid responses. For many, they were just happy to be acknowledged with their name called out.

I won't forget a young mother crying uncontrollably by my side while I was calling out the names. I found out her child (who was not on the list because they were newly accepted to the home) was unable to attend so she felt horribly sad/guilty for his sake. Luckily, we had brought extra treats to share.




























While we were there, a beautiful choir entertained us.

The smiles were priceless....

Afterwards, we joined the kids as they ate lunch and handed out more goodies.

Here we were in front of their Christmas nativity scene. This visit left us all very thankful for the opportunity to meet these precious children and bring smiles into their young lives. I was especially honored to be in the presence of Sister Kim Huong and Father John whose dedication and selfless work make all the difference to these women and children.

A heartfelt "thank you" goes out to our family and friends throughout Oregon, the U.S. and Vietnam for your contributions and words of support. We will be doing similar care projects in the New Year of the Rat targeting pediatric clinics and rural orphanages.

Right now, I am training for the Phuket Marathon in June with the goal of breaking the 4 hour mark.

We will continue to accept contributions and plan to do many more projects in 2008 and beyond.

"Taking steps to make a difference."

Sydney Marathon 09.23.07

When I signed up for the Sydney Marathon (Sept 23, 2007), it was simply meant to be my "run" for the year. But during the months leading up to it, motivation was an issue. Committing to 26.2 miles was no easy physical or mental feat. Not finishing wasn't an option. One day, I realized I needed to make that commitment and be deliberate about it (often, I find myself mentally "coasting" through daily routines). To keep me on track and add positive momentum, I came up with the idea to seek donations tied to the marathon from family and friends to help charities in Vietnam.

Training for Sydney was a little bit tougher than usual. Jack and I didn't mind the daily 5:30am runs, the humid and still air or the gradual build up of weekly running/sprint miles. The tough part for me was figuring how to stay on schedule while in a typical week, I was routinely traveling for work to 2 to 3 countries. To date, my record was being 5 countries in 4 days (e.g., breakfast meeting in Bangkok, dinner in Taipei followed by breakfast in Beijing, lunch in Shanghai, dinner in Hanoi....)

Living and training in Vietnam, you get used to running in 90+ degrees and 80%+ humidity but in Sydney (opposite hemisphere), the temperature was only around 45 degrees. Though this proved to be ideal later on in the day, we all scurried around looking for warmth and protection from winds before the start.

The staging area was under the Harbour Bridge with a view of the famous Opera House.

Everyone closed in on the starting line as 7am approached.

Here we were getting ready to charge the hill that winds right onto the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

With helicopters filming the event, we were all pumped to get to run under the complex web of steel girders and scaffolds that held up this famous landmark.

The course took us first through the city (running while taking pictures wasn't ideal)....

Through parks....

Early in the run (~8 miles), I was REALLY enjoying the run, cool temperature and treelined course.

A couple of hours later, it was a different picture. We ran through Darling Harbour and an industrial part of the city and we headed back to the city. I took this picture because this was when I had hit my "wall" (at around mile 21, my knees were aching but not as bad as my calves; note to self: "more concentrated leg workouts").

With only a few miles to go, I had hunkered down and was simply trying to focus on completing each and every stride. The sight of these guys with the Opera House on the background gave me my second wind.

The finish line was at the base of the Opera House. Not a great performance here in Sydney (4:41:44) but it was a new personal best and served as motivation for the next one.

This wouldn't have been fun without my training partner and buddy Jack Woodring!

The medal and finish t-shirt.

And the much needed recovery ice bath.......more to come.