April 4 - A Vietnamese Easter Egg Hunt

During our time in Pleiku, we were the guests of the Convent of Sisters of St. Paul de Chartres. They have been established in Pleiku since 1962. The sisters are very active in pursuit of their mission to provide education and basic health care to the poor, the minorities and lepers in Gia Lai province.

In terms of education, they take care of:
* One kindergarten and day care for 350 children (ages 3-6)
* Two boarding houses for Vietnamese and minority children, especially children of lepers. They lodge and feed over 360 children (ages 5-18)
* One small room for 4 abandoned and handicapped children
* One Love House for 60 children (ages 5-12)

In terms of health care, the sisters provide medical care and food to over 700 lepers, living in 68 remote villages. The nearest villages are 10 km and the farthest 70-80 km from Pleiku city. The sisters usually bring back children of lepers from these villages to raise in the boarding houses to enable their future social integration.

Currently, there are 29 sisters of St. Paul de Chartres, living in 7 different branch communities, widespread in Gia Lai province, with their main house in Pleiku city. We had been sleeping at one of the branch communities, "The Plantation", named for the fact that the surrounding grounds are tended by the sisters where they grow peppers, sweet potatoes, coffee, corn, tapioca, roots, bananas and vegetables for funds to support the nuns.

On this evening, we returned to the main convent in Pleiku to watch the Vietnamese children in their Easter fun. This facility houses about 150 children of lepers, who would otherwise not be able to attend school. The excitement was high as they gathered in the court yard in preparation for an Easter Egg Hunt. They squealed with delight as they were finally released into the gardens and walkways of the convent on their quest for treasure.

Now in America this kind of excitement would only be generated in search for candy or other special treasures. For these Vietnamese children, the search was for plain boiled eggs the nuns had hidden earlier in the day.

It was after dark so I don't have pictures to share as they scattered back and forth. They were even undeterred when someone knocked the head off a saint's statue in the court yard. The Vietnamese take such things casually and I saw one of the adults giggling and carrying the head off down a hall looking for some glue to reattach it.

Soon they were lining up again for a special dinner to be handed out. It was a large bun with ground chicken in it and it was obvious it was a special treat for them.