Day Eight: Giving It Back to the Kids by Andrew Stephens

 We all woke up early today to fly out of Saigon and headed to Hoi An. There is always something sad about waking up on your last day in a city you’ve visited for the first time. It’s also difficult to leave when you have had an amazing time. Everyone in the group was excited for the next leg of the trip, but Saigon is a special place, and we all made great memories while here. I could go on about the coffee, the food, the people, and the energy the city has. It was so unexpectedly wonderful and I can’t wait to come back.

The airport was hectic. More so than we were expecting for a domestic flight. Lines move slowly. Everyone is in a rush. But once we checked our bags and got through security, it was an easy flight to Hoi An. When we first stepped outside of the Hoi An airport, it was cooler and noticeably quieter than Saigon. In many ways it was a refreshing feeling after being in the city for a couple of weeks.

We loaded into the van and made a stop before going to our hotel at an NGO called Giving it Back to Kids. We met with the Vice President Tham (didn’t get her last name) to learn more about how they got started and what they do. You could tell she has given this talk before and had lots of good information about their operation. Giving it back to kids is a non-profit organization helping the families and children of Vietnam through nutrition, housing, medical care and education

Giving it Back to Kids founder, Robert Kalatschan, and his wife Dorothea were unable to have children. In their desire to start a family, they began investigating fertility treatments and meeting with doctors. They ended up going to Saigon with hopes of adopting a child and in that process ended up adopting their daughter. After returning to the United States, they couldn’t stop thinking about the other children they saw while they were there. They felt like there was a reason they came to Vietnam and that was the beginning of the non-profit.

Tham told us that people ask what they do. She said “they help kids. It’s that simple.” I have never seen an NGO like this before. They do a lot of everything. If a child needs a bike to get to school, they’ll provide it. If that same child needs something else years later, they’ll help accommodate that too. They are not one dimensional. They do outreach to rural Vietnamese people that are most vulnerable to human trafficking and forced labor. They work with disabled children and those that have been orphaned. It was refreshing to hear their story and what they do.

We ended up talking to her for about an hour. It was a great way to start our time in Hoi An, knowing that there are organizations and people here in Vietnam doing amazing work. Their administrative costs are less than 5% of their annual budget. It’s rare to find an organization that is legitimate and more than a feel-good operation and I was happy to know they’re out here doing good things in the world.