Anh’s Incredible Growth and Transformation

When Anh first came to Ha Tinh Village, she was scared and timid. Growing up, Anh was sent to live with her aunt since her mother suffers from a mental illness and she does not know who her father is. Unfortunately, her aunt was too poor to be able to properly care for Anh so she decided sending her to the center would allow her to have the best possible life. Arriving when she was just 10 years old, Anh would often be seen crying, barely eating and begging the staff to let her return home because she greatly missed her family and did not like being in an unknown environment. However, due to her family's financial and health situation, reunification was not yet an option so Anh was forced to stay at the center.

With the immense care and support the staff and caregivers showed Anh, she quickly transformed into a happy young girl who saw the other children at the staff as her family, one that she no longer wanted to leave behind. To her, Director Dao is her father, the caregivers are her aunts and uncles and the other children are her brothers and sisters. Anh can now be seen smiling on a regular basis and helping the caregivers and younger children with various tasks around the center. After realizing her love for cooking, the caregivers have allowed Anh to take a cooking class as well, which she is greatly excelling in.

Now that she is in 11th grade and has lived at the center for six years, Anh looks back and only speaks about how lucky she is to be living at Ha Tinh and how grateful she is to have been so easily accepted and welcomed by the loving staff and children. Anh has grown into a mature, helpful and intelligent young lady. She hopes she can succeed in the future, which seems beyond possible looking at the academic success she has already achieved, so she can help her mother receive the proper medical treatment and support her aunt, who had once worked to support her.

Anh is the perfect representation of how, despite not having the best home family life, children who come to live at Ha Tinh are immediately welcomed into the center's family, gaining a large, supportive and loving second family.