In September 1995, after 8 years of marriage and having received all the treatments that modern medicine could provide, my husband and I finally resolved to take a different path from the one we’d imagined and made the big decision to adopt a child. Today, we are the parents of two young boys, both from Saigon. Paul, born in 1995, and Baptiste, born in 1997, came into our lives thanks to the Sisters of Saint Vincent de Paul.

In the case of our eldest son, we had taken every step imaginable, and finally in September we had the privilege of meeting two BNP Paribas employees who guided us to our future child. I could never thank Marie-Hélène Février enough for introducing us to her aunt, the head of an authorised adoption agency in Cognac, who entrusted us with little Thé Minh (Light of the World, who we then renamed Paul) the following October.

In the meantime, Yves Henry, who had heard about us and who had just returned from Vietnam, called me several times a day to guide and advise me about all the practical arrangements that we would have to deal with upon our arrival.

That is how we came to discover Vietnam. The adoption process was extremely long and we had to remain in the country for two and a half months. Consequently we had time to spare. Thanks to an invaluable introduction by Yves, we were introduced to the Sisters of Saint Vincent de Paul, known as the Daughters of Charity. We wanted to help them – just to be of use.

Initially, my husband Nicholas gave French lessons to the seminarians and to the Lazarist priests (part of the same congregation as the nuns) and then we learnt that we would be spending some time in a school.

We will never forget the smiles on each of those children’s faces. They were so happy to see us in their classroom, at lunch, at naptime and during break. They roared with laughter at our attempts to pronounce a few words in Vietnamese.

Then Christmas came. These little children had nothing to call their own. With our modest financial contribution, Sister Marie-Julie was able to give each child a small gift that included a toothbrush, a tube of toothpaste, a cup, a bath sponge, a little car for the boys and a tiny doll for the girls. The children were so amazed, and this day will remain forever etched in our memories. (I forgot to mention that my husband dressed up as Santa Claus–in spite of the incredible heat!). It was the very first time that they had ever recieved anything that was truly theirs. Some of them went off quietly on their own to carefully open their package, taking absolute delight in the modest presents they found inside.

Other families, especially Yves’ family, had similar experiences. We couldn’t remain indifferent to the fate of these little ones and just return home with our children as if we weren’t aware of the way things were in Vietnam. We just had to return in 1997 with our adoption approval in hand, praying that the sisters would be able to give us another child, and we rejoiced when Xuan Bao (Treasure of Springtime) came into our open arms. We continued to work with the nuns as we had in 1995, as the adoption process was still painfully slow. We spent every possible minute helping the sisters in their work.

And so, a few families who had developed a close relationship with the nuns decided to set up a not-for-profit association to raise funds to help the poorest of the poor. The creation of the association “Aide au Vietnam et à l’Enfance” (AVE – “Aid for Vietnam and its Children”) was due in large part to the efforts of the Henry and Flambart families.

From very modest beginnings, the association now sponsors 1,300 children, builds schools and supports a range of projects. Its operating costs are kept to a minimum thanks to the many volunteers who dedicate heart and soul to the venture.

The country is lacking on so many fronts, particularly with respect to medical care: the effects of Agent Orange (a dioxin-based herbicide used during the Vietnam War) continues to have a detrimental effect on the population and results in many children being born with severe physical and/or mental deformities. We never hear about it in the media, so who will come to visit these hydrocephalic orphans? Who will adopt these babies born without arms or legs? And when they are left to grow up on the streets, who will provide them with an education and ensure they receive adequate medical and dental care? What kind of future do they have?

Today, AVE is able to help the Sisters to feed and clothe these children, and to give them an education provided by skilled and specialist teachers. AVE also provides medical care for each sponsored child, in the form of one to two medical and dental visits per year. AVE offers the older children the chance to learn a trade (i.e as a cook or housekeeper). Finally, AVE also builds schools, digs wells and supports other projects in collaboration with other associations.

Recently, the association has had to deal with a new issue: inflation. This has resulted in a 30% rise in the price of rice each year. This is the country’s staple food, and we must buy it each day for our sponsored children. Every little bit of help, however small, is essential if our endeavours are to succeed.

Supporting a child for one month costs just 8 euros. Other individual initiatives are also very welcome (car boot sales, concerts, fund raisers etc.). Please do get in touch with us and we’ll help you turn your idea into a reality.

Thank you for reading this article. I hope that many of you will join us and share in our adventure.