Today we were off to the area of Dia Loc which was hit hardest by the typhoon. Our purpose was to distribute 16 pigs. I asked Tam why only 16? We have funds for more. She replied “we must be very careful to investigate and approve those that will use the pigs wisely. There is some that will take the pig and then sell it after we leave. Also it is not easy to buy many pigs” My reply Oh! Silly me. I am so Proud of this lady. She has learned so much and quickly becoming a great leader.

  I must tell you it hit me more than a couple times as I walked through paths in thick vegetation what’s a pizza guy from Newport Beach doing with a bunch of pigs in jungles of Vietnam? It was not long before I had my answers. I had never been so close to so many pigs in my life. They are loud!

Allow me to share a couple stories from the recipients that show why I am blessed to part of GIBTK!

  It is crazy grabbing squealing pigs and first weighing them (we pay by the kilo) and seeing them either put into another cage or stuffed into rice bags to be carried off. It is not something this boy has been part of before.

  I asked one woman what this pig will mean to her. How will it help? She smiled big and said “We lost everything at the flood. I had chickens and pigs and now nothing. My husband died in a traffic accident recently also. This pig will enable me to feed my kids and pay their school fees.”

  Another told me “I am a widow with 4 children. My oldest son built stalls for pigs 3 years ago! It was our dream and hope for survival. But they have remained empty because we could never save enough to buy a pig. And then the typhoon came and the floods took everything we had! Now GIBTK is giving me a gift of my dreams.”

 A third one told us she had her 3 kids in school and also lost it all in the flood. She told us she had borrowed money from the bank to pay for her children’s education. Now when the pig give birth (about 5-6 months from now) she can begin to earn money and pay her debts. Yes I saw joy in their faces but even more importantly I saw hope. An opportunity of rebuilding and improving their lives.  All spoke of a brighter future and hope for their children.

  We continued delivering pigs into more remote areas. As much as I have been in Vietnam I still am caught off guard how “rural” it gets. At one ladies home I asked what was it like when the flood came. She said; “It came very quickly. It was 2 AM and all I could grab was my children and run to higher ground. Trees were falling everywhere, we were so scared. Then when I returned the next day to find walls and roof to my home gone, everything inside swept away all I could do is cry.”

  She pointed to a treasured photo of her deceased husband and said “that is my only photo of him and it was gone but I found it several days later.” She went on to tell me she went to local govt. But they could do so little since there was so many in need. She is thankful for the relief workers that came. Without them she does not know what she and her family would have done. Smiling she said “and now I have this female pig!”

  Our last stop was to visit a home funded by one of donors. It was completed in August. We were giving them a pig and they were so thankful. But I asked the mother so how is the house we built. She almost immediately broke into tears and her mother-in -law joined her in openly sobbing. Saying I do not know how to thank you for this home. We could never have saved enough for it.

  Her husband handed me a letter (after he shook my hand vigorously for so long that I was not sure if I’d ever get mine back! In the van I asked the girls to read it to me.

In it  he said “ In the past I  always felt so bad when I’d see my children trying to get warm when they were wet from the rain pouring into my shack. And the wind blowing through the walls. But this past rainy season they were dry and warm. Thank you to the donors that have helped my family!

  So one more time this pizza guy got to see what he was doing with a bunch pigs in dense vegetation in Vietnam. I got to get a prospective of life I would not get in my living room in So. Cal. I am blessed to be able to serve all of you that make GIBTK possible. Thank You!

><((((º>  BBlessed