The question of how to improve life on the ground in Huong Phuong is not a simple one. Some people at the orphanage can attend school and have a sunny disposition. Others are severely brain-damaged and depressing to see. The orphanage is not always a happy place. Some people have to be hand fed, hand washed, bedded and taken to the toilet. This is thankless, challenging and unseen work.
During my second visit to Huong Phuong in Easter 2011, I took the approach that the first way of helping the orphanage and the surrounding community was not to build edifices but to try to improve conditions for education, general health, comfort and time efficiency of the women, orphanage residents and local community members. With these aims in mind, a few projects for assistance to the orphanage and convent were completed, and some more were planned.