Orphanage- Cons I've posted a bit of general information about the Dieu Giac in previous posts, and here's some of what I've experienced so far: When I first arrived, 3 small children ran up to me and took my hand, and more came up and held their hands on me as I walked. This is very common whenever they have outside visitors. The children are all starving for attention and affection and they deal with it by either getting it from you (sitting on your lap, taking your hand), accepting it when its given, refusing it completely, or becoming violent with you when you try to rub their back, etc. It's very interesting; they are all very violent in general, all while being very sweet. It's like a culture - things are very "survival of the fittest" when it comes to toys and food and things, and really everything is dealt with by smacking, biting, kicking and punching, ect. You can expect to be punched if you try to break up a fight (as I spend a good bit of my time doing). Standards such as don't set babies up on high things, dont let kids eat off the ground (regardless of whether it's edible), teaching them to use their words, and sharing are non-existant here. There is no hand washing, no diapers (they just put knickers on them and change them often), no western toilets/toilet paper (though this is the situation in much of Saigon in general), no cribs or mattresses (they sleep on plywood beds with holes, and sometimes the babies get stuck with their legs in the slats). The nuns and "mothers" (volunteers who receive room/board in payment) are quite rough with them as well and are usually too busy bathing, changing and feeding the children that they have no time to give them attention. On my first day, I was given a large stick by a nun, and I gestured that I didn't understand and she took the stick and hit an older boy who was acting up. The sticks are used to break up fights and for discipline. I usually verbally reprimand (which, in order to have any effect requires looking them harshly in the eye, yelling no firmly, and making a crossing gesture with your hands) them, yet I have taken to using a stick to break fights apart to avoid being bitten. It's quite interesting; if one child hits another unprovoked, an older child will hit them very hard to reprimand them, but if the child hit b/c his toy was taken, then that is considered acceptable. Many of the kids are sick with a phlem-y cough, nits, and are covered in bug bites. Most of them are here because their parents couldn't afford them, or they developed a health condition that was too costly to keep up with, or they were taken from abused homes. I've witnessed parents leaving their child already, and all you can do is not think about it too much or it eats you up inside.