A Success Story
After the conclusion of the biennial International Meeting held on October 29-30, 2004, international delegates were taken on a field trip to a small community several hours drive from Hanoi, to visit the extended family of a young married couple who had met while receiving treatment at the Friendship Village. The young man had come to the village for corrective surgery to lengthen his leg, followed by physical therapy, enabling him to walk. In his family of six siblings, five were born with some kind of deformity. While he was at the village he met and fell in love with a beautiful, young, deaf-mute woman who happened to be receiving services at the same time. The pair got married and subsequently gave birth to a healthy baby. The artificial flower-making skills they learned at the Friendship Village gave them a way to support their family, and they taught these skills to other relatives as well. The flowers they make were being sold at the Friendship Village as well as in their local community.
