A large number of minority peoples migrated to Cambodia or other countries, including France and the US, and there is a perceived or real effort, including funding, from expatriate Vietnamese to encourage the Central Highlands to separate from the rest of Vietnam. For this reason, there is a great deal of government watchfulness and control over the governments of these provinces, which may translate into severe financial measures against those who are perceived as able to mobilize people against the present government. Although the Catholic Church in Vietnam is probably not perceived as such, this is perhaps one reason that has made it difficult for the orphanages run by the sisters to become accredited by the state.

The actual situation is that since March 1, 2007, Vietnamese law has decreed that private orphanages are not permitted to place children for adoption. Before this time, children went from Kontum to Italy and to France - not in large numbers, but nonetheless there were adoptions. About a year ago, after the new decree was issued, the sisters made application to the People's Committee of Kontum to be accredited as a public child-placing institution. All necessary documents were presented, and the sisters wait still for an answer. In fact a member of the People's Committee came to visit the orphanage recently, and indicated that she had no problem with accrediting the orphanage, but it was not her decision alone. We have in fact approached a few well-connected persons in Vietnam to ask their advice and assistance, and we hope that one day these efforts will bear fruit.

The orphanages themselves are very well run, with many abandoned children living there. There is a joy among the children not often seen in orphanages. Because of the openness of the sisters to receive visitors and help, there are often groups of interested foreigners, or US veterans, or aid organizations of various sorts who come to lend a hand. In one orphanage we visited, when we arrived at about 4pm, all but 2 or 3 of the toddlers were gone. While we waited and chatted to the sisters, about 15 of the children entered - children from 7 (!) to about 12 years old. They had been out since 8 that morning planting rice and jackfruit. That or similar activities was how the children spent their summer vacation. What was most humbling about this was the attitude with which the children came in from the fields - not a single sad face, not one complaint. The sisters explained that since there was no government funding, all the children worked alongside the sisters when they could (i.e. when they were not in school), growing and harvesting what they could to supply the orphanage with food. Thanks to the donations they receive, and by growing their own fruits and vegetables, the orphanage is able to feed the children with about $0.25 per day per child.

Thanks to a donation from a benefactor, we were able to give the orphanage $5000, and we will also bring another $5000 in November. Additionally, I will be going with a group of high school students from Collège Ste-Anne de Lachine in November to spend a week working at these orphanages in Kontum.

The names of the sisters' two largest orphanages, Vinh Son I and Vinh Son II ('Vinh Son', like Sai Gon, is the way the Vietnamese write these words, while they are written 'Vincent' (for Vincent de Paul) and 'Saigon' in English. Although we learned that they want to change the name from 'Vincent', no matter, they still represent the tradition.

Vinh Son 1
We had an appointment with Sister Juliana, the director of the orphanage the morning of June 27, the day we arrived by plane in Kontum. She was to meet us and take us to the orphanage Vinh Son 1. We called. She was not there and the girl said she did not know where she was or when she would be back. It was a frustrating set-back. Eventually we learned what had happened but not until much later in the day.

Bishop Michael's Request
When Sister Julianne met us late that afternoon, she apologized and told us what had happened. It was a tale that revealed much of the social infrastructure of the Church in Kontum. Sister Julianne told us that the current Bishop, Michael, asked her if her congregation would accept to work in a very distant and very poor particular Ba Na (Bahnar) village. The village had a non-functioning government health center and was in need of social service. The day we arrived was unexpectedly the day he arranged for her to visit this distant village and she had to go.

She further told us that Bishop first asked a group of sisters in Saigon to take this task on. But they had a very different attitude. They agreed only if the Bishop were willing to provide the sisters with a very nice house, extensive grounds for farming, and funds to set up services. He did not choose to accept their terms. Instead he turned to Sister Juliana. That Sister Juliana and her community immediately accepted the task is an indication of her character.

Bishop Jean-Liévin-Joseph Sion, M.E.P. (1890-1961) and his third successor, Bishop Michael Huong Dum Oanh
The Catholicism of the Bahnar population of Kontum is the result of the work of nineteenth century missionaries from France who came to work in the Highlands of Vietnam. Jean Sion was a member of the group of priests founded by Vincent de Paul in Paris and known as the Fathers of the Mission (Missions étrangères de Paris or M.E.P.) He was sent to Vietnam as a missionary Bishop around 1945 together with a French sister, a member of Vincent de Paul's Catholic Daughter's of Charity, Sister Catherine. She is seen in pictures in the convent in Kontum wearing the white starched headdress (the normal headdress for women in 17th century Ile de France in Paris) of the original group of the Daughters of Charity. Bishop Jean and Sister Catherine worked among the Vietnamese Degar people, particularly with the Ba Na or Bahnar tribe.

The Catholicism that the two missionaries promoted in the area of Kontum is still thriving there. There are currently about 160 young men preparing for the Catholic priesthood in the Kontum Seminary, some of whom provide social services at the orphanages as the practical part of their training. We met three of them; one was on his way to cut hands of bananas for lunch, the other two were on their way into classrooms to teach math and English. There are churches and schools. In particular the one remarkable wooden Romanesque church, with wrap-around porticos, known locally as 'the wooden church', is an impressive building, a tourist attraction, and is about 150 years old. The current bishop is Bishop Michael Huong Duc Oanh, whose diocese extends over two provinces, who is the third successor to Bishop Jean Sion.

The Catholic Church is served by a clergy that is principally, if not entirely, made up of men who are members of the Kinh tribe, the dominant group ethnic group in Vietnam. The relationship between the Kinh clergy and the Banar Sisters is an uneasy one. Bishop Michael's latest move regarding the Sisters is to inform them that, except for a requirement that they report to him periodically, they are on their own and should not look to him for any significant support. The gap between the sisters and the clergy is evident in political coolness between them and even trivial physical barriers such as `don`t cross` fences between adjacent clerical and religious grounds. The social gap obviously has several sociological dimensions to it.

Congregation of the Miraculous Medal
The two missionaries, Jean Sion and Sister Catherine, came to Vietnam with the background of their experience of Catholic religious life in France and their knowledge of the style of service to the very poor practiced all over the world by the Daughters of Charity. Two years after their arrival, in 1947 Sister Catherine and Bishop Jean Sion founded a diocesan congregation specifically for the Ba Na (Banar) women.

Sister Catherine was a member of the French Catholic religious community founded by St. Vincent de Paul in Paris in 1633 and known world-wide as the `Daughters of Sisters of Charity`. The community of Banar women was structured according to the spirit if Vincent de Paul and according to the model of the Daughters of Charity including their simple habit. There are several statues of St. Vincent de Paul around their properties.

In recognition of their French history, each of the Sisters adopts a French name. The founders dedicated the community to Mary, the mother of Jesus, calling it the Congregation of the Miraculous Medal out of respect for a devotion to Mary initiated by one of the Daughter's of Charity in Paris, Sister Catherine Labouré in 1803. Catherine Labouré was canonized a saint in 1947 as well, the year the congregation was founded. The blue and white image of the Blessed Virgin Mary copied from the image on the Miraculous Medal is very evident in many places in Kontum.

Mother Marie Reine is the current and eighth Superior of the community. There are currently 87 sisters as well as postulants, novices, and young sisters in this community. Sister Juliana is the administrator of all their five orphanages. The two orphanages in Kontum City have more than 400 children, a number that grows daily - we saw that happening during our visits. Just two of the new arrivals were a boy and a girl of about 8 and 5. They were brought by neighbors, after they were orphaned when both of their parents died in an accident.

The language barrier made it difficult to speak with the Sisters about their history. But the continued use of French names for the sisters and the statues of St. Vincent de Paul in courtyards all testified to their history as concrete expressions of it in terms as well as the pictures on their walls. Consequently the history presented here has been pieced together from clues that I could pick up during the visit.

Assessment
My impressions of the Sisters are based on a couple days experience with Sister Juliana and visits with the staff members in all five orphanages, as well as contact with the children in the various orphanages.

Vinh Son I and II
Vinh Son I and Vinh Son II are quite similar in structure and environment, and fairly close together in Kontum City. They are both large cement installations with several buildings, a fair-sized staff and many young children, 200 and 220 respectively - although the numbers grow daily. Vinh Son I has three Sisters and an additional staff of 14. Vinh Son II also had three Sisters and a staff of 15.

Both institutions are in basically good maintenance, and there is every indication that they are well run. There are, of course, the inevitable list of repairs that are needed and general institutional needs to be met. But both institutions left a good impression as being clean, well run, and with staff who are attentive to the needs of the children.

The Sisters are an economic 'good investment', so to speak. Quality is sometimes difficult to measure, but quantity is a little easier. In Vietnam the government orphanages are supported by government funds for about $0.70 per child per day. Because the five institutions run by the Sisters are private, they get no government funding. The Sisters raise funds to provide a better level of care than is typically found in a state-run orphanage for about $0.25 per child per day. That is a big difference in funds and a greater difference in quality.

The other three institutions the Sisters have are smaller with fewer children and fewer staff, Vinh Son 3, 4, and 5. What stands out is that they are still neat and clean. But there is a very clear increase in the level of poverty as one goes deeper and deeper into the hills. Each institution we visited was poorer than the previous one as we went deeper into the mountains.

Another thing that stands out is that the Sisters share the same level of life as the children. There is no distinction between the lives of the staff and the children as there are in government institutions where the staff simply have government jobs. These sisters live with the children and support themselves and their hundreds of children by sheer hard work, just as parents do. We learned that all of the institutions have land planted with rice and other crops. All of the sisters work in the fields every day. As is typical of rural education, the older children of this rural farming community go to school half day and work in the fields half day. There is a clear sense that the Sisters and the children have a close relationship that is familial and functional, not merely structural and economic. That makes a huge difference in the quality of life for children in these institutions. There has to be a reason why very poor parents bring their children to the Sisters, and we think it is the quality of care the Sisters provide.

As a result of their involvement with the children's lives, we learned that they Sisters see that all of their children either go to school or to vocational school, as their ability allows. The Sisters raise the money to pay the school fees and provide supplies. Sister Juliana told us, with a certain sense of pride, about one of their older young women who is in her third last year in medical school. The sisters clearly take a personal interest in the future of their children. They want them to take their place in Vietnamese society and to make a contribution to its progress.

We had the distinct impression that many of the children of very poor families are sent to the Sisters precisely because their parents know that their child will be better cared for than they can do at home and will be sent to school or sent for training as their child merits.

Everywhere in the world the Sisters have a reputation for good management. As far as we can tell, these particular sisters deserve credit for the high quality of their management. We were able to look at some of their financial reports and discovered a very well presented picture of their situation. My personal interpretation, based on a number of clues in what I saw of sister Juliana and her interaction with other staff members is that this is a woman of uncommon managerial skill and a woman with whom TDH can work in confidence.

I welcome your comments on this article.
Dorinda Cavanaugh