Since the Vietnamese authorities did not let me enter their country by car, I had no other option than taking the bus from Hoh-Chi-Minh-City to visit the SOS Children’s Village in Ca-Mau. After 8 hours and after sharing a two-person bench with three others, I arrived at the SOS-Village in the South of Vietnam. However, the visit has been worth it:
Even though it was only 6AM, the streets of Ca-Mau were full of life: School kids in neat uniforms, some on bicycles and all of the laughing and joking loudly. In the SOS-Village I got a warm welcome. The director did neither speak English nor French, but I could understand that he had been expecting me and that we would have tea together with his co-workers now. Fair enough.
After a discussion via sign-language we suddenly had to move: We were due to pick-up the National Director of SOS Vietnam who by chance had scheduled his semi-annual visit on the same day as I had. What an honour! 
Together we went on an „inspection tour“ and visited the SOS-School, where about 900 children are educated – 800 of them coming from “normal” families in Ca-Mau.

I felt like a pop-star: After the 9 o’clock toughening up which was held in a refreshing military style, hundreds of kids were running towards me: White man in the jungle! I had to shake many hands and the kids twitched my leg-hairs (a novelty to them).
I was surprised by how well the kids spoke English – some of them only aged 6! I often had to reply to “Hello, how are you?” and got a great laugh when I said “Thank you, well, and you?
After my “I am a star”-visit, we walked over to the kindergarten and then to the village, where we were welcomed by the SOS-families. In each house one mother lives with 10 children – together they form a real family!
All the children in the SOS-Village are orphans or half-orphans. They have lost their families in typhoons or because of the late effects of Agent Orange (a defoliant the US-military liked to use in the Vietnam-War). Because of the SOS Children’s Village they have intact families again. They get a good education (the National Director proudly told me, that many of “his” children would go to university) and have a bright future ahead. 

However, there are many new projects waiting. Just to mention one: the village director would like to see more children from outside the village in his school. The school building’s capacity would be sufficient, but new students also need school material and uniforms – items, their families often cannot provide. Therefore I would like to ask everybody who is reading this to support the SOS-Village in Ca-Mau via this homepage. 100% of the collected money will be transferred to the SOS-Village in Ca-Mau, Vietnam. It is worth it – they do great stuff for children in need!
After a very interesting day in Ca-Mau I had yet another 8 hours of bus-trip to enjoy. My world-trip will lead me now towards China and Tibet (via train) and then to Japan, where I will pick up my Land-Cruiser in the harbour. For the moment I am a backpacker!