This is Ý (pronounced "ee" with a rising tone). Life has changed dramatically for Ý in the past year, thanks to our program. He has cerebral palsy and is one of the children our staff is working with at Peace Village. His mother died in 2013 when he was 9 years old. His remaining family—his dad and three siblings—lives in a remote mountain village. Struggling to earn a living and care for his children alone, the added burden of Ý’s special needs soon became too much for his father to deal with. In 2014 he placed Ý in Peace Village. Until we started our program in 2017, Ý had never been to school. His intellectual capacity is normal, but because of weakness on his right side and poorly-developed fine motor skills, his speech is slurred, and he has difficulty with walking and other daily activities.He is eagerly learning to add, multiply and divide. And thanks to the work of our Physical Therapist Thúy, his walking has improved greatly. The boy I saw limping slowly and awkwardly in Peace Village nine months earlier, by May 2018 had much greater control—and even carried a chair across the room!
Larry Borten, Founder
