Hannah's Heart

This article was printed in the Spring 2007 edition of Reach Vietnam, EMW's quarterly print magazine.

Hannah Moraes lives part of the year in Vietnam with her family, where her dad is an executive with Nike. In spring of 2006, Hannah’s mother, Julie Moraes, came home from an East Meets West sponsored luncheon with a copy of a DVD she wanted her family to watch. The movie was the EMW-produced documentary “Dreaming of An Ordinary Life,” a film about EMW’s Operation Healthy Heart and the young, critically ill children whose lives are being saved by the program. Hannah was so moved by the film that she immediately set a plan in action: she would take her upcoming summer break to raise enough money (at the time, $1500) to sponsor one child with heart surgery.

True to her word, immediately upon arriving home in Oregon, Hannah began talking to everyone she knew about her mission. She went door to door in her neighborhood. She spoke in front of large groups to ask for donations, including standing up twice at her church to spread information about the program and ask for support. “Hannah’s hope was that if everyone (she talked to) were to donate only one dollar then she would have a lot of money,” her mom Julie recounts. “All in all, she collected over $1,600 for Operation Healthy Heart.”

But her summer of fundraising was only the beginning of Hannah’s gift to the program. When her thirteenth birthday came up in the fall, her parents surprised her with a check for a matching donation to East Meets West. Better yet, they gave her the news that Nike’s matching funds program would also match her original contribution. With a new total of over $5,000, Hannah’s efforts would now be able to save the lives of three children who needed heart surgery.

After Hannah returned to Vietnam, EMW’s development team in Ho Chi Minh City wanted to celebrate her achievements. At a party, they presented her a Certificate of Appreciation and invited the press to the ceremony. Hannah’s story was featured in several articles in Vietnamese papers and magazines. A local TV station called and wanted to do a story, with one twist: “Could we also film one of the children that Hannah is saving?” they wanted to know.

Thinking it was a wonderful idea, EMW staff searched for a fit for Hannah’s original donation, looking for a young person that was both close to Hannah’s home and age. That search led to Nguyen Thi Anh Thu.

Thu, thirteen years old, was born in a remote rural village in Long An Province. Her house is located in a beautiful but very poor area. She lives with her parents and two younger sisters in a small house with wood walls and a packed earth floor. They have no possessions – no motorbike, no fridge, only an old TV given to them by a family member. Thu’s parents cultivate rice on their small plot of land, from which they earn about $31 a month. Their income barely feeds the family. After they discovered Thu’s illness was life-threatening, they simply did not have the means to treat her heart condition.

In the fall of 2006, EMW staff and the TV station finalized their visit to Thu’s home so that the two girls could meet. They became immediate friends. An EMW staff member recalls, “Seeing the two girls together was like magic happening.”
Hannah and her mom were invited into Thu’s home and had tea where, through a translator, Thu’s mom told them, “Since her birth, Thu is very weak due to heart disease and the pain can strike her at any time. She loses her consciousness several times each day and her teacher has to bring her home. I cry all my tears out. The doctor said that if she does not have surgery soon, she may die at any time.”

Thu’s family discovered that the American visitors in her home were going to sponsor Thu’s heart operation. Even more surprisingly, the person who raised the funds for Thu’s surgery was this 13-year old girl now fast friends with her own daughter. The girls walked around the island and Thu showed Hannah her favorite places. Thu’s father took them on a short boat ride to Thu’s favorite place down the river. Hannah remembers, “I was really moved watching the film about these children and excited about raising the money, but going to see Thu was amazing. This is the first time I have had a chance to see the countryside of Vietnam and see the real life of Vietnamese friends who are my age. I am happy to do a small thing to make her life better.”

In the hospital, after the surgery, Thu was still beaming when she talked about her special friend, Hannah. “Although we are the same age, Hannah is so brave. Thanks to her love and courage, I and other children will live happily with our family, go to school and grow up like other children. We hope when we are grown up, we will help many people.”

Thu is doing well now and able to experience the joys of a normal childhood she has previously missed. She is studying hard, and wants to be a doctor so that she can help children like herself.

A journalist, Van Phat, who accompanied Hannah on the visit to Thu’s home, wrote: “ When Hannah is grown up, the dust of time can cover many memories but definitely in the memory of this whole-hearted girl what is happening today will always be her most fond and proud memory. For Thu, Hannah will always be a little fairy, who does not step out from fairy tales told by her mother every night, but from true life.”

Today Hannah continues to study hard at the International School in Ho Chi Minh City, but she often relives the joy of reaching out to Thu and the others who benefitted from her hard work and vision. She maintains, “ I am just an ordinary person. But if all the ordinary people would just help one person, the world would be an extraordinary place.” When she returns to the USA, Hannah plans on raising more funds for Operation Healthy Heart. •