I am fond of the Saigon river and whenever I happened to visit Ho Chi Minh City I like to spend time sitting on a bench facing the river and watching the boats going back and forth, as many Vietnamese accustom to do. Sometimes a young acquaintance gave me a tour of the roads around the river riding on a motorbike in the evening. Young people spent their time dating peacefully.

This time I joined the group of Japa Vietnam and had a totally different experience. We hired 3 boats full of street children and enjoyed a picnic tour around the Saigon River. There were more than 10 children, age 15 to 18, in my boat and you could see in their faces the joy they were experiencing. As soon as the boats left the harbor the water games started. The children threw water to each other from boat to boat, climbed to the roof crying and started to eat the lunches and drink juice. Going down the river we could see a different sight of the HCM City, big hotels and a few fancy tall buildings, but also very poor huts of slum dwellers along the riverside.

Although I had been several times in Vietnam before, this was my first visit together with Japa Vietnam. I was impressed by the deep sense of trust of the people and their friendship, by the hope people placed in the Japanese group. The picnic around the river together with the street children was an unforgettable experience.