Word: pax
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...Trung describes Pax Thien (a name in two languages, the Latin for "peace" and the Vietnamese for "sky") as a bright and amiable boy,though with a tendency to be laughing one moment and then turning suddenly shy, as he apparently did when he started crying when he met Jolie on the day he was adopted. "It's common for ophans to be shy. When they play in a group or team, he's very active, but shy once separated...
...person who will especially miss Pax is Bui Thi Bach Tuyen, who was his primary caretaker for the last 18 months (the orphanage has about 15 caretakers at any given time for the 153 children who are Pax's age). Wandering around the orphanage dormitories, Ms. Tuyen points out the small now empty bed that Pax slept in in the corner of the room. "He was here, and now he's gone," she says sadly. "I'm very happy for him. I miss him and so I am sad - but we have other children to take care of." She adds...
...Tuyen says she didn't have time during the brief ceremony to coach Jolie on how Pax should be fed, but she's not worried that Pax will have trouble adjusting to the food in America, since he already eats some Western-style food. "Sang loves to eat yogurt and spaghetti." (Unlike most east Asians, many Vietnamese eat locally made yogurt, a legacy of French colonialists.) "He's very clever and I hope he has a good life. We just hope he will return to visit us. But we don't know," says Tuyen...
...Vietnam's rules of adoption call for Jolie to send the orphanage regular reports and photos of Pax's progress. "For Sang's case," says Trung, Tam Binh's director, "she is required to send a report every six months updating us about his health, mental development, hobbies - and a photo," says Trung. "It's required for the first three years. After three years, it's not required because we can see if the kids are being taken care of for the first three years so we can be assured they are in the good home...
...Jolie had not whisked him from the orphanage to instant fame, Pax Thien most likely would have ended up being adopted by another, probably foreign, family, because of the intense overseas demand. "At present, there are more [foreign] requests for adoptions than there are eligible children for adoptions," says Vu Duc Long, head of Vietnam's International Adoption Department, which is part of the Ministry of Justice. "There is more demand than supply." Last year, 163 U.S. parents adopted Vietnamese children, making Vietnam the 14th most popular adoption source. (China is number 1 with more than 6,000 U.S. adoptions...