Where in the world is Le Quynh Vo?

That's doctor Le Quynh Vo to the rest of us. I met her here in Houston last year when she took Salsa dance classes with a friend of hers from Gloria Jones. We went dancing at Elvia's and Tropicana as I recall. But Le had other plans in store. She told me she was going off to Africa and traveling the world for about a year. She was going to work with the poor, see things, and do things.

It's funny how you run into references to people on the Internet. I came across an article about Le in a Worldwide Orphans Foundation newsletter from November 2005 which featured a brief article by Le. This is a .PDF file, so it may take you some time to load it. Le's picture is on page 2. She is holding a little boy in her arms. She served the WOF as an Orphan Ranger and she writes:

"On my first day as an Orphan Ranger, Dr. Nguyen Trong Hau, WWO’s Project Director in Viet Nam, was giving me a tour of the orphanage, when I first laid eyes on Vo. He was a small, pale child sitting on the ground by himself. His head looked too large for his small frail body, and his lips were dry and blistered. I suspected that he was about three years old, but Dr. Hau told me that he was actually six. He had come to the orphanage about a month previously, after being abandoned by his mother."

The little boy is an HIV-positive orphan. His life lies in the hands of strangers who have wandered across the world to care for him, if only for a few months at a time.

It gives you a new sense of perspective to learn about the good things people do, but when you've met one of those angels of mercy, if even for only a very brief time, you appreciate having met them even more. I'd rather know a kind and thoughtful stranger for five minutes than spend an hour with someone who was just passing through life, aimless and without conviction.

There are many petty, mean-spirited people crawling on this Earth. There are two few Le Quynh Vos.

Here's to you, Le, wherever you are. I hope the dancing is good wherever you wander.