A Man with a Mission - The Story of Joe Bodanza and the Children of Vietnam

Joe Bodanza didn’t think Vietnam was the kind of place he would ever want to visit. A business associate from that country, however, wanted him to go, and finally he agreed. Joe didn't expect to like what he found there, but his trip to Vietnam changed his life forever. It gave him a new purpose, a mission that still drives him today.

Joe found Vietnam a beautiful country where he was pleasantly surprised to find many warm, friendly people. He went back for a second trip, and one day a 14 year-old boy selling lottery tickets approached him on the street. The boy wasn't smiling, and so Joe asked him why. 

"What is there to smile about?" the boy replied. He was crippled from polio, a disease common in those days that left many people unable to walk on their own. Like many other boys, he was trying to earn money to go to school. If he couldn't pay, he would have to leave school, and without an education, he would probably be poor for the rest of his life. Joe asked the boy how much it would cost to go back to school that year. 

The boy replied, and Joe gave him the money. That meeting planted a seed in Joe Bodanza’s heart. He met more children affected by polio, and others who had been badly burned. Their families thought that having a disabled child was a curse, and were ashamed of them. When guests came, the parents would hide their handicapped children in another room. When Joe saw this he was deeply saddened, and for a very important reason.

Joe himself had been a victim of polio. When he was eight years old, he had lain in bed for a whole year with the disease. Then he spent many years learning to walk normally again. He knew how difficult and painful it had been for him, and saw that without help, these children had little chance in life. He saw in front of him children who were hurting, and he knew he could make a difference. He could not turn away. The seed planted in his heart had grown into a mission. 

Joe arranged for one of the children to come to the United States for medical treatment. Then he brought another, then another, and then still more.   It was expensive to bring them to the States, so Joe paid for their plane tickets with his credit cards. He went deeply into debt, but more Vietnamese children still needed help. Joe sold his house to get money to help them. Recognizing the need for help from others, he founded the Child Medical and Education Connection. He rented four apartments in Leominster, Massachusetts, where the children visiting here could stay. To date he has brought over a hundred children to receive medical treatment here in the States.

Joe is 84 years old now, and out of his small retirement income and donations he receives from others, he has paid the school fees for over 577 students in Vietnam. He buys many of them bicycles so they can get to and from school. They are from very poor families, and they are grateful for the chance to study. They work hard and most of them are on the honor roll at their schools.

The students and their families call him “Mr. Joe.” A woman named Thuy Trask is the aunt of one of the children who came to the United States for treatment.  She said, “In my country where I lived in the Mekong delta most of the people do not know who the president of the United States is or who the presidents of Vietnam are, but everyone knows who Mr. Joe is.  His picture hangs in most of the huts in the villages of South Vietnam.”

One of the students who Mr. Joe helped was Nguyen Huang Tuan. Nguyen got both medical help and the chance to go to school here in the States. He graduated from High School and went on to Franklin Pierce University in Rindge, New Hampshire, where he was named “Student Government Association Member of the Year.” Now Nguyen wants to study to be a doctor, so that he can go back to Vietnam and help other children who don’t have the chance to come here. He says, “I want to give other children hope and faith.”

A rich young man once came to Jesus and asked him what he needed to do to have eternal life. Jesus talked with him about God’s commandments, and the man said he had followed these all his life. Then Jesus told him, “Go, sell all you have, and give the money to the poor; then come and follow me.” The Bible tells us that the young man went away sad, because he was very rich. Joe Bodanza made a different choice. He sold everything he had in order to help poor children from Vietnam.

Some people call Joe Bodanza a hero, or a saint walking among us. He is happy just to be called “Mr. Joe” by the children he helps. He says, “God chose a poor old man to do the job of a rich young man.”

Joe Bodanza is just one man, and yet he has helped so many. His mission grew out of who he is – a man of compassion who would not walk away from children in need. What could you do, with your unique gifts, talents, and resources, to make a difference in the lives of others?

(Watch this short video about Joe Bodanza at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_93hKlQSFY)

The Magnificent Seven

When I was a young boy, my brother and I watched a movie called the Magnificent Seven. The film tells the story of a poor village in Mexico plagued by bandits. The village elders send several men across the border to the U.S. to search for gunfighters to defend them. They find seven – hence the title – played by the likes of Charles Bronson, Yul Brenner, Steve McQueen, Robert Vaughan and James Coburn. My brother and I were so taken with the movie that I think we played in cowboy outfits for the next six months!

The movie captured the popular imagination so well that it had several sequels. I believe it did so because it had a cast of strong characters who overcame great odds to accomplish a compelling mission.

As we seek to live out our values, make our vision reality, and fulfill our mission, we will need to decide exactly how to do that. What specifically will you accomplish in your life that would allow you to know that you have led a life of significance? I encourage you to identify seven worthwhile things you would like to accomplish that will allow you to say with confidence that you have fulfilled your life mission. Call them “The Magnificent Seven,” and set out with the courage and determination worthy of a good old western. Your story may never become a Hollywood movie, but you will have the satisfaction of knowing you have accomplished the mission you set out to do.

The Magnificent Seven

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.