She needs a sponsor to help her stay in school

'VT' needs a sponsor to keep her in school as her single mum is struggling to make ends meet. She used to collect garbage, but since grandmother had a stroke she needs to stay at home all the time to look after her. As she is responsible for her daughter, and for the care of her grandmother, it makes it hard to earn money. She opened up a little store at the front of her house so she could have some income, but now she has a debt of $1,500 she had to take out to stock it.

'VT' will be in grade 2 this year; she loves art and singing. Because she is still very young we can't really say how clever she is, but she loves school which is important.

Please contact us if you can commit to seeing her through school and wish to sponsor her: cef.vn.usa@gmail.com

She is an orphan and needs a sponsor for her education

'TT' is an orphan, but is lucky enough to have grandparents who can care for her and her two siblings, but they can't afford their education.

She is a bright girl and needs a committed sponsor. Her education sponsorship for this year, for grade 4 is $200.

If you wish to see her through school, please contact us: cef.vn.usa@gmail.com

Can you help educate a girl?

'TH' needs an educational sponsor to keep her in school. She lives in the mountains in central Vietnam. Her mother is the healthier of the parents, so she lives away from home and works as a 'housekeeper' for a family and has a low income. Dad has poor health, so dad stays home and looks after her and her siblings. He also does the farming during the farming season.

'TH' needs a committed sponsor to see her through her education. She is a bright girl and loves all subjects at school. She is going into grade 7 if she has support for her education. Her educational sponsorship is $250 for the year.

If you have friends or family who would like to sponsor please let us know as at present we have 10 girls who need a sponsor to keep them in school. One more girl in school makes a difference! cef.vn.usa@gmail.com

Educate a girl from Vietnam who needs a sponsor

We will call her 'H'; she lives in a mountainous area of Quang Nam in central Vietnam. She has no permanent home, no land, no farmland, and her single mother has a very low income.

She needs a long term committed sponsor for her education. She is a bright girl and even though she is a long way from graduating, she wishes to be a doctor. This year she goes into grade 6 and her sponsorship is $250 for this year. Please consider helping her and contact us: cef.vn.usa@gmail.com

The support of a new donor has allowed CEF to committ to the long term education of these girls

When CEF has donors who give regularly, it allows us to make a long term commitment to new unsponsored children. These three children now have CEF's long term commitment due to our new donor. What a gift their support is!

If you would like to be a regular donor, donations can be made using PayPal on the relevant website:
USA / Canada:
Website: www.cef-vietnam-usa.org
Email: info@cef-vietnam-usa.org cef.vn.usa@gmail.com

Australia / New Zealand:
Website:www.ChildrensEducationFoundation.org.au
Email: c.e.f.vietnam@gmail.com

For more information or to answer your questions please do get in touch.
Linda

CEF needs 4 long term sponsors to help these girls stay in school

We need you to take on a long term sponsorship to help a girl stay in school. These are 4 of the girls we need sponsors for. These 4 are from poor families in a mountainous area of Quang Nam province.

If you would like to take on a long term educational sponsorship of one of these girls please contact us:
Linda Burn
cef.vn.usa@gmail.com

1. Her sponsorship is $250 for this academic year (below)

2. Her sponsorship is $250 for this academic year (below)

3. Her sponsorship is $200 for this academic year (below)

4. Her sponsorship is also $200 for this academic year (below)

She has been accepted to study IT at university

We are thrilled to learn that one of our CEF girls from the northern province of Thai Binh has been accepted at a Hanoi university to study IT this year.

She is very fortunate to have a sponsor who has not just helped her complete school, but also is happy to put her through her IT studies. Her family have a large debt as her mother had cancer treatment for quite a long time; so without her generous sponsor she would not be able to attend university. She is thrilled of course that she will be able to have this opportunity, and her parents are very supportive of her receiving tertiary education.

This sweet CEF sponsored young man has been accepted into university to study to be a history teacher

CEF doesn't help many boys with their education as our work is to help girls receive an education, but when a boys situation is not good we consider helping.

P is one of the few males we agreed to help. His parents drowned when he was just a young lad and his grandparents took on bringing him up along with his two sisters. As granny and grandad were already very old, his older sister took on a lot of the family responsibilities and became a mother substitute for him and his little sister.  With CEF and her sponsors support she has now completed school and college, and is employed. She has already been promoted and had an increase in her income, and not only supports herself, but is able to financially help granny and granddad and her siblings a little. We are proud of her and what she has achieved.

Phuc has never done well in school and we didn't even think he would get into high school, but he scraped by. Last year, he become determined he would go to university and train to be a history teacher. He worked really hard through his last year of high school, but he didn't do very well, but he did a lot better, and he succeeded in passing high school. When he took the university entrance exams, to be honest, we did not expect him to pass, but he did!

We are very proud of him, of his incredible determination and his hard work! I am also very happy to say he has a sponsor to help him through university.

Family challenges have inspired this CEF student to work much harder and she aims to be a doctor now

Impoverished families have ongoing challenges in their situations, and unfortunately for the worse most of the time. One of  our CEF families had a big change recently. TU's sister gave birth to a lovely bouncy, baby son, but soon afterwards was deserted by her husband.

She then moved back home with the baby to live with her single mother and sister. Although she has a baby, no support from the father or his family, and is unemployed, she is positive and hopes to find work soon in a local factory. She was a very bright girl when we met her three years ago, and we offered to put her through college, as she was interested in being a nurse. She decided to choose marriage instead. Now it is a stark picture they all face, of  a 20 year old with no tertiary education, a failed marriage, a baby and no income.

At present it is a big financial challenge for an already poor family, but they have all surprised me with how positively they have responded to this situation. I think the family see quite starkly that there are greater choices when one has a college degree. The mother  is uneducated, has a disability and has a challenging life, but now she has become much more supportive of TU and her education. Her sister is very encouraging too. TU has blossomed and has become determined to be an excellent student; she has a drive that we have never seen in her before. Her goal now is to work harder and do better each term, and when she graduates she wants to apply to study medicine.

Although they have challenges to face together, it was a very heart-warming and inspiring visit to this CEF family.

CEF is proud of her; this last term she was the best chemistry student in her commune

Chemistry is fascinating, and 'NY' is passionate about it. She is a hard-working and bright student who loves entering chemistry and math competitions. This last term she won the chemistry competition in her commune; she was 1st! What an achievement; CEF and her family are very proud of her!

This CEF girl is so conscientious that she stays up until 1am to finish home work if need be

Some of the children in CEF's education sponsorship program are very serious about their studies. 'T' was telling us that that her teachers don't tell her when her homework is due. She is so conscientious that she decided she would do all home work on the day it is given. This means she is often up to 11pm, but sometimes it takes her until 1am to complete her homework. Her mother said she refuses to go to bed until it is all complete.

This CEF high school graduate will train to be a kindergarten teacher

Her single mother, who has heart disease, makes a simple noodle breakfast on a basic cooker and sells to the locals around her home. She sells bottled and tinned drinks as well. Basically mum earns enough to feed herself and her daughter and nothing more.

'T' has had three years of educational support from CEF and has just graduated from high school. School was not easy for her, but her and her mothers determination that she would not end up having the same challenging life, kept her working as hard as she could at school. We are proud she succeeded in getting through high school.

Soon she will start her training to be a kindergarten teacher. 'T' will be doing her training part time so she can work part time; this is an excellent and practical plan.

We feel she will be a wonderful kindergarten teacher as she is a very gentle young lady. 

New CEF T-shirts thanks to the generosity of New Paradigm Promotions!

CEF has been fortunate to have some useful and needed CEF t-shirts made for our staff, board and volunteers. New Paradigm Promotions did the graphics and production and the result is lovely.

The new CEF t-shirts ~ girls and guys styles

The front of the t-shirt and the back of the t-shirt

The t-shirts are made from a soft fabric, a practical lightweight cotton, which is perfect for Vietnam's hot, humid climate.

The staff know about the new t-shirts, but will need to patiently wait until I get back to Vietnam with them.

Thank you to Linda at GoPhilanthropic for the introduction, and to Greg at New Paradigm Promotions for his kindness and generosity.

http://newparadigmpromo.com/
http://gophilanthropic.org/

One of our CEF students from Thai Binh has just graduated from college!

Another of our CEF students from Thai Binh has just graduated! We are thrilled to see her succeed and become a college graduate! 

LT has received CEF's educational support for seven years and we have seen her gain confidence and blossom in that time. Her sponsor has been able to visit her and encourage her twice during this time, which was very special for her and a very supportive thing for her sponsor to do.

LT back in 2008

2012 with her sponsor

April 2014 with her sponsor

She is thrilled with her achievement of course, as is CEF, and her sponsor, who was very pleased to hear this excellent news and see the photos of her graduation (photos below).  

We wish her good luck with her future and will stay in touch with her to support her through the next stages.

                               

June 2014

            June 2014 Graduation (on far right)

With her friend who just graduated too ~ June 2014

Kim Chi's report to update the sponsor on  her graduation

Date of report:                  31^st July, 2014

Congratulations to CEF’s lovely student on her graduation!

LT has just completed her college course after 3 years of working hard. She was very delighted because she received a good qualification, in 'Travel' and 'Hotel Business Management' at Vietnam’s University of Commerce.

After 2 months of work experience at a hotel as an intern, which was an essential part of her course, she took the final exam and got her qualification.

Her dream is to continue to do even more studies at university in order to get a higher qualification. She took the entrance exam already. In the meantime, while she waits for her results, she is working for a small seafood restaurant to get further work experience. 

Report by Kim Chi

Can we change our destiny? Blog by Ngoc

Life always can get better as long as you know how to accept the changes and challenges, and also make efforts to overcome the challenges. No matter how challenging the obstacles are, you should stay optimistic about being able to find the best solution. That is what I learnt from one of the children sponsored by CEF.

The first time I met Luong was in his dilapidated hut with the sun’s rays piercing through the roof, and their matting and bamboo home gently swaying with the wind. Sadly to say, Luong can’t remember what his mother looks like because she passed away when he was only three months old. Luong’s father has had many challenges since her passing. One challenge was Luong’s father was pessimistic about his son’s life and future because Luong did not appear to hear and did not speak at all at the age of 5.

His father believed that Luong was never going to be able to succeed, or be able to have a normal education in a normal school, so he decided to keep him at home and sometimes sent him to a child minder when he had to work.  “He’s deaf and mute” was the diagnosis of most of the doctors who Luong’s father took him to.

However we didn’t know if the doctors were correct and wondered if possibly his main problem was delayed development with some slight hearing loss and some behavioral problems related to that. We could see he was bright and curious and certainly should not be at home or just with a child minder. With help from a sponsor we were able to get him to a special school in another district and he was given a place at this special education center for children with learning challenges. They had the best services available so he was very fortunate to get this place. They have caring and professionally trained staff with the best skills available, providing the necessary help for him to develop and learn.

During his study of just one term we already received positive feedback from his teacher. The teacher told me that Luong strives to do well in his lessons and makes a lot of efforts to improve. Whenever his teacher asks him to learn anything difficult he never refuses; he tries to practice until he can do it.

We had a pleasant surprise recently; we were invited to attend his school’s end of year ceremony which included a fashion show that he was in and he also received an award for being a very good student and trying hard.

I still remember the first day I met Luong, he could not say hello to us or do anything himself; however, he is now capable of saying some basic words, knows how to greet, how to remind his father about his personal things, and now how to perform on the stage!

His father was over the moon and beaming with pride for his son when he was on the stage getting the award and he was quite touched when he saw the schools video clip recordings that include some of his son’s efforts in school.

He always tells me that thanks to the support of CEF his son has had a chance to be educated and he believes now that his son can achieve a lot through his own efforts. However, I want him to understand that yes CEF has been there for them and encouraged him to be positive about his son and has contributed to his son’s progress indirectly, but it is mainly because of our belief in Luong that all this process has happened. The change in Luong is because of Luong’s efforts; Luong has changed his destiny.

Now his father is no longer pessimistic about Luong’s. He now believes in Luong having a brighter future and this is also now a wonderful motivation for Luong to keep trying his best.

The last time I met Luong, I could see that he had overcome many obstacles and he currently holds his destiny in his own hands.  

Blog by Ngoc