Today I couldn't make the meeting or go book shopping due a back injury that has me flat on my back for maybe another week still. Arms and head still work fine, so I can still work and organize Ngoc and Linda from Go Philanthropic to take my place. How lucky is that; to still have full use of my arms and head and to have wonderful staff and CEF guests to take on some of my committments.
They have had the meeting and the result is we now know a bookshop with government approved books, that will give CEF a 25% book discount.
This will make a big difference to the amount of books we can buy for our mobile library. Thank you Bruce and Elaine for helping organize the meeting, and thank you Global Village
Foundation for sharing your contacts and thank you Ngoc and Linda for your valuable help today.
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Linda from Go Philanthropic is visiting
Linda from Go Philanthropic has been amazingly supportive of CEF and has found sponsors for many children that we needed educational support for. Their stories vary greatly:
One child has blind parents
One child was abandoned and an aunt took them under her wing
Two children have folks who fish for a living but struggle to educate their children
The parents of one girl drowned
One girl has a single mother with poor health and little earning capacity
And so the stories vary, but the help needed is the same; educational support for these children to receive an education. And Linda has been invaluable in helping find them sponsors.
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Thought Threads have been sponsoring little Dieu
Dieu's parents drowned when she was very young and her elderly grandparents, sister and brother took over bringing her up.
Life has been hard though as they live away from any town and employment is scarse. Granddad sells lottery tickets when well enough and her older sister collects twigs from the local woods to use as kindling and to sell in the market when not in school.
For over a year now granny hasn't been able to do anything as she has deteriorated a lot. It is hard for children to see their loved ones fade away, especially when this is her granny, who was a partial replacement for her mother.
It has been a huge encouragement for her to know that 'Thought Threads' has been sponsoring her and is there behind her, supporting her to have an education.
Thought Threads believes in the importance of education and not only collaborates with fashion brands but also with non-profits to bring dreams of being educated into reality.www.thoughtthreads.org
This is the link to a recent blog of theirs on the importance of education: http://www.thoughtthreads.org/2012/11/education-awareness/
Below is the Thought Threads team
Monday, January 7, 2013
About our new mobile library
It is still early days for our mobile library, but we are thrilled with how the children love to choose books to read. We are finding that most children love to read. Some are overwhelmed with school work and say they couldn't fit in any time to read, although they would love to.
The purpose of our mobile library is to encourage literacy. We are also encouraging them to expand their knowledge about the world and learn about many new subjects. We have books on famous artists such as Matisse, explorers such as Christopher Columbus, books about animals and caring for them, books on astronomy, insects, ecology and many more subjects.
But we believe it is also important that the young learn about, and understand about their culture and their traditions. We carry many books of traditional stories, both historical and folk stories.
We are also encouraging them to cook. I know that sounds strange to some people, but many young people here no longer want to cook or help in the kitchen. So we are encouraging them by carrying some Vietnamese cook books too.
As English is the International language they are learning English at school so we are also providing some reading books with English on one page and Vietnamese on the other. We are in the process of deciding on good dictionaries for each age group, so each child can use a comprehensive English-Vietnamese dictionary too.
We are also in the process of finding out all the government recommended reading books to help support their education, in the hope that it will help them do better at school.
If you would like to donate to support our mobile library we would appreciate it and so would the children we take books to in Quang Nam and Da Nang.
Please make checks out to (and specify that your donation is for the mobile library):
'Children's Education Foundation - Vietnam'
And send to: Stephen Jackel, 277 Broadway, Suite 1010, New York, NY 10007.
Payment can be made by Paypal. The link can be found on our USA website:
www.cef-vietnam-usa.org
We have 501(c)(3) status
Any enquiries please email Linda or Stephen: cef.vn.usa@gmail.com
or at info@cef-vietnam-usa.org
The purpose of our mobile library is to encourage literacy. We are also encouraging them to expand their knowledge about the world and learn about many new subjects. We have books on famous artists such as Matisse, explorers such as Christopher Columbus, books about animals and caring for them, books on astronomy, insects, ecology and many more subjects.
But we believe it is also important that the young learn about, and understand about their culture and their traditions. We carry many books of traditional stories, both historical and folk stories.
We are also encouraging them to cook. I know that sounds strange to some people, but many young people here no longer want to cook or help in the kitchen. So we are encouraging them by carrying some Vietnamese cook books too.
As English is the International language they are learning English at school so we are also providing some reading books with English on one page and Vietnamese on the other. We are in the process of deciding on good dictionaries for each age group, so each child can use a comprehensive English-Vietnamese dictionary too.
We are also in the process of finding out all the government recommended reading books to help support their education, in the hope that it will help them do better at school.
If you would like to donate to support our mobile library we would appreciate it and so would the children we take books to in Quang Nam and Da Nang.
Please make checks out to (and specify that your donation is for the mobile library):
'Children's Education Foundation - Vietnam'
And send to: Stephen Jackel, 277 Broadway, Suite 1010, New York, NY 10007.
Payment can be made by Paypal. The link can be found on our USA website:
www.cef-vietnam-usa.org
We have 501(c)(3) status
Any enquiries please email Linda or Stephen: cef.vn.usa@gmail.com
or at info@cef-vietnam-usa.org
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
While out and about on New Year's day doing home visits in Thang Binh district
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| When out and about visiting the children we travel on motorbikes along narrow muddy paths and around each corner is a new sight; children or buffalo frolicking in the fields, mother and calf going returning home after feeding on fresh grass......... |
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Christmas day visits
I had not remembered it was Christmas day until someone wished me Merry Christmas that morning. It was a Merry Christmas day as we spent it visiting children in our education sponsorship programs, taking them oranges and mung bean cookies (and yes they taste as bad as they sound).
All the children we visited that day have a parent or parents who are rice farmers. On this day many were plowing or planting as it was considered by their calender to be a good day for preparing the soil and planting.
All the children we visited that day have a parent or parents who are rice farmers. On this day many were plowing or planting as it was considered by their calender to be a good day for preparing the soil and planting.
Monday, October 1, 2012
Home visits at the beginning of the school year
Most are very happy to see us and talk about school and how they are doing too. The planning, travel and time needed for the visits is a lot of work for us, but we also greatly enjoy seeing the children and have fun too!
Monday, September 3, 2012
Our mobile library has started on a small scale!
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| Some books that went out to the children |
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| Second lot of books that went out to the children |
It has been wonderful seeing the children choosing books and how thrilled they are to have them to read.
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| One of the first books out to one of our girls in the education program locally. |
It's also very exciting having donations that allow us to get more books! Thank you to the book donors!
Now our next goal is funds for a motorbike so we can carry hundreds more books per visit and then be able to lend to the children's siblings as well as their parents!
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| The books purchased this weekend! |
Our last book donation allowed us to get all these books! They just need plastic covers and to be put in a Ziploc bag and they then will be taken to our Da Nang children next weekend.
Donations can be made via PayPal on the website (please specifiy if donations are for books or towards the motorbike):
www.cef-vietnam-usa.org
Many don't have a feeling of, or experience of, security or safety
I can lock my doors and windows and rest knowing my house has a high degree of security. I am amongst the priviledged.
When you can't lock your front door or windows, maybe because you haven't got any or perhaps because they can just be opened easily, it is not a nice feeling to live with, but it's especially unpleasant and worrying when you have children.
We look at many of the traditional homes and admire how beautiful they are, which they are, and see how talented they are to make a home from bamboo and coconut palm leaves or plant fibre matting. But what we don't realize is the vulnerability they live with. They don't choose such homes because they like to build with authentic materials; they build with natural cheap materials as that is the only option for many if they want a home.
They have few possessions as well due to poverty. What would be the sense in having possessions when someone can just walk in and take them when you go shopping at the market.
Walls made of plastic or fibre matting don't give a feeling of security or safety. Bringing up children in such a vulnerable situation is an added stress for the families.
When you can't lock your front door or windows, maybe because you haven't got any or perhaps because they can just be opened easily, it is not a nice feeling to live with, but it's especially unpleasant and worrying when you have children.
We look at many of the traditional homes and admire how beautiful they are, which they are, and see how talented they are to make a home from bamboo and coconut palm leaves or plant fibre matting. But what we don't realize is the vulnerability they live with. They don't choose such homes because they like to build with authentic materials; they build with natural cheap materials as that is the only option for many if they want a home.
They have few possessions as well due to poverty. What would be the sense in having possessions when someone can just walk in and take them when you go shopping at the market.
Walls made of plastic or fibre matting don't give a feeling of security or safety. Bringing up children in such a vulnerable situation is an added stress for the families.
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