Note 7 from Linda of Go Philanthropic - Time to leave soon

My time in Vietnam is winding down and with this comes the sadness of leaving a beautiful country and beautiful people. The opportunity that I have had to visit with so many sponsored children and their families just reaffirms the critical importance of education in the life of these impoverished children and the importance of the work being done here by CEF.

My thanks to Linda, Quan, Hieu, Ngoc and, of course, Lien, for warmly welcoming me and making my time in central Vietnam so meaningful. I am already dreaming of my next visit....

Note 6 from Linda of Go Philanthropic - Visit to the relocated Hoa Van children

Yesterday 2 other volunteers, CEF staff Ngoc and I drove to Da Nang to visit 14 children and their families who had previously lived in Hoa Van Village. This village was designated as a leprosy village some years ago but now it seems the government wants the land back so they have compensated and relocated all the families to Da Nang.

 Most of the families now live in "block" houses which are rather dreary buildings, offering little opportunity for residences to continue their life -long livelihood of fishing and gardening .On top of that no skill development is provided. A few even live right next ( I mean right next) to the railroad tracks.

Despite all of this, most of the children seem happier to me than last year as they are all closer to school and friends and some have been re-united with families after some years of living with relatives during term time to be able to attend secondary education. All were happy to receive their TET "lucky" money from us too.

I do worry about what kind of future many of these families and children have….

Note 5 from Linda of Go Philanthropic - Interview Visits

Today team member Hieu and I visited 3 beautiful young girls and their families to assess their suitability for sponsorship. The CEF assessment process is very thorough and provides so much insight into each child's unique situation. It is also heart wrenching when one sees "up close and personal" the living conditions of some of these families. 

The first girl-Trinh - is in 8th grade and is very, very smart (ranked second in her class). Her mom, who often is ill with asthma, earns a meager living by selling sand and making the famous Hoi An lanterns. Trinh is fatherless. Their home is one room plus a very basic kitchen...no bathroom, no bedroom.

 The second girl, Hien, is a real charmer...always smiling and dancing. Her father left when Hien was born and she lives with her granny and mom (who has cancer). Again, their home is very basic and practically sliding into the creek behind them. At night they are afraid to sleep because of the snakes that come into the house from the creek bed. Hien is very artistic and gets high marks in English, science and Vietnamese.

The last girl we visited, Anh, already has a sister supported by CEF. Anh's mom works as a cleaner and her father is a fisherman. They live in a hut which lets many of the elements in.

These visits provided me with a new appreciation for the work CEF does and for the very difficult situations of many of these children. I see what a difference our support can make...

Note 4 from Linda of Go Philanthropic - Visiting 3 Go sponsored children

 

I loved visiting 3 beautiful girls sponsored by Go Philanthropic Foundation donors on Saturday...Here is Thanh Kim (who is studying tourism in Hue), Truong (studying accounting in Da Nang) and Truc (here,studying how to ride a bike!)...Thanks to our donors for their generous support. It does, indeed, make a difference!

 

Note 3 from Linda of Go Philanthropic - CEF Tet parcels

Yesterday, along with CEF team member Ngoc, I handed out TET packages to about 20 children at a local pagoda. The pagoda is beautiful and the nuns so kind to let us use the space.

Many of these children and their families got up very early and traveled long distances to pick up their New Year's gifts...1 sack of rice, a bag of treats and a little money for each child.

Each time we do this, I am struck by what a hard life many of these children lead and how lucky they are to have CEF and caring, supportive sponsors in their lives.

Note 2 from Linda of Go Philanthropic - Art with the children

 Today CEF sponsored an arts day and I was able to work with the children in two 1/2 day sessions along with staff.

The children did one painting on what they liked about TET and a collage about love. In both cases they mostly chose their families as the subject.

They got to work with different mediums like tempera paint and glitter and glue, which they enjoyed.

It was great and some of the children are really good little artists. 

We also gave TET packages out which pleased them.

Helping each other

I love it when charitable organizations are happy to help each other!

Today's meeting was a beautiful example of cooperation between four charitable parties. All four, including CEF came together for the purpose of sharing knowledge and helping CEF to be able to access books that are permitted by the authorities and books also at a reduced price, for CEF's new mobile library, which has just been providing books to CEF children throughout Quang Nam and in Da Nang for the last 3 months.

Bruce and Elaine of Journeys of the Heart made the suggestion to meet with Hung from Global Village Foundation to learn about their school library program and to find out about how we could access more reasonably priced books. Unfortunately I was flat on my back and couldn't go anywhere when it came to the meeting, so Ngoc, one of our CEF staff, and Linda from Go Philanthropic who is visiting and helping CEF, met with the other two to help us find out more about how to help our mutual desire to increase literacy materialize more, by getting more books, and getting them into the hands of the children.


Both Go Philanthropic and Journeys of the Heart are wonderful at helping find sponsors for CEF. Global Village Foundation shares our passion for literacy. Read more about the work of each:
http://ebtovietnam.blogspot.com
http://gophilanthropic.com
http://globalvillagefoundation.org

It is very gratifying for us to know that these caring people are working together to serve the children of Vietnam.

Linda from Go Philanthropic unexpectedly had time with the girl she sponsors

Thuy Hang came to visit me in my prone position today and brought some lovely flowers; prone still due to my back injury.

Thuy Hang is a college student CEF been helping to stay in school for a few years, as her parents died, and her siblings couldn't afford her education.


Hang arrived totally unexpectedly just as Linda was leaving to go back to her accommodation today. It was most fortuitous timing, so they had some time together, with some translation help. It was lovely for Linda to have some time with dear Hang who she sponsors.

Hang will come and take part in the art day for the children that Linda is leading on Saturday, which will be lovely for both of them.

Note 1 from Linda of Go Philanthropic

As Linda said, I am Linda ( Linda 2) from Go Philanthropic Foundation in the U.S.

 

Our mission is to connect donors to a carefully selected group of grassroots organizations from around the world providing effective, creative and sustainable solutions to global issues.

 

We take the relationship a step further by bringing to life the people behind the programs. With that in mind, this is my second visit to CEF and how lucky I am to be working with such a wonderful partner organization and its people, doing such good work.

 

Today, I had the privilege of traveling to Da Nang with CEF staff member Ngoc to purchase many interesting books (with topics ranging from science to history to self esteem) for CEF's mobile library. It is a great joy to be able to be part of introducing books to children in the rural areas around Hoi An.

 

 

Many more interesting things to come during my 2 week stay.....