Larry and Judi, of 'Chances for Children International' met with more of the children their donation has helped

 This week Larry and Judi, of Chances for Children International, were able to meet with three more of the children their donation has helped. The girls travelled a long way to come and meet them at CEF in Hoi An.

One of the young ladies is a university student studying to be a herbal doctor, and is a hard working student. The other two are in school and working hard so that they can get into university. One hopes to be a teacher and one a doctor. They are very shy and not confident as they come from a very poor community in a mountainous area.

The university student was an inspiration for the younger girls as she comes from a very poor situation yet is ambitious, hard working. She has become a confident young lady as she has gained a lot of confidence since entering university. Clearly she was proud to be a university student and expressed gratitude for this support and this wonderful opportunity. We feel she is destined for success.

It was a lovely meeting that everyone enjoyed with a lot of questions and sharing. Larry and Judi encourage the girls to go for their dreams and affirmed that anything is possible and just because they are very poor and females in a patriarchal society, they must not let that hinder them in attaining their goals.

Nicholas Kristof believes that 2016 has been the best year in the history of humanity

Nicholas Kristoff believes that 2016 has been the best year in the history of humanity and it may be true. Living here in Vietnam I can't see it though. The rich are getting richer, the poor stay the same or their situations get worse, unless they have outside help and support.

Policies introduced here mean that many of the poor will receive less help, or no help and already we see some families falling into despair having lost what little support they were receiving.

Now some families have family members dying instead of being able to control major health issues as they now they can't afford the medications they need to help control their health issues. Families with poor health or serious problems are not going to the doctor to find out what is wrong as they can't afford to get there or afford the medications.

More families are contacting us at CEF to ask for educational support as they no longer have any reductions at school for their children. We believe more families will withdraw children from school and send them to work as now they can't afford not to have them working and contributing to the family.  

The results of these new policies? Less people will be listed as poor giving the appearance of reduced poverty. How many other countries have introduced similar policies giving the false appearance of reduced poverty?

Link to the article: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/21/opinion/sunday/why-2017-may-be-the-best-year-ever.html

Beginning of the article by Nicholas Kristoff and a link to read the remainder of it:

"There’s a broad consensus that the world is falling apart, with every headline reminding us that life is getting worse.

Except that it isn’t. In fact, by some important metrics, 2016 was the best year in the history of humanity. And 2017 will probably be better still.

How can this be? I’m as appalled as anyone by the election of Donald Trump, the bloodshed in Syria, and so on. But while I fear what Trump will do to America and the world, and I applaud those standing up to him, the Trump administration isn’t the most important thing going on. Here, take my quiz:

On any given day, the number of people worldwide living in extreme poverty:

A.) Rises by 5,000, because of climate change, food shortages and endemic corruption.

B.) Stays about the same.

C.) Drops by 250,000.

Polls show that about 9 out of 10 Americans believe that global poverty has worsened or stayed the same. But in fact, the correct answer is C. Every day, an average of about a quarter-million people worldwide graduate from extreme poverty, according to World Bank figures....."

Continue reading the main story

2017 visit to CEF in Vietnam ~ Guest blog by CEF's US manager

I'm on my annual visit to Hoi An and this year the timing is right before ​the Tet (New Year) holiday, which is a major deal in Vietnam and unlike any holiday in the U.S. The celebration lasts a week, with planning, shopping and preparation taking twice that long. It's a party that includes visiting friends and relatives and lots of eating and drinking. For many, it's also a week-long work holiday.

CEF helps our sponsored children and their families join in the celebration by distributing food parcels, which include a big sack of rice, cooking oil, crystalized ginger, watermelon seeds, peanuts and other goodies so that they can eat well and enjoy this special time of year.  

On 22 January, a gray and drizzly day, Linda and I and the four staff drove 3 hours to Hue to visit two teens in the CEF program to distribute Tet parcels and check on their school grades.  (The staff then spent the afternoon in an anti-trafficking training session learning to teach effective methods to young girls so they can avoid predators.)  One of the girls is doing very well in high school and has a good chance to have a much better life for herself in the future.  The staff questioned her about her goals for the future, helping her refine her plans and match her talents with her eventual studies at university. 

The other girl, 'M', is a different story.  While all of the children helped by CEF are very poor, M's family's poverty really is abject. She lives with her father, who is mentally ill and rarely able to work, and her 56-year-old mother, a tiny woman who works at several low-paying jobs, including back-breaking farming work. She's healthy but looks almost worn out. They live in a small, unfinished brick and cement house that lacks windows and doors, with a tin roof containing numerous holes that leaks badly during heavy rains.  

M, who is quiet with a shy, beautiful smile, was training as a nun in a pagoda before returning to her family last year. She so far hasn't been able to earn good grades in school and her ability to escape the desperate poverty, arduous physical labour and hopelessness of her mother's life remains in doubt. Sitting on plastic stools in their house on a dark grey day, listening to the staff inquire about her life, tugs at the heart.  On the ride back, we discussed the best way to support M to have a life with a better future.  No definite solutions at this time, but one idea that may work is to get her into a restaurant / hospitality training program with an NGO in Hoi An.  In the meantime, we know that M and her family at least will have a better Tet celebration due to the generosity of our CEF donors.

Visit from Larry and Judi of 'Chances for Children International' ~ Guest blog by CEF's Ms Thuy

Today, CEF was very happy to welcome our donors – Larry and Judi and one of their sponsored students at the CEF office.

Thanks to Larry and Judi, and the donors of their organization ’Chances for Children International’, 7 girls in our education program have the chance to continue their studies.  

During their visit at CEF’s office we also shared more information about our work and programs, as well as shared some of the stories about our children.

We certainly hope they will enjoy their stay in Hoi An, and we look forward to seeing more of them during this time.

We are very happy to work with them and their wish to support CEF and to provide educational support for our disadvantaged children.

CEF wish list for 2017

As with all NGO's there is always a wish list. As it is the time of year when many consider giving to charities we want to share some of our wishes that would help our families, but also help all of us here who work to make our work at CEF possible.

For our children and families:
Sponsorships:
US$225 spoonsorships of primary school children
US$280 sponsorships of secondary school children
US$335 sponsorships of high school children
US$400-$800 a year for university education. Most courses are 4 years. The costs vary dramatically as it depends on what they are studying and where.
We always need sponsors, so if you are interested in sponsoring please get in touch.

US$200 for a year, for food support for one of our very poor families who are struggling to feed their families. We have 10 families in need of this support at present.

US$100 for two book boxes. We have a Literacy Encouragement Program and have a library at our office, take books to some of our children and have book boxes in some easily accessible places for the children in communities to come to read, or borrow books. Ideally we would love to receive US$200 to be able to create 4 boxes of books. The books are a mixture of pictorial educational books and materials useful for their studies as well as traditional stories and books by famous Vietnamese authors. We do not provide any comics, political or religious materials. We also educate the children on how to care for books.

US$250 for the materials for a small bathroom with toilet. Each family will do the building of their own toilet / bathroom. We have many families who have no bathroom or toilet what so ever and just use the back yard for washing themselves and going to the toilet. Using the back yard is unhygienic, smelly, messy and embarrassing for the young girls we work. We have many families in need of a toilet in a small bathroom and will prioritize them as funds are donated.

US$100 donations towards our Water Safety Day. Drowning is a major cause of death of children in Vietnam. Each summer we teach our CEF children all about water safety. We have games in the water and on the beach and they all learn how to float and swim. We have both professional trainers and volunteer support. The day ends with a treat of a trip to the cinema to see a movie. The total cost will be around US$1300.

For CEF:
US$650 for a staff computer. One staff has an old slow computer, so we need to purchase a good new Vietnamese computer.

US$100 for excellent reference books for CEF staff to use. For example one of our needs is a doctor's Vietnamese - English Medical dictionary as we have many families with serous medical problems and no online or simple dictionaries can help us to translate their problems. Another is a medical book on gynecological problems, and also a highly informative book (medical probably) on female health and hygiene.

US$1000 a year for CEF training to ensure our staff develop and grow as individuals and increase their skills.

Frequent flyer points please for my travel to Australia and America for fundraising.

Donations are always gratefully received and are not wasted. Please contact us at cef.vn.usa@gmail.com or at c.e.f.vietnam@gmail.com.

Thanks you,
Linda

Linda Burn
Founding Director and In-Country Manager - Vietnam

Some of the scenery from when we do CEF's home visits in Dai Loc

Dai Loc district is where many very poor families live and where we have many of our CEF families. The more isolated your home the cheaper it is to live, but the back of that is they have few options to earn any extra income. Most people try to scrape by working as farmers and living off the land. Not many of the young want to stay there as they don't want a life like their mothers and it is not a life anyone would choose.

The countryside is very beautiful there and when we go there we breath in the good air and take in the beauty. We feel that there must be some spiritual sustenance from their environment to help them through each very challenging day.

"A father is a son's first hero, a father's daughter is his first love" ~ Guest blog by CEF's Ms Thuy

‘N’ is a lovely 7-year-old girl but she does not talk a lot when seeing other people. According to her father, she talks a lot at home but when having other people around, she is quite shy.

Her father has been suffering from final – stage kidney failure for 7 years. He now is very weak but he still tries to live positively without any complaints or groans because he doesn’t want to make his mother, his wife ...and his two daughters worried or upset about him. When he was still strong enough, he took ‘N’ to school and picked her up to take her home. Because of his kidney failure and the effects it has on him, his skin looks quite strange and scary for children. When her classmates saw him they teased her about her ‘scary’ father. Later, her father knew that when he saw ‘N’ shouting to her classmates in an angry voice saying, “My father is always a good father. Are your fathers as good as mine?” At first, her father was upset as he thought she might be ashamed but then he was very proud of his very little, but strong girl. 

Someone told me ‘A father is a son’s first hero, a father's daughter is his first love’; I believe so.

Thanksgiving

As a friend said each day is a day to be thankful for.

But why I like Thanksgiving Day is because it actually is a day in which I think most of the time about all that I am thankful for and since most of my life is given to helping girls in Vietnam to receive an education then most of my thoughts turn to all those people who support us to do this work.  

If I wrote the names of all the individuals who help I would be writing all day, so this is all the wonderful people put into general categories:
Friends
Sponsors
Donors
Advisors
Partner organizations
Our managers
Board members
Staff
and government officials we work with

And then I also have the help of social media, which in this time in our history is crucial.

If CEF didn't have all this amazing support we wouldn't be able to help the children here in Vietnam. So I am so blessed to have all this loving support as it has and continues to allow me to spend my life helping many impoverished and marginalized girls receive an education, which gives them a much better future with many more choices, than if they remaining uneducated.

Love and thanks to all of you,
Linda

If you are an Amazon user ~ please use Amazon Smile and help CEF while shopping

Amazon has created Amazon Smile to enable purchasers to contribute painlessly to their favorite charity –  for example Children’s Education Foundation – Vietnam.

We will receive .5% from all purchases through the Amazon Smile website, which is identical in all respects - including prices. There's no downside to helping out your favorite charity!

The easiest way for people to sign up to donate to CEF is by going to the following link and then signing in using their normal Amazon username and password.
http://smile.amazon.com/ch/27-0552998

Once you sign in that way, your computer should remember for future purchases and go there automatically. Very painless. (If it doesn't automatically go to that site, just type in 'smile.amazon.com.’)

Alternatively, people can go to smile.amazon.com and type in 'Children's Education Foundation - Vietnam' in the charity search box and then 'Select' it as the charity they would like to help fund. Thereafter, when they make purchases through 'smile.amazon.com' we will receive .5% of their purchase price from Amazon.

Thank you for helping CEF-Vietnam, and please let me know if there are any glitches in the system. Also - please pass this along to your family and friends who may be interested in helping our charity or at least some other worthy cause.