Our First Project for 2011

With the help and guidance of our dear friends at VAVA ( Vietnamese Association for Victims of Agent Orange) on our last trip to Hoi An, we were able, through the generosity of many donors, to help families and individuals who have suffered health and disability problems due to exposure to Agent Orange.

As we look forward to our next Journey of the Heart in January 2011, we have been corresponding with VAVA. We have suggested to them that a version of the successful "micro-financing" model used in many third world countries would benefit these victims, not only in terms of livelihood, but also greater independence and self-esteem.

VAVA has agreed and we are delighted that Tran Van Man and his wife Dang Thi Hong are the first to present a proposal. We visited them this year and found them to be a very sweet family. We met all of Hong's sisters and many neighbours in the tiny village of Cua Dai.

Hong and Man are both blind, Man has lost an arm and their daughter has cerebral palsy. Because they are very much confined to their home, they have proposed that they set up a pool table and a ping pong table on their lanai for the enjoyment of their community at a small fee per game. We think it is a brilliant idea and have agreed to sponsor the project. Imagine, for $400 US, this family will begin to augment their income AND enjoy the company of players in their home. They will have the satisfaction of beginning to support themselves, their home will be busy with gossip and laughter.

Typical projects are handicraft production, raising live stock etc. but given the disabilities in this family we think that they have been very creative in figuring out how they could have a small home based business.

We look forward to visiting in early 2011 and shooting a game of pool!