We know that our Journeys of the Heart to Vietnam are touching your hearts when we begin receiving donations even before we have launched our annual campaign! Such has been the case this year, with donors excited about contributing again to "their" projects. Our hope is that despite the trying economic times you too will support our work.
We have witnessed such progress in the last four years!
. Here is a lovely example of two initiatives coming together. Linda Hutchinson-Burn of Children's Education Foundation is responsible for bringing these promising young scholars from the leprosy village of Hoa Van, where the school only goes to grade six, to the city of Da Nang so that they are able to attend high school.
The students are shown accepting hand knit bandages for their parents or grandparents who suffer the loss of digits through the ravages of leprosy. The bandages are knit by women all over the world and are distributed through the Bandage Brigade, run by Linda Stocker and her association with the D.O.V.E. Fund. Journeys of the Heart support both organizations and was able to bring them together to serve Hoa Van, supporting the further education of their young and relieving the suffering of the elders.
In this picture we are facilitating a meeting with Le Nguyen Binh, CEO of Reaching Out, developing a new human resources strategy. This Fair Trade social enterprise has grown to a total of 100 disabled artisans working in the shop or from their homes. We could not have imagined this growth four years ago when we started to work with Binh and his wife Quyen. They have a acquired a second facility which doubles as an "over flow" workshop and a lunch room where the 56 Hoi An employees sit down to lunch daily. Scholarships for skills training and new equipment have been provided by Journeys of the Heart.
This year in addition to giving small gifts of cash to victims of Agent Orange we were able with the help of, VAVA ( Vietnamese Association of Victims of Agent Orange) and your donations, to provide loans to victims who had made a proposal for a new business. This gentleman, whose daughter is mentally challenged proposed that with a small investment he could refit an old fish boat and return to the sea. Before we left Hoi An he had reported his first catch...a wopping $300 one. His loan will soon be paid off so that others will be abel to benefit from the loan program, which we hope will be enduring.
The headline picture on this post is of Bruce and a young Vietnamese volunteer. They are supervising the children at the presentation of their mobile library in a remote village in Hiep Duc district. The library program is run by Le Ly Hayslip and her Global Village Foundation, with support from Journeys of the Heart.
Please help us to continue this good work.
Contact us at elainehead43@gmail.com for details about getting a cheque to us.
