We’re off again, on a Journey of the Heart!

Even without going to Vietnam during 2012, we have had a very busy, rewarding and heart warming year, continuing to support our causes from afar. We look forward to again being "on the ground” in January 2013 to work with all the inspiring people who have become friends and colleagues over the years.

The courage we witness each and every day in Hoi An has taught us to be ever mindful of the gifts of freedom, health, mobility and opportunity that we enjoy here on our bucolic island. The compassion and co-operation, joy and resilience of the Vietnamese, often despite very difficult conditions, remind us that gifts from the heart are the richest of gifts. Agent Orange continues to cause disabilities and birth defects, thus we are committed to continue our partnership with the Vietnam Association of Victims of Agent Orange to provide micro-loans to victims eager to earn a living.

These two young Montagnard girls will benefit from the portable libraries delivered to their remote village of Hiep Duc and we are eager to once again deliver the hope of a better future through education to more children by working with Global Village Foundation to bring book boxes to schools. Making book marks is fun!

This is Dung (pronounced Yoom)...he is very proud to sell the exquisite crafts made by his fellow disabled employees at Reaching Out, a fair trade social enterprise where we have worked as volunteer advisors for five years and where generous Journeys of the Heart donors have sponsored new trainees, so that more people with different abilities can become independent and integrate into their communities.Every year we see the addition of creative new products and the inclusion of more craftspeople, more dreams fulfilled and more smiles!

Kim Anh’s father is very proud of his daughter, who through Children’s Education Fund and Journeys of the Heart, has been able to leave her village, (where many suffer the debilities from leprosy) along with eleven contemporaries to go to school in the city of Da Nang. Her Dad is clutching a precious gift of hand knit bandages for sufferers of leprosy.

If one of our projects captures your heart, please send us a cheque made out to: “Journeys of the Heart” (designating which project) in either US or Canadian funds. Mail to: Elaine Head and Bruce Logan, 105 Hilltop Road, Salt Spring Island, BC, V8K 1V9, Canada.

We are very grateful that we are able to deliver your gifts.