Precious Pictures

 This morning we popped in to see the art event at Children's Education Foundation "headquarters"...Linda's house.

Ably conducted by Linda De Wolf of Go Philanthropic and the CEF staff, the art day involved nine children who were given the opportunity to express themselves through the medium of paint, paper, glue, coloured pencils, crayons. ...probably more art supplies than they had ever seen!!!

As they worked with concentration some of the parents peeked in on them from the lanai where they waited patiently. The theme "what I love about Tet" (Lunar New Year) produced pictures of fireworks, blossoming trees and quite a few of red lucky  money envelopes.

We also met Thuy and her Grandmother. Thuy's schooling is sponsored by one of our Journeys of the Heart donors, who also pays for the medical expenses of Grandma who cares for Thuy.

It is such a privilege for us to deliver your gifts.

Getting Together

Bruce is working with Hung of Global Village Foundation, Linda of Go Philanthropic and Ngoc of Children's Education Foundation....three different organizations co-operating to get books into the hands of school children in Vietnam.

Our previous post tells the story of how GVF delivers libraries of books to remote school districts through large book fairs.....a project that has been underway for several years. CEF is just beginning to create a mobile library for the benefit of the children whose education they sponsor. Linda, a volunteer with Go Phil is helping CEF launch this program. Today's meeting was specifically about acquiring the right government approved books to include in CEF's library.

Go Phil finds donors for CEF, as does Journeys of the Heart. Read more about each of these organizations through their websites (links on the right)

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

Libraries for My Thanh Village

On Monday, January 21st we travelled to the Mekong Delta from Ho Chi Minh City with a team of Vietnamese university students to deliver Global Village Foundation portable libraries. Five of those libraries were donated by Journeys of the Heart contributors!

It was very encouraging for us to see the team of volunteers; young, enthusiastic, bright Vietnamese dedicated to developing education and social programs in their country. It was a high energy day.

The focus is of course on the books and instilling a love of reading, using some creative techniques in dramatization and team work based on what the kids had read. They read on their own, reported the story to their group and then the group decided how they would present the story to the group at large.

 There was a lot of laughter, some shyness and some confusion but overall the kids really had a wonderful time.

We were entertained with some songs as well.

The school principal suggested that the district could use all the books that we could deliver! We have our work cut out for us. 

Bravo for all of our donors! Thanks Journeys of the Heart from the 
children of My Thanh!

Back To Vietnam

We are leaving in a few days to return to Vietnam to work with all of the dear people that we have come to know over the last few years, carrying the love and gifts from all of our friends and family.

It is also exciting to know that when we return in April, we will be launching our book Back to Vietnam: Tours of the Heart. That's the cover design that you see under our passports! Our book chronicles our journeys to Vietnam, from war to peace. You can learn more about the book and pre-order your copy at www.backtovietnam.com.

In the meantime our work goes on. We will be helping at a book fair run by Global Village Foundation in the Mekong Delta as soon as we arrive. Then it is up to Da Nang where we ill again be helping to get books into children's hands by working with Linda Hutchinson-Burn of Children's Education Foundation. Here she is talking with a young girl who is being cared for by nuns and whose education is paid for by CEF. The little note they are reading is from the girl who previously had borrowed the book from the CEF library.

Or perhaps they are reading the "rules" for lending, nurturing self-responsibility and respect for the books. Such a good teacher!