Gifts That Give Twice

The tag line on the Reaching Out logo is " Gifts that Give Twice". What it means is that every gift purchased in the store or on-line is not only a beautiful gift for friends and family, but a gift to the disabled person who has crafted and perhaps designed the item...a gift of independence and empowerment.

We are finding that the circle of giving includes gifts to us, in many ways. It is a priviledge to offer our talents to the endeavours of this social business and we are also proud to deliver the support from our Journey of the Heart home team.

Today we were part of the Reaching Out Annual Staff Meeting. What a celebration it was! We celebrated the fact that the revenues far exceeded the targets set by the teams for 2009. We celebrated again the two weddings and two births which caused Quyen to jokingly suggest that the next development for the business might have to be a day care centre. We celebrated the release of a video which portrays the story of our business and is being used to encourage other self help groups throughout Vietnam.

Bruce and I were delighted that a significant agenda item was the presentation of gifts from Journey of the Heart. Thanks to Suzanne and Jeff, a new kitchen facility and renovations to the bathroom will improve working conditions for the 45 people who are now employed at this location. Everyday the whole crew is fed an amazingly fresh and healthy lunch from the tiny space pictured above. ( we couldn't get near the bathroom to take a photo....the one commode is always busy!)

Jo An and Michel have once again supported new trainees....so important as Binh and Quyen contemplate the opening of another workshop, so that they can include more persons of disability in the business.

As many of our readers and followers know, Jeff and Michel were Elaine's mentors at A&W and we are so lucky that our friendships have endured, as have those with their wives, Suzanne and JoAn.

We watched Binh conducting this important meeting covering all of the pertinent financial data; the reports from his team leaders on their progress towards their targets; the honoring of outstanding performers; the "fatherly" guidance to staff about responsibly managing their sizable bonuses; the pride in seeing the success of their careful planning and decision making based on values. This is truly amazing for this small band of disabled people in Vietnam, where Western business practises are not widely known or applied, never mind some some fairly progressive ideas of involvement and ownership.

We were both struck by the significace that we were delivering expertise which our business realtionships had nurtured AND the love and trust of extraordiary friends. We know that these home team supporters of our Jouney of the Heart were there with us in spirit. Their "gifts have given twice."

The New Challenge at Reaching Out

Last week we arrived at Reaching Out to see this road construction underway. Apparently the merchants had been warned a few days earlier via a message shouted through a loud hailer from the back of a motor bike.  This is Nguyen Thai Hoc Street, one of the main thoroughfares in historic Old Town, Hoi An. The children who live with their parents in quarters over their stores are ecstatic. In the evenings, after the heavy equipment is shut down, they scamper over the rutted sand and dig and build, but the tourists are not as inclined to be charmed by the muck and unsure footing. As Reaching Out and all of the businesses, restaurants and shops along the road rely on foot traffic for their revenues, this is a real set back.

We had an emergency meeting to come up with a plan to minimize our losses during the project. Fortunately, the shop also has an entrance on the river side, where tourists like to stroll. There are restrictions for all heritage buildings when it comes to signage, so we had to be creative. Within a day, Quyen had a flag made in the shop with the new logo and tag line "gifts that give twice" painted on both sides. This now hangs over the back door. Our unique bamboo bicycle rests beside the wheelchair ramp ( where Elaine broke her arm two years ago) and a temporary sign hangs on the wall. More customers are using the entrance than before and walking through the workshop to get to the sales floor. This is a good thing as they are seeing the producers creating the goods.

We wish we could report that we have maintained our daily revenues, but we are having to settle for a dip of about 40-50%. Quyen and I are very proud of how the sales staff are using their skills to maximze every opportunty. We are faring better than our neighbours!

The promise is that the road will be completed for Tet Holiday, February14th, when thousands of tourists and locals come to Old Town for all the festivities, fireworks and music. Sure hope so!!!

Working For Reaching Out

We have our assignments and we are now well immersed in our work for Reaching Out. Bruce is working with Binh to explore software options that will augment the POS system and allow greater control of inventory both in the shop and throughout the supplier chain. This means that the raw materials of silk, thread, brass, silver etc. can be inventoried as well as the finished products. They are also working on the on-line catalogue. This has been newly launched and there are some glitches and spots that could be more user friendly, like the 15 pages of Terms and Conditions which are a little daunting.

Elaine's work so far has been learning to navigate the POS system to understand the customer data captured therein and how to utilize the function which allows the creation and storage of letter templates, for communicating with customers on line. Once learned, she will then develop the letter templates and teach the staff how to access them and personalize them. Inherent in this task will be the necessary teaching of written English skills!!!!

Who would have guessed that these two, fairly computer illiterate sixty somethings would be tackling such challenges...but hey...this is why we love being here. We are doing all sorts of things that we would not do at home and we are really having fun and are grateful that we are all learning together.

One day at Binh and Quyen's house, one of the four computers that we had going, just quit. Within ten minutes a technician arrived and in the next two had the CPU apart and was cleaning it with a small brush. We could not believe the sand and dust that came out of the box, right there on the front porch. Within another fifteen minutes we were up and running.

Journey of the Heart Goes to a Wedding

Hien and Ly were married today in a celebration of their love, their hope and our congratulations for their happiness and courage. Hien is a talented paraplegic painter whose work is sold through Reaching Out and his beautiful bride is a physical therapist.....and yes they met much as Rick Hansen and his wife did, he the patient after a horrendous accident with a bus toppling him off his bicycle and she the loving hands encouraging him to maximize his remaining capabilities. He first began to paint while he was in the rehabilitation center where they met.

Despite their deep and tender love for one another their lives will not be easy. Ly's salary will barely cover the rent of a suitable house and although Hien's paintings fetch a very handsome $120 a piece, the unsteady income against the ever escalating cost of his therapy and medical expenses is a constant worry for the young couple. In his bid to become independent, Hien has discovered the advantage of using the internet to network and seek other outlets for his art. His immobility means that until now, he has had to wait for Ly to finish her shift at the rehabilitation center, to take him to an Internet cafe to access the web. Journey of the Heart, in patrnership with Binh and Quyen of Reaching Out presented Hien and Ly with a computer, modum, web cam....the works!!! as a wedding gift! It was a surprising gift, beyond their wildest imaginings. There were tears of joy all round....Hien and Ly, Binh and Quyen, Elaine, Hien's mother and his sister, the Sister, could not utter words....we simply hugged, smiled, nodded and said many many Cam On's ( thank you's). Thank you to Nancy and George and Dan and Bryna for making this possible. Your gifts will launch this young couple toward a more independent life.

Around large tables of ten, we enjoyed a five course luncheon in the court yard of the rehab center. As with all Vietnamese weddings, there was much loud karaoke music, with the Doctor in charge, Binh's therapist from 30 years ago, many guests and even the bride groom belting out the songs. One resident, not an invited guest, but who had watched the procedings from behind a curtain, could not restrain herself and at last wheeled her ancient self onto the "stage" and offered her musical tribute.

Fun is Universal !

Sometimes, we forget to record and share with you, that in addition to our work, we really have fun here in Hoi An! In the evenings our bike rides through the villages and rice paddies always offer vews of rural life....water buffalo with their young calves, the mothers munching on grass, the young nuzzling at udders for a snack; fields of brilliant green, straw conical hats dotting the carefully laid out plats. It is a veritable visual feast.

Of course, our friends and family are a joy. As you can see technology is the bridge with the young. Nam is our housekeeper's 13 year old son who is happy to come to feed and walk the dog if he can use the internet for a a few minutes. His friends seem to want to come along too! We practise our Vietnamese ( Bruce is getting fairly good at the basics) and they their English. Our conversations are often better than a game of charades, with lots of laughter and cheering if we manage to understand each other.Not to be outdone, by the youth Binh and Quyen are very computer savvy and have duelling I-phones!

One of our favorite recreations is to cycle to the local beach An Bang ( not Cua Dai where all the large hotels are!)Here we walk on the sand, wade in the surf and drink strong black coffee at a small bistro. The bistro , La Plage is run by two expat friends, who have been conscious since they built the place last year that it would be accessible for persons of disability and also kid friendly. There are beach toys and table games. We are all at home here.

Of course our days are sprinkled with visitors to our house, invites to others' homes, dinners out, wedding parties and celebrations of every kind. Nga and her sister My came by one day with both Sophia and Lucky, their three year olds...they were very sweet but a little intimidated by our resident Doberman, both mothers and children. Zen seems to them a very big dog!

Gentle pleasures sparkle through our days. The newspaper seller in Old town remembers us from our previous stays in Hoi An. He watched us this morning trying to share the crossword puzzle. He was back in two miuntes with copies of the previous two days papers, so that we could each have a puzzle AND still have one to bring home. This kindness is so endearing and we can not count the times in each day, wherein, someone is particularly helpful, and welcoming. How lucky we are to be here!

Room With a View

The house, which we are fortunate to be sitting, is large and airy with comfortable furniture. We sleep to the hum of an air conditioner on clean sheets, under mosquito netting. There is plenty of hot water and indoor plumbing. We are well cared for by Lien, Linda the home owner's housekeeper, who comes every day. Today Elaine had a lesson in cooking rice. Lien has brought some very special, very white, almost translucent rice for Ong and Ba (old man, old woman with respect!)

Lest we get lazy and forget why we are here, all we need to do is look out our bedroom windows. The pictures are what we see, depicting the life of typical working Vietnamese. On their small patch of earth, they live, grow vegetables and raise the chickens, ducks, geese and pigs whose serenades awake us each morning. Some are wood workers, others metal workers. These "home based businesses" happen right on the front porch or under a leanto. The average income has risen from about $300 annually to about $500 over the past three years, but this surely is a statistic which is skewed by the much higher salaries in the large urban areas, rather than what our neighbours earn.

Humbling this reality.

Agent Orange...Our Common Enemy

Another deeply meaningful day today along our Journey of the Heart....a day so rich that words and blogspots can not describe.....a day of warmth, welcome, forgiveness and gratitude.

Our task was to deliver to VAVA ( Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange), the generous donations from Bruce's buddies in the 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry, as well as some of his own hard earned sailing income.

After much tea and ceremony and paper work at the VAVA office we hopped on the backs of motorbikes to go with Phuong our lovely young contact at the association and Mr. Tinh another VAVA employee. Back in the saddle and whizzing through the country side, Elaine felt very secure behind Phuong on her specially adapted three wheel vehicle. Phoung had polio as a young child and is mobility impaired. Bruce trusted life and limb to Mr. Tinh, a former Viet Cong soldier, whose mangled jaw tells the story of his meeting a 105 milimeter artillery fragment head on.

The families to whom we presented the funds were so dear and thrilled that "forgeiners" would come to their small and simple homes. We met a couple in their late seventies, he a soldier for 50 years and suffering from diabetes, his wife suffering a difficult skin condition. His Army uniform, bedecked with medals, hangs proudly in a clear plastic bag over his bed. This couple lives together in a single 10X15 foot room, with a vile latrine down the hall, in a Vietanamese Red Cross home.  During his long military service, he fought the French, the Americans and the South Vietnamese Army. He described being "rained on" in the jungle of Kontum Province with Agent Orange. He openly blamed his infertility and his wife's lesions on the dioxon. He was effusive in his greetings and gratitude, repeatedly shaking both our hands, slapping our backs and presenting the praying hands peace sign. We do not know if he has been awarded a pension for his long service in the military, but because they have no children they are reliant on the Red Cross for their small quarters. Amazingly, they have a small patio garden where Ba grows medicinal plants to treat her skin.

We met another couple in their sixties with their severely disabled daughter, their only child. Both the father and mother had served as Viet Cong soldiers in the mountains to the west of Hoi An.   Only the father suffers symptoms from AO exposure but their daughter is profoundly disabled. Her twisted limbs and retardation are exacerbated by brain tumors one recently removed in a hospital in Da Nang, the surgery paid for by VAVA. 

We visited only four families out of the 1,000 known sufferers from Dioxin in the Hoi An area. But the funds that we delivered will assist 20 Agent Orange families for several months in their daily struggle against grinding poverty, debilitating illnesses and harsh living conditions. Bruce is proud of the handful of US veterans who "stood to" to help alleviate the lingering suffering from "our" war.

A Roho Cushion for Mr. Binh

Our dear friend, Mr. Binh has been in a wheelchair since a medical accident at the age of 16. He is the creator and director of Reaching Out, a Fair Trade social business, which trains and employs  persons of disability and retails their exquisite crafts. There are approaching 50 people on staff now at the store and workshop and legions of suppliers of fine crafts throughout Vietnam.We have been volunteers at the shop for three years.

This past year, excrutiating pain in Binh's coccycx and ischial tuberosities has kept him on his bed and away from the shop a good deal of the time. Dan Speiss, my physiotherapist on Salt Spring and his friend Sam Hannah of Motion Experts in Victoria helped us find this very special cushion, which we hope will provide some relief and improve Binh's mobility enabling him to once again provide the leadership so essential to the continued success of the enterprise and supporting independent living for so many other abled people.

When Binh first sat on this air filled apparatus, the smile said it all!!! The best Christmas present for us so far just seeing that grin.

Thanks Andrea and Marty for making this possible.

Celebrating Small Lives in Nha Trang

It seems appropriate that, as much of the world prepares to celebrate the birth of Christ, we were able today to celebrate the birth of the 14 babies in the care of Mr. Phuc and his family. Mr. Phuc, a devoit Catholic opened his home about four years ago to unwed mothers and their babies.

Pregnancy out of wedlock brings shame to young woman in Vietnam, her family and village, so these terrified young girls flee to the city and endeavour to abort by herbal medicione or very risky back alley surgeries. Mr. Phuc's mission is to save these lives, both of the baby and the mother. He provides housing for the pregnant women, safe deliveries and safe harbour until such time as the mother can support the baby. Sometimes the mother simply returns to her village and leaves her baby with Mr. Phuc.

Mr. Phuc and his large, ever changing family have moved to a much bigger house than the one we visited three years ago. The children play, eat and sleep in spacious, clean rooms. Some of the mothers are care givers, as are Mr. Phuc's neices.

What amazed us was that all fourteen children were peaceful...only a small whimper as I leaned over one toddler. Pretty scarey I guess to see a huge white grandmother grinning!!!

Daughter Eliza, who was with us on the trip three years ago, inspired this visit with a donation.....a sweet start to the humanitarian work of our Journey of the Heart.

Happy Ho Ho from Ho Chi Minh City

We ventured out last night to join the festivities in this frantic metropolis. The city core is aglow with lights and decorations and it seems that all 8 million citizens were out on the streets to party.

Our hotel, The Continental, an old dowager built in1880, is located near the main streets of the financial district, the Opera House and all the upscale shops, Louis Vuitton,  etc. The avenues are alight overhead, shops and businesses all seem to be competing for the "most garish"award. Most decorations are plastic and all the " snow" and "icicles" are Styrofoam.

Street vendors were sellng everything from crepes to whirly gigs with lights and annoying noises. Many of the kids were dresed up in some kind of Santa outfit and everyone wanted his or her picture taken beside Santa ...including us!!!

The excitement actually started to accelerate a couple of days ago, as Vietnam was building its medal count at the Ocean Games. They stood second to Thailand, with both men's and women's soccer yet to be finalized. We saw bits of the women's game against Thailand and the men's against Malaysia....simply because we couldn't get away from the TV screens! One entertained about forty people, on the sidewalk outside a closed dress shop, the extention cord snaking under the locked door  An amusing site was a TV crew sitting outside their truck on little red stools, watching a small monitor on the sidewalk! In the restaurant where we had dinner in our hotel, billed as "Italian" ( another bizarre story) the wait staff of seven people for our table, the only one occupied, kept running to the bar next door everytime they heard a shout from the drinking fans.

The final score was Malaysia 1 Vietnam 0, but still the distinctive red flags with gold star were held aloft  on motorbikes and hundreds wore their flag colored t-shirts in solidaity. Along with the Santa costumes, lights and decorations the lucky color red ignited the crowd. A great party!

CHECK THE SLIDE SHOW TO THE RIGHT FOR MORE PICTURES.

Getting Ready for Christmas in Vietnam

Today we did a "pre-pack". Our small guest bedroom has been filling up with all the stuff that we will be carrying to Vietnam and it was time to see if it would fit into our suitcases. You would think that after so many trips, we would have this down to a science. Such is not the case! This year we are carrying a very special cushion for Mr. Binh's wheelchair, bandages for people with leprosy and of course "Canadian" Christmas presents for our Vietnamese family.

Thank goodness the generous financial donations from all our friends and the love that goes with them take up only space in our hearts!

• Funds have already gone to Global Village Foundation for three libraries of books for kids in remote village schools and also for relief efforts for the victims of the recent typhoon.
• Elaine has lots of crisp new US fifty dollar bills which will pay the rent for Hoa, a disabled mother of two, recently diagnosed with breast cancer.
• We have sent some of your funds to the Children's Education Foundation to support the education of promising scholars from the Hoa Van leprosy village school. With the support of CEF and their host families in the city of Da Nang these kids will hopefully be able to break the cycle of poverty and discrimination which has dogged their parents and grandparents.
• Bruce has worked hard to raise money for VAVA- Vietnamese Association for the Assistance of Victims of  Agent Orange. Along with generous donations from his comrades in the 4th Battalion 23rd Infantry, he has directed much of his revenue from teaching sailing and sailing charters towards this effort and he looks forward to delivering a substantial gift to this organization which endeavours to help the approximately 1000 victims in the Hoi An district.

And we haven't even left yet!!! Once in Hoi An we will take up where left off last year and resume our work with Reaching Out and join the Global Village team for workshops and delivery of more libraries.

It is fitting that we set out on this third Journey of the Heart at a time when our Western world is preparing to pray for "Peace on Earth", with all the hope and wonder that this season holds. We fly from Vancouver on December 13th and will arrive after a few days of travel in our "over there" home town of Hoi An.

Messages from home sustain us while we are in Vietnam....please comment on this blog or send us an e-mail!

Rememberance Day 2009

As Bruce and I stood in reverent silence today, along with hundreds of our fellow Salt Spring neighbours, we were overcome with the emotions which this Veterans Day service now evoke.

We remembered all those who have fallen in the service of their countries, in seeking a fair, just and peaceful world, through two World Wars, Korea, Vietnam, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan.

We honored those who returned home, with injuries to body, heart and soul but today marched with their surviving comrades, even if marching meant using a walker or being pushed in a wheelchair.

We thought of the Logan lineage of military men and women who set an example for Bruce.

We were grateful that we were there together, and that Bruce's service for his country has led us both toward the work that we love in Vietnam.

Will You Join the Journey of the Heart Team?

Our campaign for funds has generated many gifts from our home team supporters for our 2009/2010 Journey of the Heart. How blessed we are that, despite some tough economic times for us all, donations received so far will help us continue our work in Vietnam.

Typhoon Ketsana has added misery this year on the Central Coast, including the village of Hoa Van where these victims of leprosy live. The Red Cross has reported that 350,000 people are without homes, 5,200 schools have been destroyed and many people remain hungry, have no safe drinking water and disease is spreading. The numbers are staggering, therefore we would like to include more projects to our list.

Please let us know by e-mail at brucelogan.bli@gmail.com if you would like to donate to our work.

So far we will be able to donate portable libraries to village schools, assist victims of agent orange, provide housing for a disabled woman who now has been diagnosed with breast cancer and help replace damaged equipment at Reaching Out, the workshop where disabled artisans create crafts and where we volunteer as business consultants, teach English and train management staff. BUT we would like to do MORE to ease the suffering of these warm people.

Will you help?

Le Ly Hayslip and Global Village Foundation Deliver Typhoon Relief

This is why we love Le Ly Hayslip! Although Le Ly is a published author and the founder of two humanitarian organizations....when the going gets tough...she is right in there with the troops.
Typhoon Ketsana left a swath of devastation in Quang Nam province and the fishing villages along the river outside Hoi An were particularly hard hit.
Le Ly sent out a hasty appeal. Even before the funds poured in, she and her staff were organizing the distribution of noodles, oil, rice and sugar to many families both in the town of Hoi An and along the river. Tons of rice and hundreds of boxes of noodles gave some relief to the hungry families, whose homes, crops, boats and therefore livelihoods were destroyed.
Journey of the Heart contributed $500 to this effort and we thank all of our friends who have generously supported our work and that of people like Le Ly.
By clicking on the slide show to the right you can see, near the end of the show more pictures of the work that Le Ly and a corps of volunteers accomplished in a matter of days.

Meet-Colonel Stocker, Bandage Brigade

For several years Linda Stocker and I have been corresponding via e-mail,telephone and Skype. She is the angel who has inspired hundreds of women to knit bandages for vicitms of leprosy in Vietnam. Linda created a blog, tended closely the growing network of knitters, and now is managing the task of collecting and shipping thousands of bandages.

Linda and I connected because we had both travelled, in different years, with our veteran husbands to Vietnam with Tours of Peace. Linda and her husband Gary continued to work with TOP, after their tour, as volunteers in the Personal Effects Program ( returning "dog tags" found in Vietnam to their owners or survivors). Bruce and I volunteered to head up TOP's Education Program. You can read about TOP on the link to the right and understand how this organization spawned a passionate interest on the parts of both the Stockers and ourselves in helping the resilient people of Vietnam. Through our work and interests we "met" on-line.

Along the way, Linda and I discovered our shared passion for alleviating the suffering of people with leprosy in Vietnam. Dynamic, determined, dedicated Linda created, with the help of her daughter Cindy, a blog which at first issued instructions for kntting, information about the disease of leprosy and ALWAYS encouragement(see link to the right). The Brigade has grown to hundreds of knitters, with an annual production of thousands of lovingly knit bandages.....so many so that the small groups of travellers with TOP were unable to carry the bandages to Vietnam.

Undaunted, Linda pressed on to find other ways to get the bandages shipped and distributed in Vietnam. The D.O.V. E. organization has taken the project under its wing. They will carry, thanks to EVA airlines, duffle bags ladened with bandages on their annual tours. Check out the D.O.V.E. website also linked on the right hand side of this blog to learn about their work in Vietnam.

Now Linda is also focusing on research and networking to find out why the drugs available to arrest leprosy are not finding their way to remote villages and estaablishing relationships with NGO's already deeply involved in providing aid to those who suffer from this disabling illness.