Hello Hoi An

We have been in Hoi An, our "home away from home", for a week! After a couple of days to acclimatize we were immediately immersed in our work with Reaching Out Vietnam.

The first task has been to work with a team of very skookum young folks in tackling the design of a new website. Two design consultants from Singapore were here. We had met Bryan in Singapore where he treated us to a fabulous dinner in the Botanical Garden. We enjoyed great food and the respite of a quiet green sanctuary in the midst of all the frenetic Singapore traffic and the mayhem of 4.5 million people on a tiny island.

Travelling to Vietnam from Singapore was an all day event as we set out from our hotel at 9:30 am and arrived in Da Nang at 7:30 pm ...two flights with a three hour layover in Ho Chi Minh City, where the time passed pleasantly enough as three friends made a special trip out to the airport to have a coffee with us.  We will see Anh again in a few weeks when we link up with the TOP, Tours of Peace Vietnam group.

Although tired, our spirits picked up when we saw our welcoming committee at the Da Nang airport. Sesame is now 11 years old and is almost a tall as his mother, Quyen.

Once home at An Bang beach we set up our offices....any place that was cool and had Internet access. It took us a few days to figure out that the old fashioned modem at our house required a cable which a previous tenant had probably stashed in his/her suitcase. Several days we had to sit in a beach side bistro. What a hardship!

The work on the website was quite overwhelming for us. We were drowning in technological waters with new lingo and magic tricks. But there was no catching up for us, so we took on the task of writing the content. Should be an easy job for two writers, right? But not so...the script needs to be appropriately heartfelt to capture the essence of this social enterprise and yet be clean, crisp and short to appeal to screen readers. Quite a challenge for these two old, verbose story tellers.

This is the office at Binh and Quyen's house and this is how a meeting happens in 2015....no laptop...no communication!!!

 The food on Quyen's table is plentiful, frequent and delicious. We never know what delicacy will appear on the table or when!

Dim Sum and moon cakes 

Banh beo

Fried squid

The next five weeks will be rewardingly busy. We will work with Children's Education Foundation for a couple of days, see Thanhhuynh Huynh to deliver funds for schools for the poor in remote mountain villages, work with VAVA on the micro loan program and scurry around preparing gifts, with Quyen's help, for the humanitarian work with TOP. And of course continue with the variety of tasks which crop up with Reaching Out. A need for some staff training seems to be looming!

We are well and happy.....red ants, searing heat, plugged shower drains, language problems (still after all these years!), beeping, swirling, crazy motor bike drivers and loud wedding music in the neighbourhood aside.

Let us know how you are dear friends and please share our blog on Facebook. We could use a few more "likes"

Last Minute Miracle

Our bags are all packed and ready to zip closed for the next Journey of the Heart and as usual they are overflowing with gifts for the Vietnamese people we serve.

One of the stops that we make annually and will do so again this year, with Tours of Peace Vietnam Veterans, is the Hoi An Home for the Aged and Disabled. In our suitcases are today's last minute miracle for the nursing staff there.

When we think of head lamps here at home, we think of reading in bed, hiking, camping or managing in a black out.

But at the nursing home, these are essential tools. Can you imagine during a power outage trying to care for and feed these dear people in the dark? Floors are slippery during wet weather, many residents are confined to their beds while others are on crutches or using other mobility devices.

 Head lamps for the staff are precious things to have so that they can care for their charges and have two hands free for feeding or lifting.

Today I went to our local hardware store, where Manager KimYoung has been a loyal supporter for years, not only donating from the stock at the store, but also personally.  In response to my plea, I walked away with drastically reduced headlamps and of course some balloons for the kids at our next stop in Hue at the Duc Son Pagoda Orphanage.

So a big "shout out" for Kim and Mouat's Home Hardware, Salt Spring Island!

Such a nice "going away" present for Journeys of the Heart. We are so lucky to be the ones to deliver all this love from Canada and the USA.

Almost There!

Once again we are counting the weeks and days until our departure for Vietnam. This will be our 8th Journey of the Heart, our 10th trip to Vietnam. For Bruce it will be his 18th trip...six with TOP Tours of Peace Vietnam Veterans and then of course two tours of duty during the war. That is a lot of miles travelled!

Funds have been coming in to Journeys of the Heart, by mail and hand delivered...one cheque even etched on the trunk of a friend's car, during one of those typical Salt Spring Island encounters...we were strolling home from our garden plot with our basket of vegetables and she just emerging from a game of bridge at a neighbourhood house. We did trade some fresh chard and basil for a most generous gift for the library at Children's Education Foundation. www.childrenseducationfoundation.org.au. A link for this organization is on the sidebar of this post.

Bruce's retired buddies of the 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry have once again donated a goodly sum and we will be able to expand the micro loan program which we initiated with VAVA (Vietnamese Association for Victims of Agent Orange). We look forward to meeting a new liaison at VAVA in Hoi An. Our lovely friend Phuong has recently been married and has retired. We will miss her sunny smile and her co-operation and translating expertise. It was always a treat to work with Phuong.

Miss Hoa is still the director and we look forward to cups of tea again in her tiny office at the Red Cross Centre.

Our new interest is in helping Same Same but Different...a local Vietnamese organization which not only delivers aid to locals in Central Vietnam, but now also builds school in remote mountain villages. We have been able to send funds for these school building projects, thanks to the generosity of retired teachers and Sunday School children in Kenora, Ontario and some dear friends too!

This fund could do with a little more help!!! 

So many of these mountain villages have, as you can see in the photo, dirt floors and the walls and roofing are not weather proof by any means. Below a picture of a finished school, the crew and the mountain of food, clothing and school supplies that were packed up the mountain by the youthful group.

Of course we will be working again with Reaching Out. Look how we have grown. When we started working in 2008 with Reaching Out, a social enterprise providing skill training and meaningful employment for the disabled, the "family" was about a third this size. The new Tea House location has opened up more opportunities for the hearing impaired. There are very clever seamstresses working at the craft shop, so the lovely ladies at the Tea House have fresh new uniforms every couple of months.

We look forward to working with Binh and Quyen and a young consultant from Singapore this year. Bryan has been contracted to update the website and lay out a social media strategy. Facebook and our #1 rating thereon has drawn the attention of thousands of international travellers to the business.

The needs for Reaching out have shifted, but two areas still need some financial assistance. Scholarships for new trainees AND their own charitable foundation, which reaches out to the disabled in the community who are not as fortunate as the Reaching Out crew, could always use an infusion of donor dollars from across the sea. Journeys of the Heart will be happy to deliver your gift to this ground breaking organization which has proven that small, grass roots, self-help groups can show by example that an empowered, independent life IS possible for the disabled in Vietnam where legislative changes and social support are slow in emerging.

So...we are almost there in terms of funding....but of course we would welcome more gifts.

Many, many warm thanks to all who have already contributed to the 2015 Journeys of the Heart fundraising campaign. Your support makes all of our work possible. 

Hopefully we will reach a few more kind folks before our departure in mid-September. 

WE ARE ALMOST THERE!

Annual Appeal

Journeys of the Heart Annual Appeal 2015

Once again we are planning our return to Vietnam. Since 2006, with financial help from many friends and family we have been able to change the lives of a few of the thousands of disenfranchised still recovering from the war and the critical conditions after that war.

Schools for Remote Villages

The children in remote villages in the central mountains of Vietnam are often hungry when our friends from the Ong Van group, known as "Same Same but Different", travel the arduous trails through the jungle to visit them.

Their schools, if there are any, are no more than shacks and books and supplies are meagre. But, not only does SSBD climb the trails to bring food and warm clothing they also haul in the materials to build new classrooms. 

Thanks to generous donors, a retired teachers association and a church school class in Ontario and kind friends of Journeys of the Heart has been able to put funds into the hands of the builders. We hope to do the same again when we go to Vietnam in September. Schools and school supplies bring hope to the destitute for a better future.

School Tuition for Girls from Poor Families

We have worked with the Children's Education Foundation for many years. the mission of this grassroots NGO is to provide school fees (and additional support for their families such as medicine,bicycles and a mobile library) so that girls can remain in school and have more choices as they grow. The threat of child trafficking is real for girls who end do not stay in school. 

When in Vietnam, we visit these children on behalf of their sponsors and we are privileged to receive their appreciative smiles and to see them prosper despite the conditions under which they live.

Micro-Loans for Victims of Agent Orange

Friends of Journeys of the Heart, including Bruce's fellow veterans of the 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry, have annually contributed funds to seed a new micro-loan program with VAVA (Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange. This loan program allows victims and their families to develop a home based business and through independence gain self-worth.

A woman who used her loan to start a home based knitting company, showed her gratitude by knitting scarves for our donors. 

The payback rate of the loans is high and as we had hoped the program is becoming self-sustaining. However, There is still a long list of loan applications and we would love to be able to help them start a business too.

Reaching Out, a Social Enterprise

We began our volunteer work in Vietnam with Reaching Out in 2008. Since then it has grown to more than 70 disabled staff in two locations, a craft shop and a tea house where speech any hearing impaired staff serve in silence in an ancient house in Old Town, Hoi An.

Our work has evolved into roles as advisors on business matters, however we still support the trainee scholarship program so that more people of disability can join this successful team as empowered and  integrated individuals. 

Your contributions have been and will be delivered directly to the people and or groups who are "on the ground" in Vietnam. We love and trust the people who year after year have welcomed us and are so appreciative of your gifts. 

Cheques can be sent to:

Journeys of the Heart

#10-115 Upper Ganges Road

Salt Spring Island, BC

V8K 2Y3

Canada

Cam On! Thank You!

Thank You Letter to the St. Alban's Church Sunday School: Kenora, Ontario, Canada

In Vietnam, the ethnic tribal peoples of the mountains live in remote, poverty stricken villages. The soil is poor and their crops are meagre.

Access to these villages is very restricted, often the last few miles are on foot. 

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If there are schools in these villages for the children, they are often no more than shacks which do not keep out the wind and the cold in the winter time.

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There is a group though, in the seaside town of Hoi An, that is doing something to change the lives of these young children. The name of the organization in English is Same Same but Different. In Vietnamese it is Ong Vang (om van). We know this wonderful man whose name is Thanhhuynh Huynh,(pronounced Tun-who-in, Who-in) . His job is as a tour guide, but on the weekends he is the leader who takes volunteers into the mountains to build schools and to nourish the ethnic tribes who are often hungry. They also take warm clothes for the children.

The Saint Alban's Sunday School group has given $200.00 to help Same Same but Different to build a school. Look what your dollars have helped to build!

When there are desks and books the children will be able to learn and through education they will be able to help their communities become more prosperous.

From the children whom you have helped...a VERY big Thank You. In Vietnamese that is Cam On.

Warm Woollen Wishes

I don't imagine that many people think of woollen scarves when they think of Vietnam. But, yes, they do wear scarves when it is cold. Not only up north and in the mountains, but also in Central Vietnam during their "winter." For us, the drizzly, cool weather in December is like a fall day and we may wear a raincoat, but the Vietnamese wear parkas and wool hats, gloves and scarves. Serious gear!

When Bruce visited the home for the aged and disabled in Hoi An this past December the residents were all wrapped up!

A coveted gift to mountain children is a warm jacket...no matter what the size. Below, Thanhhuynh Huynh our friend who, with Ong Vang (Same Same But Different), builds schools in very remote areas, posted this picture from one of his latest excursions. The children and their jackets are precious! I think that the little guy on the left will be wearing his jacket for about ten years!!!

One of the recipients of a micro loan from the VAVA program submitted an application to start a home based knitting business. We were skeptical. How successful could this woman be? Well, Phuong has knit her way to independence and has also built enough confidence to get a part time job as an attendant at a nursery school.

But here is the wonderful part of the story. Phuong knit a scarf for each of the Journeys of the Heart donors who support the micro-loan program.

What a delight for us to be able to deliver these scarves and to see the big smiles.

The staff at VAVA have made sure that letters and pictures from the donors are translated and delivered to Phuong. As you can see in the picture of Phuong she is very proud that her work has reached North America!

We have the best job in the world....simply linking people with a desire to help, with those is need of a little help to break the cycle of poverty, overcome disabilities or health issues or to remain in school.

Warm Wishes to All!!!

A Village School

In a recent post we made an appeal for help in building a school in a remote village in the mountains of Central Vietnam.

As usual, our donors responded with alacrity and generosity and we were able to send $1000.00 over to the charity Ong Vang to help with the projected costs of $3500.00 for the new school.

A large portion of that money came from the Retired Teachers Organization in Kenora, Ontario. My sister raffled off a beautiful Christmas basket to encourage donations and the group astounded us with the amount that the raffle generated.

Another large donation came from donors who have supported Journeys of the Heart from its inception.

Thanhhuynh Huynh, who heads up Ong Vang in Hoi An has been wonderful in his expressions of gratitude for the donations and now with keeping us posted with the building project.

It is a real slog to climb to the village through mountainous jungle with all of the building materials.

It is just great to see all of these vibrant, young Vietnamese giving their brawn and hearts to such an arduous project. The whole building goes up by hand.

In the above picture you can see on the table to the left the offerings to the ancestors spirits to bless the crew and to bring luck to the project.  The labours continue after dark, which falls early here in the mountains, where the nights get really cool by the time the crew relaxes for the evening.

When Thanh told me that they would build the school in a matter of days....I thought that I did not understand what he was trying to tell me.....but look at what has happened in two days!!!

What an accomplishment! The children will be dry and warm and will be able to concentrate on their studies. 

Thank you friends of Journeys of the Heart! We will post  pictures of the finished school and maybe some of the children's smiles. 

Tour of Peace 2014: by Bruce

There are many layers to our Journeys of the Heart. For me, one of the most meaningful is the eight-year personal journey I have been on from warrior to soldier of peace. The monthly check I receive from the Department of Defense for my 25 years of service is not called a pension. It is retirement pay – pay because it is considered compensation for ongoing post-retirement service. I serve by working with Elaine, through our unregistered charity, to help marginalized persons in Vietnam  become independent and productive. Many of their difficulties are part of the legacy of the war in which I fought as an infantryman those forty-some years ago.

But the service from which I derive the most satisfaction is helping American veterans of the Vietnam War find the sites that are significant to them. These could be fire-bases, battlefields, helicopter crash sites or base camps.  When I see these old soldiers' eyes flood with tears as emotion washes over them, my heart becomes full. I've just returned from my second trip to Vietnam in 2014. This was a two-week tour with TOP (Tours of Peace) Vietnam Veterans. We traveled the length of the former South Vietnam to deliver food, medicine, toys and compassion to orphanages, elder care centres and a Leprosy village. As well we visited the veterans' important and memorable sites.

In this picture we were at the former Khe Sanh combat base. The location where 6,000 Marines were besieged by 20,000 North Vietnamese for over ninety days in 1968. One of the members of this group was gravely wounded here, and very lucky to have survived. 

A group-hug at the Khe Sanh combat base site. The C-130 Hercules in the background is a war relic that the Vietnamese have restored to be part of a museum display of US military equipment at the battle site. 

Above (2 pictures). Working at a Leprosy village. Note the ravaged digits on the victim's hands, He was the village spokesman -- effusive in his gratitude. 

Above: Handing out tooth brushes, tooth paste, shampoo, soap, razors  etc. in a Hill tribe village enroute to Khe Sanh. TOP's motto is "By helping others we help ourselves." These humanitarian activities are very healing for the veterans, some of whom have had struggles with PTSD.

At the Duc Son orphanage near Hue. The kids loved our visit and I wished I could have taken several of them home.

I  cannot  close this post without a tremendous thank you to the founder and organizer of TOP Vietnam Veterans, who was a Marine Corps rifleman during the Vietnam War. He has been returning to Vietnam every year for the past two decades to do humanitarian work and take veterans back for closure and healing. He, along with our intrepid Vietnamese Guide, Anh, are the heart and soul of TOP. Elaine and I are grateful to both these men for launching us on our new path in life and our retirement "career" with Journey's of the Heart and mine as the Deputy Duck or Chief Research & Reconnaissance Officer (CRRO) (aka Map Reader).