Touching Moments

This morning we went on another Journey of the Heart. With Mrs. Hoa and Phuong from VAVA ( Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange) and our daughter Quyen, we visited five of the families who will benefit from the generous donations from Bruce's buds, the veterans of 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry and friends in Vancouver and on Salt Spring Island. The 38,000,000 Dong will help a total of 38 families in the Hoi An area. It was a day of reaching out across the generations, two cultures and two countries to heal the wounds of war and the aftermath of dioxin related disabilities.

We returned to see the new small business, established by Man and Hong, both blind and who have a daughter disabled with cerebral palsy. The neighbourhood kids are out of school for Tet and so the games tables, ping pong and foosball were very busy. By the time we arrived at 10 am, they had made 20,000 Dong ( one US dollar), but at this rate per day they will make enough to support themsleves for a month and to save for a refrigerator.

This family have been able, with the help of Journeys of the Heart, to repair a small fish boat engine, and will augment their income by fishing once the sea is calmer in the spring.

When we show up, the whole neighbourhood wanders by to see what all the excitement is. This morning this old gent really wanted to be in on the action. He is a former Viet Cong soldier and wanted very much to say "hello" to Bruce and shake his hand. In fact, he would not let go of Bruce until we loaded into the car.

Each story of the suffering of these families, tears at one's heart. Aging parents are struggling to care for their disabled children.

We found this severely disabled ( mentally and physically) forty year old woman, at home alone in a single dark,moldy room. Her seventy three year old mother leaves her each day to work in the rice paddy. Her father died last year. The neighbours watch out for her and help her with food and toilet until her mother is home.

Can you imagine the excitement as we drove up (or often walked down a muddy lane) with these baskets of treats. Quyen had the baskets made up so that these sweet people could celebrate Tet. How we love Quyen's huge heart.

A visit to Hien and Ly's house

Yesterday,we travelled by car into Da Nang to visit Hien and Ly, to wish them Happy Lunar New Year , "Chuc Mung Nam Moi". They are leaving their little one room house and flying home on Sunday to Kon Tum, north of Pleiku in the mountains, not only for Tet, but to settle in for four months for the birth of their baby. It is traditional for young couples to return home to their parents for the birth of their children (if they are not living with the parents, which is also traditional). It is especially important for Hien and Ly to be with family to care for the baby. The one room is all they have in Da Nang and with Hien's limited mobility the helping hands of family will be necessary with the baby. Right now their one room serves as living room, dining room, kitchen, bedroom, studio and gallery....heaven knows where they will put a baby when they return after the four months so that Ly can go back to her job as a therapist at the rehabilitation center.

Hien's paintings are selling well at Reaching Out and we were really happy to hear that the computer which Journeys of the Heart (along with Binh and Quyen) gave Hien as a wedding present is proving very useful. Because Hien can not get out to seek inspiration for his paintings, he uses his computer to find and manipulate images of his beloved Vietnam.

We wish Hien and Ly much luck and a happy baby!

Our Work Has Begun

It's about time we got to work. We have been in Vietnam for three days!

This morning we attended the annual meeting for the Hoi An Chapter of VAVA, the Vietnamese Association for the Victims of Agent Orange. Bruce is pictured here presenting an envelope of donated funds from Jounreys of the Heart to the Director Mrs. Hoa. Warm thanks to all the veterans and friends who have made this $2000.00 gift to the victims possible.

The three hour meeting, with long reports and speeches was an interesting experience for us. Bruce was also asked to speak through an interpreter and present some of the gifts.

More pictures will appear on our webalbum. Just click on the slide show at the top right of the blog.

Christmas: A Time of Giving

"The weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful"

Christmas has come early again this year, with so many gifts coming our way for Journeys of the Heart work in Vietnam. Thank you to all those Santa Clauses who have sent donations for this year's projects.

We leave for Vietnam on January 15th and are looking forward to all the smiles that your gifts will generate. ....more kids will have books to read, promising young scholars from the leprosy village of Hai Van will have a chance to go to school in Da Nang, more disabled persons will be trained at Reaching Out and victims of the effects of Agent Orange will be given an opportunity to become more independent through establishing a home based business, with the help of a small loan.

May your Festive Season be filled with joy and peace.

2011 Appeal Launched

We have launched our 2011 Journeys of the Heart appeal for funds with a letter to our supporters on our e-mail list. Friends, family and neighbours have also been asking "When do you leave again for Vietnam"? We are so heartened by the swift and generous response and already have funds for

• one portable library for school children in a remote village
• sponsorship of two new home based business projects for victims of Agent Orange
• trainee sponsorship for four new artisans at Reaching Out
• tuition, room and board for one student from the Hoa Van leprosy village to go to school in Da Nang

We want to send more kids to school, train more disabled crafts people, support more victims of Agent Orange and are hoping that you will join our home team and that we can deliver a gift from you.

Please e-mail us at elainehead43@gmail.com if you have questions or need some information about getting your donation to us.

Pictured above is Hien, a disabled painter, to whom we and our friends Binh and Quyen gave a computer last year, to enable him to sell his paintings on-line. We also went to his wedding ( see earlier post) and are happy to report that he and his bride Ly are expecting a baby who will be born while we are in Hoi An. Such a wonderful story.

A New Business Opens in Cua Dai Village

Man and Hong are seen here with Hoa of VAVA ( Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange) in Hoi An accepting the funds from Journeys of the Heart which have enabled them to purchase a ping pong table and two football games ( fooz ball?) for their at hone "recreation" business. For a small fee the neighbours can play a few games AND have a glass of clean bottled water.

After a week in operation, they are estimating that they will earn about 50,000 dong per day. Although this converts to only about $2.50 US, it is sufficient to augment their meager income and allow them to better care for their daughter who has cerebral palsy.

We hope that their example will inspire other victims of Agent Orange to establish small businesses with our help,and become more independent.

Kim Anh's Report Card

Trinh Thi Kim Anh sits at her desk in her tiny room in DaNang where she lives with a friend of her mother's so that she can go to school. Kim Anh's parents live in Hoa Van leprosy village. Her father's leprosy is under control and he is no longer contagious, but he still only manages to earn about $50 a month on his small farm. Kim's mother is partially deaf and her younger brother has many health problems. Their simple home has an electric fan, but no TV...they have neither a motor bike nor a bicycle.

Thanks to our Journey of the Heart supporters and CEF- Vietnam, run by our good friend Linda Hutchinson Burn, Kim has just finished grade six in the city of Da Nang. After a faltering start to the year, perhaps due to illness and an unsuitable home placement where she was reguired to all the chores, Kim flourished in the second term, having moved to her mother's friend's house where she has her own room and her fair share of the chores, sweeping, washing dishes and cooking rice. She can walk to school and best of all, her mother's friend has a daughter the same age! Thank goodness Linda and her people keep close tabs on all of the kids that we are sponsoring and if like Kim, a placement is not working out, an alternative is found. The primary objective is to keep the kids in school.

We met Kim and her Dad in Da Nang earlier this year. What sweet people. We hope that we will be able to sponsor her again for another year of school.

Our First Project for 2011

With the help and guidance of our dear friends at VAVA ( Vietnamese Association for Victims of Agent Orange) on our last trip to Hoi An, we were able, through the generosity of many donors, to help families and individuals who have suffered health and disability problems due to exposure to Agent Orange.

As we look forward to our next Journey of the Heart in January 2011, we have been corresponding with VAVA. We have suggested to them that a version of the successful "micro-financing" model used in many third world countries would benefit these victims, not only in terms of livelihood, but also greater independence and self-esteem.

VAVA has agreed and we are delighted that Tran Van Man and his wife Dang Thi Hong are the first to present a proposal. We visited them this year and found them to be a very sweet family. We met all of Hong's sisters and many neighbours in the tiny village of Cua Dai.

Hong and Man are both blind, Man has lost an arm and their daughter has cerebral palsy. Because they are very much confined to their home, they have proposed that they set up a pool table and a ping pong table on their lanai for the enjoyment of their community at a small fee per game. We think it is a brilliant idea and have agreed to sponsor the project. Imagine, for $400 US, this family will begin to augment their income AND enjoy the company of players in their home. They will have the satisfaction of beginning to support themselves, their home will be busy with gossip and laughter.

Typical projects are handicraft production, raising live stock etc. but given the disabilities in this family we think that they have been very creative in figuring out how they could have a small home based business.

We look forward to visiting in early 2011 and shooting a game of pool!

Home to Spring on Salt Spring Island

 

We have arrived home to our little house on Salt Spring Island and despite the fog of jet lag, we are appreciating the cool, fresh air, safe clean water from the tap, cosy flannelette sheets on a soft comfortable bed, the blissful silence in the garden and on the forest paths and the spring blooms which were here to greet us.

Our Journey of the Heart 2009/2010 has been most gratifying with lots of work balanced with sweet times with our Vietnamese family and friends old and new.

Here is a summary of all the gifts that we delivered on your behalf.

Nha Trang Home for Unwed Mothers $300 USD. This gift will feed, clothe and diaper the babies for months.

ROHO Wheelchair Cushion $600 CDN. This very high tech cushion will allow Mr. Binh to stay in his chair for more than the fifteen minutes he had been limited to by severe pain in his lower back. He will be able to continue his work as Director of Reaching Out and as advocate for people of disability all over Vietnam. Thanks to Dan and Sam of the home team for helping us find exactly the right appliance.

Global Village Foundation Typhoon Relief $400 USD. Essential food items were delivered to those whose homes were lost in the floods following typhoon Kitsana.

Global Village Foundation Portable Libraries Project $1500 USD. Three libraries of 250 books each were delivered to remote village schools.

Children's Education Foundation $1600 USD. Four children from Hoa Van leprosy village will attend school in the city of Da Nang, where they will be able to reach their potential and break the cycle of poverty and discrimination which they suffer.

Hien- Artist on Wheels $400 USD. Your wedding gift of a home computer will allow this promising young artist who is a paraplegic to market his paintings over the web.

Hoa-Disabled Breast Disease Victim $400 USD. Hoa, mother of two charming daughters will be able to buy several months supply of badly needed medication. We were also happy to pay rent for Hoa and her family, so that they could be housed safely during the flooding which follwed typhoon Kitsana

VAVA-Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange $1600 USD. Twenty seven families whose physical disabilites are attributed to this deadly dioxin and prohibit their earning a living will have food and clothing.

Reaching Out Vietnam $1000 USD. The kitchen where a nutritious lunch is prepared daily and the bathroom serving the 45 disabled workers will be renovated.

Reaching Out Vietnam $1000 USD. Training sponsorships will allow this social enterprise to hire more differently abled people and give them an opportunity to become independent.

Over the course of our stay in Hoi An, we provided countless hours of "consulting services" to Reaching Out, Bruce working with Binh on the aquisition of new computer software and Elaine developing letter templates and solving daily operational issues with Quyen. We revisited the "Strategy Map", the Business Plan and tossed around new marketing strategies. We celebrated the success of 2009 with all the staff...it was a banner year!!

Along the way, we also helped Huyen our friend in the Hoi An home for the aged and the disabled veterans in the street who sell whistles and postcards.

Support from the home team included the masterful  creation of a training manual by Janice Finnemore, gifts of red Canada hats, mitts and scarves ( a big hit because of the Olympics) from Kim at Mouat's Hardware. Stan Teitge's encouragement to Reaching Out has met fertile ground and with the donation of a lathe from New Zealand, wood working will be added to the skill set. We encouraged the locals to use cloth bags by handing out big Canada cloth bags. Canada pins from the Houssers were coveted souvenirs. The young gardeners at our home stay proudly wore their pins, declaring "I am Canadian!"

THANK YOU! THANK YOU!   XIN CAM ON!

International Women's Day

 

All over Vietnam, women are celebrated on International Women's Day, with flowers, parties, recognition events, and this year it seems that the schools are even closed!

Women are acknowledged for their heroism during the wars, for their support of and involvement with the Party, their steadfast custody of the family and their business acumen. These public displays fill one with hope that the discrimination, abuse and inequities are on the wain, but we are not that convinced. Acquaintances here, who have long careers of service in Vietnam, pinpoint women's issues as pivotal in the development of this country. They feel that until there are radical changes in attitude towards women, there will not be progress. Spousal abuse is rampant, pay inequities are common, women and children's health issues receive no funding.

Yet again, what you see is not what you get in Vietnam. The gloss of TV and newspaper coverage in the large cities can not fully disquise the hunger, poverty and hardship of too many women in this culture, particularly among villagers, ethnic minorities and the disabled.

Today however the female contingent at Reaching Out were honored for their courage and accomplishments. With the support of this social enterprise, they have become beacons of hope for their disadvantaged sisters.

Sesame is Six

Today is our grandson's sixth birthday. His Mom and Dad and Bruce and Elaine ( Ong Ba) all went to the school to join the kids for a party. Forty five children all in one classroom, with only one teacher for most of the day!!! She does get some help at lunch time, when they serve a hot lunch to all the kids. 

The birthday party was at 9:30 am. Mom, Quyen had brought fruit and yogurt for all AND a little silk bag for each child The girls got a barrett, the boys a small plastic car. Everyone got ONE candy!

There was a lot of singing and of course Ba Elaine had to get into the action with a few silly songs as well!

Sesame performed on his key board, focusing for all of two minutes, before having a go at his cake with the little plastic spoon intended for his yogurt.

Despite the fact that it was VERY hot and absolute mayhem we had a great time!

Salt Spring Sends Kids to School

 

It is still shocking and heartbreaking for us when we are faced again with the harsh reality that many children do not go to school in Vietnam. If the family is too poor to pay the school fees for the children, they do not go to school. Even though the fees are only $50 a term, if the family income is a mere $600 a year and there ar two or three children; school fees, books and uniforms are more than they can handle.If the family lives too far from the nearest school for the little ones to walk to school, they do not go. If the child has a disability they may not go to school.They have no way to get to school as there is no access for mobility impaired kids and very little Special Education because there are few trained teachers and no equipment.

For the children from Hoa Van leprosy village, the problems are three fold. There is no school in the village beyond grade six, their parents are very poor and they suffer from discrimination.

Our friend Linda has found a creative way to help these childen. Through careful screening she has found the most promising scholars, located "foster" homes or the homes of relatives on the outskirts of the city of Da Nang, sought permission for the children to attend school in the district and set up sponsorship for the fees and living expences. The annual fees range from $300-$600, depending on whether the child is living with relatives or a "foster" family.

Today we went with Linda to meet the children and deliver the next term's fees to the parents. We were so pleased to be able to support three more of these beautiful kids for a year.  Thanks to the Salt Spring team of Journey of the Heart supporters, Stan and Marie, Stan and Anne, Peggy, Richard, John and Margaret and Janice. Off islanders Ellen and Avril also pitched in and Andrea and Marty contributed last fall to support a child. SO...a total of four in the picture above are "ours"!!!

When we asked the students what they liked best about school in Da Nang, they said they liked being able to go to school everyday!!!! When we asked them about their ambitions we heard from aspiring doctors, engineers, teachers, a designer, a journalist and a tour guide. Oh we hope so....we hope so!!!

More News of Hoa

Back in the fall of 2009, we were told of Hoa's plight. She and her family needed to be moved to safer accomodation during the floods. Her house was completely underwater. Her friends found her family temporary quarters and Journey of the Heart paid the rent.

Hoa is mobility challenged and recently has also been diagnosed with breast disease, first suspected to be cancer and now the diagnosis is "uncertain". She had been on a regimen of traditional medicine, which brought the tumors to the surface for easier removal.....but now she is on a course of "Western" drugs. She says she feels better. The medication however is very expensive and the meager monthly income which her uneducated husband earns as a motor bike taxi driver is no where near the $100 US a month that the drugs cost. So, she only buys them when she can. There were at least eight different medications which she showed us, and the irregularity of her taking them is worrisome. Because of the generosity of friends of Journey of the Heart, Tracey, Pat, Heather,Nancy and Lonia we were able today to give Hoa the gift of three months of  medication.

Our friend Linda at Children's Education Fund is seeing that the school fees and books are paid for Hoa's eldest daughter Thung, the six year old cutie on the right. CEF also took care of the house repairs after the flood. The small two room abode is now sturdy, with new windows and door. While we visited today, Thung and her little sister Thu played quietly and Thung proudly showed us her neatly written school workbook.

This sweet family welcomed us today with the gifts of their smiles, a stool to sit and a cool glass of water. Our tears came as we cycled home in the heat, our hearts and hopes with Hoa.

Survivors

Hoa and Thuyet have been friends since they were nine year old kids in Hoi An. They were recruited by the Viet Cong as lookouts and runners during the American war, as were a lot of children in their community pictured here, lower left.

By the time they were fifteen, Hoa and Thuyet ( pictures upper right) were rounded up with other kids, all suspected Viet Cong child soldiers and hussled off to an internment camp in Da Lat, up in the mountains about 300 miles away.

There they spent the next three years, until they were moved to other prisons or released. Hoa was released, came home and joined the regular Viet Cong forces. Despite being imprisoned seven more times during the course of the war, she survived and rose within the ranks, retiring as a respected hero. She was 33 when her husband died, leaving her with two small boys to care for.

Thuyet ultimately became the head of the Women's Union in the province of Quang Nam, after her service with the Viet Cong.

We learned this incredible story on yet another visit with Hoa and our friends at VAVA ( Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange) where Hoa is now the Director, a volunteer position. Thuyet is a victim of Agent Orange, having contracted two forms of cancer and losing a breast to the disease. She has never married.

The picture upper left, was taken at a reunion several years ago of the survivors of the original group from Hoi An interned in Da Lat. Seven of the group of fifteen were then still alive.

It took us all morning to piece together the stories of these two amazing women, using our very limited Vietnamese, the help of our young interpreter Phuong, the pictures and a book about these war heroines. We visited both of their homes for tea and met their mother's.

The strength of the love between these two women, their love for their country and their families, their resilience and fortitude are beautiful and humbling to behold.

More News of Hien

This stunning painting is one of Hien's. We would like to invite you to view Hien's website at http://www.artistonwheels.com/ (link on the right of this blog) to see more of his work.

A few weeks ago we went to Hien's wedding (see the blog entry below about that marvelous day.) Our gift, from Journeys of the Heart was a computer for the home which he now shares with his beautiful new bride Ly. Now he will be able to access his own site and market his beautiful paintings to a wider audience with greater ease.

Hien's website tells the story of his remarkable rehabilitaton of body and spirit. In a country where persons of disability are still denied an education, job training, access to public buildings and an opporunity to live independently, he is a shining example of hope and inspiration.