Reaching Out at Christmas

The Vietnamese love festivals and celebrations, including Christmas. For the Christian population it is a time to celebrate the birth of Christ, for others it is a time to light up their shops and homes and give gifts.

For Reaching Out, the social enterprise where we volunteer, it is a busy season as tourists and locals alike seek out the beautiful, unique and authentic crafts made by disabled artisans.

In these troubled economic times, tourist traffic and thus sales have diminished for Reaching Out and full employment of their staff is now threatened. However Binh and Quyen plan to open a Tea House soon, to diversify and attract more customers. The Tea house will be staffed by speech and hearing impaired servers, absorbed from the gift shop. What a lovely thought...to enjoy a cup of organic Vietnamese tea in a quiet and gracious atmosphere.

Some of our Journeys of the Heart funds will go to supporting the training for these servers.

If you would like to sponsor training please let us know at elainehead43@gmail.com.

    REACH OUT to REACHING OUT!

VAVA Voom!!!!

Two years ago, we suggested to the Hoi An Chapter of VAVA (Vietnamese Association for Victims of Agent Orange) that developing a micro-loan program would enable victims to start a home based business that would enable them to earn a living and become self-supporting, rather than relying on handouts.

We are happy to report that the program has been initiated by Miss Hoa, Mr.Tinh and their assistant Phuong. The success after 11 months, with the help of seed money from Journeys of the Heart, is very heartening.

So far 12 families have borrowed money. Ten have borrowed sums of $200 US and two families have borrowed $500 US, like the woman in the picture above. The thatch business is prospering and they have been able to repay $225 of their $500 interest free loan.

This woman, whose daughter is disabled wanted to start a knitting business, not only so that she could earn money, but also teach her daughter to knit so that one day she too will be able to earn an income.

The concept has had such positive results that VAVA has also convinced a French NGO, VNED to become involved in the program.

We are thrilled with the success of this initiative and are hopeful that more of our supporters will see the merits of this approach and jump on our fund raising bandwagon.

Each year more children are born disabled and studies are currently being conducted in Quang Nam Province that is testing children of parents who have been exposed to Agent Orange, with shocking results. The levels of dioxin in their systems is double and triple the acceptable amount.

Huynh Theo's son is so severely disabled that he could not possibly provide for himself, but his parents are seeking a loan so that they can raise chickens or ducks or perhaps make fishing nets.

Will you help? We will be happy to deliver your gift when we go to Hoi An in January.

e-mail us at: elainehead43@gmail.com 

Books for Kids in the Mekong Delta

We have been delivering portable libraries to remote villages in Quang Nam Province with Le Ly Hayslip's Global Village Foundation for about five years.

This year we have an opportunity to expand our horizons and travel to the Mekong Delta with Le Ly's Ho Chi Minh City staff to deliver books.

The Mekong Delta is called the "rice bowl" of Vietnam as much of the nations rice production happens here in the rich soil of the river delta. Fishing is also a prime industry and although tourism has begun to bring some prosperity to the region, poverty remains severe.

Renowned for the culture of river living, open floating markets teeming with colorful fruits, vegetables, noodles and fish and mysterious estuaries lined with mangrove forests, hunger is not far from the surface of the brave faces which the tourists see. Fickle weather, floods and price fixing are constant threats to the livelihoods eked out here in the delta.

Children often work with their parents to grow the produce or sell it or cook it from their stilt or floating houses.

Wouldn't it be wonderful to know that these kids have access to books?

One portable library of about 250 books costs $500 US.

So far Journeys of the Heart has enough funds for two such libraries. Our aim is to be able to take five boxes of books to the Delta. We have a ways to go but we know that it will happen!!!

Perhaps your book club, neighbours, colleagues or sports team would like to sponsor a library. Let us know!

Update: December 29th, 2012
We did it!!!! The cheque is on it's way to Global Village Foundation for five book boxes!!!! 

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.

Courage: One Step at a Time

The staff at Reaching Out, the social enterprise where we dedicate our volunteer services annually in Hoi An, recently sent the staff on a holiday to the city of Hue.

It is remarkable that these young people embark on such a journey, but it is even more remarkable when one considers the challenges inherent in travelling with a disability. As I browsed the many pictures of this outing, I was stuck by the courage and fortitude shown to get to the shrines, pagodas, and the citadel in this ancient city, where Imperial Vietnam is celebrated and remembered.

How fortunate the staff is at Reaching Out, that Binh and Quyen who manage the enterprise, understand that the independence developed through travel is an essential benefit.

The trip also included a visit to the Hope Center, where they met fellow craftsmen and women, sharing techniques and stories.

The brilliant smiles in all of the pictures are a testament to the pure joy which the travellers and revellers experienced. How lucky they are to be a part of the Reaching Out family....how lucky we are to be part of that family too, when we are in Hoi An.

Stay tuned for news of the opening of the new Reaching Out teahouse where even more persons of disability will be given an opportunity for training and employment.

Do let us know if you would like to support the continuing growth of this enterprise, by sponsoring a new trainee.

Remembrance

Yesterday, Bruce and this year's Tours of Peace group visited An Loc. During the war this was an area of severe fighting. Many lives were lost on both sides, but it was at a memorial near the mass graves of more than 3000 Vietnamese that the group participated in a special rite of remembrance, lighting incense and offering prayers led by their Vietnamese hosts.

The school building in the top right corner of the collage, still shows walls riddled with bullet holes.

The journey has once again been one of healing and reconciliation.

All of this has been made possible through our dear friend and colleague Le Ly Hayslip, with whose organization Global Village Foundation we have worked for several years, delivering portable libraries to remote schools. Le Ly made all the contacts and organized with local people to ensure that the ceremonies were enacted according to tradition.Her efforts have created a rich experience for the returning American veterans, their family members and survivors. ( check the webiste for GVF on the sidebar)

It seems apt that as the 40th Anniversary of the Reunification of Vietnam and the end of the long and bitter war approaches, that both sides gathered together to remember the dead and to hope together that "never again"  will so many lives be sacrificed.

Another trip with Tours of Peace for Bruce

Bruce leaves May 22 for another trip to Vietnam, as Deputy Tour Leader for a group of veterans returning with Tours of Peace. While Bruce plays a key role in locating the sites of significance for the other veterans on the tour, he is also very involved in the humanitarian projects which are a critical component of the healing process for the veterans.

It was through TOP, back in 2006 that we witnessed the breadth of need among the poor in this country struggling to take its place in the modern world after centuries of war and most recently the American war, which devastated the infrastructure and left behind the poisonous effects of Agent Orange. TOP led us to our decision to raise funds and work there.

One of our greatest joys is returning year after year and seeing again old friends, who by now expect us on an annual basis, and are excited to share their news with us ( as we are with them!)

Pictures help to fill the gaps in our conversations as we continue to struggle with the tonal Vietnamese language. No one seems to mind  and smiles and hugs need no translation!

Keeping Children In School

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Lately we have been working with the Children's Education Foundation's  founder Linda Hutchinson-Burn in Hoi An and her colleague in New York City to find good matches for our contributors to sponsor amongst the many on their waiting list who are hoping to stay in school.  

CEF ( see website link on the sidebar) has been doing good work in Vietnam for about ten years. Recently, as inflation escalates and the gulf between rich and poor becomes greater, Linda has been beset with requests for support. The children at risk are from single parent families; are being cared for by grandparents other relatives or nuns; or have one or both parents ill with life threatening illness...any number of tragic circumstances that threaten their continuing  education in a country where school fees are prohibitive for the poor. 

The focus for CEF in the past has been on education for young girls but as more families become destitute, some boys are now included on the CEF list. More and more the needs grow for supplements to cover food for kids suffering from malnutrition and for school supplies and uniforms, as well as tuition.

The challenges are becoming greater and greater for Linda and CEF to meet all of the requests for support.  

We are committed to creating awareness through Journeys of the Heart about this fine organization and its dedicated founder, her small staff and a corps of volunteers, in Hoi An, Vietnam, in Australia, in the US and in Canada.

The pictures above illustrate some of the conditions in which these children live, in thatched or tin roofed cottages with rudimentary kitchens. but they are loved by their caregivers who are only too aware that education will help break the cycle of poverty.

The bicycle , being ridden by one of the CEF kids was donated by a departing expat and now getting to school for this young Miss is a 15 minute bike ride rather than a one hour walk each way.

This beautiful young face tells the story of her yearning not only to stay  in school, but to stay with her father, a widower, whose own health concerns have caused him to contemplate giving up his children. The picture was taken while he talked with Linda about his plight. Blessedly this young girl's fervent wish for the family to stay together and for her to be able to go to school has now been answered through CEF.

Many thanks to all of our donors who have chosen CEF as an avenue to share their good fortune. And many thanks to Linda, for her inspiration and devotion.

Connections

Just look at this smile! This gentleman is Kim Anh's Dad. his leprosy has been arrested but he was so happy to receive the bandages that were delivered to his village from Salt Spring Island where a group of us have been knitting for the D.O.V.E. Fund Bandage Brigade. A group from Salt Spring who went on tour to Vietnam earlier this year volunteered to deliver these precious hand made bandages. The group stuffed the bandages in the nooks and crannies of their suitcases and then left them with friends in the town of Hoi An for eventual delivery to the leprosy village of Hoa Van. 

I will try to briefly recount the events in this lovely serendipitous chain of events.

• Bruce and I visited Hoa Van leprosy village with Le Ly Hayslip and the Global village foundation in  2008 bearing gifts of blankets, food and bandages
• We returned to the village in 2009 again with Global Village Foundation along with our neighbours Stan and Marie, again taking food and bandages
• In the meantime, with the support and encouragement from Linda Stoker and her D.O.V.E. Fund Bandage Brigade in the USA, Canadian women began to knit up a storm
• We met Linda Hutchinson-Burn, founder of Children's Education Fund, headquartered in Hoi An where we work each year
• CEF began to sponsor promising young scholars from Hoa Van leprosy village so that they could complete high school
• Journeys of the Heart loved the idea that children from Hoa Van and began to channel some funds to CEF in 2010.
• Kim Anh was one of the first children from the village to be sponsored by Journeys of the Heart

So many people and so many organizations connecting to ensure that these sweet people gain some relief from their poverty and discomfort.

Gifts That Give Twice

The tag line at Reaching Out where we volunteer in Vietnam is "gifts that give twice", meaning that by buying a gift in this fair trade social enterprise, the recipient of the gift is happy and also the disabled artisan who has made the gift is happy with his or her gift of independence and pride.

I love this idea and the expression holds true for me. I have loved opening the mail these days, to find cheques for our Journeys of the Heart. Our generous donors are also feeling the satisfaction of sending a child to school, supplying library books for remote villages, giving a victim of Agent Orange a "leg up" in starting a new home based business or sponsoring the training of a disabled crafts person. The recipients of your generosity will be happy for many years as the gifts go on and on, as their opportunities expand.

In early January, a tour group from Salt Spring will be taking a supply of bandages to Hoi An for distribution to a leper village. These lovingly created cotton knit bandages provide relief from irritation, pain and injury.

I am grateful to all who have contributed this year to our projects in Vietnam.

I am also grateful to the people with whom we work, who have dedicated their lives to enabling the Vietnamese.

• Linda Hutchinson-Burn: Children's Education Fund Vietnam
• Linda Stocker: Bandage Brigade
• Le Ly Hayslip: Global Village Foundation
• Phuong, Hoa and Tinh: Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange
• Mai Thi Kim Quyen and Le Nguyen Binh: Reaching Out Vietnam

May your holiday season be filled with joy!

Flooding in Hoi An

Once again the river has overflowed its banks in Hoi An town. This picture is one of several forwarded to us by Le Ly Hayslip. Merchants, families, pagodas and resorts alike are now cleaning up all the silt left by the receding waters.

Floods are almost an annual event at this time of year in Quang Nam province on the central coast of Vietnam. This year their neighbours in Cambodia and Thailand have also suffered high flood waters.

We are coconcerned for all peoples affected by the waters who have lost their homes, their crops, their businesses and are now threatened with the spread of disease through unclean water.

Please remember these unfortunate souls when you are thinking of your holiday giving.

2012 Appeal Launched

We know that our Journeys of the Heart to Vietnam are touching your hearts when we begin receiving donations even before we have launched our annual campaign! Such has been the case this year, with donors excited about contributing again to "their" projects. Our hope is that despite the trying economic times you too will support our work.

We have witnessed such progress in the last four years!

. Here is a lovely example of two initiatives coming together. Linda Hutchinson-Burn of Children's Education Foundation is responsible for bringing these promising young scholars from the leprosy village of Hoa Van, where the school only goes to grade six, to the city of Da Nang so that they are able to attend high school.

The students are shown accepting hand knit bandages for their parents or grandparents who suffer the loss of digits through the ravages of leprosy. The bandages are knit by women all over the world and are distributed through the Bandage Brigade, run by Linda Stocker and her association with the D.O.V.E. Fund. Journeys of the Heart support both organizations and was able to bring them together to serve Hoa Van, supporting the further education of their young and relieving the suffering of the elders.

In this picture we are facilitating a meeting with Le Nguyen Binh, CEO of Reaching Out, developing a new human resources strategy. This Fair Trade social enterprise has grown to a total of 100 disabled artisans working in the shop or from their homes. We could not have imagined this growth four years ago when we started to work with Binh and his wife Quyen. They have a acquired a second facility which doubles as an "over flow" workshop and a lunch room where the 56 Hoi An employees sit down to lunch daily. Scholarships for skills training and new equipment have been provided by Journeys of the Heart.

This year in addition to giving small gifts of cash to victims of Agent Orange we were able with the help of, VAVA ( Vietnamese Association of Victims of Agent Orange) and your donations, to provide loans to victims who had made a proposal for a new business. This gentleman, whose daughter is mentally challenged proposed that with a small investment he could refit an old fish boat and return to the sea. Before we left Hoi An he had reported his first catch...a wopping $300 one. His loan will soon be paid off so that others will be abel to benefit from the loan program, which we hope will be enduring.

The headline picture on this post is of Bruce and a young Vietnamese volunteer. They are supervising the children at the presentation of their mobile library in a remote village in Hiep Duc district. The library program is run by Le Ly Hayslip and her Global Village Foundation, with support from Journeys of the Heart.

Please help us to continue this good work.

Contact us at elainehead43@gmail.com for details about getting a cheque to us.

2011 Journey of the Heart Report

We are now safely home in our wee cottage on Salt Spring, after our fourth annual Journey of the Heart in Vietnam. Our work was, if possible, more rewarding than ever before. We have focused our efforts on four projects whose leaders we have come to highly respect and where we are seeing the results in very real terms...more disabled trained and contributing at Reaching Out, more girls from a leprosy village being educated and achieving good results in high school, more victims of Agent Orange showing initiative and beginning to support themselves through small home based businesses and libraries going to school children in more remote and poorer villages.

Reaching Out $2000: The staff at Reaching Out now consists of 50 disabled artisans in the shop and 50 more throughout the countryside operating from their homes. Part of our "hands on " at RO this year was to help Binh and Quyen refine their recruitment and selection skills and while we were there we participated in the selection of a new Sales Supervisor for the shop. The leadership team now consists of that supervisor, and team leaders for the workshop, the warehouse, sewing and jewellery and metal work. We designated $2000 US towards leadership training for these people, who will be so integral to the continuing growth and success of this Fair Trade social enterprise.

Education for Children ( or grandchildren of lepers from Hoa Van village) $1650: Linda Hutchinson-Burn and her organization Children's Education Foundation which focuses on the education of disadvantaged girls, have captured our hearts and loyalty. We believe that this very small organization of volunteers are focused and driven by their mission " to help girls grow to be women with choices". Occasionally a boy with great potential and in severe poverty is also supported. Our donors dollars helped four promising high school students from the leprosy village of Hoa Van, with boarding and tuition expenses so that they could go to school in Da Nang. A very special boy Nam, will have his tuition paid next term.

Victims of Agent Orange $2400: This was one of our most generously endowed projects and one which this year was a most gratifying involvement for us. We continued to donate funds to desperately poor families whose disabilities are directed related to the dioxin agent orange sprayed as a defoliant by the Americans during the war. However, this year we were also able to break new ground with the Hoi An chapter of VAVA ( Vietnamese Association for victims of Agent Orange). Miss Hoa, the Director and her lovely assistant Phuong embraced our suggestion of setting up a " micro loan" program. Now, families can submit proposals for home based businesses and apply for a loan. We saw the first "pilot" project launched with our funds last year...a front yard recreation business, with a ping pong table and fooz ball, pay for play. The neighbourhood kids love it and this family of blind parents of a daughter with cerebral palsy are looking forward to saving enough of their profits to buy a refridgerator. Soon to follow were a small fishing boat repair (with record catches on the maiden voyage), a thatch for roofing business and a sewing machine for at home work. The joy in seeing these diligent people, proudly earning a living was a highlight of our 2011 Journey of the Heart.

Libraries for Remote Village Schools $2000:  When we first were involved with Le Ly Hayslip and Global Village Foundation four years ago, we knew that our interest and support would be enduring and so also has it been with a dedicated group of our donors. This year we welcomed Olivia and Hannah, two eight year old girls from North Vancouver to our team....they donated the funds collected at their joint birthday party!!! It was very moving to show Olivia and Hannah's picture to the kids in the remote and destitute hill tribe village in Hiep Duc and tell them that these two kids their age wanted them to experience the same joy that they have when reading. 

We have returned home again with full hearts. We are very grateful that we have found this meaningful way to spend our "retirement" years....learning, contributing and being amongst these beautiful people...the Vietnamese that we serve, the dedicated volunteers whom we meet. We are especially appreciative of you, our home team of donors and supporters, who make it possible for us to spread the love of many Canadians and Americans. Thank you! Cam On!

The Wedding

Today we celebrated with the whole Reaching Out family (and about 400 relatives and friends), at the wedding of Minh Trang and Dieu Trinh..... two speech and hearing impaired staff members.

What a joyous, crazy wild occassion! As honored guests we were seated right up front with the staff, under the four foot high speakers, which blared relentlessly. Imagine sitting cheek to jowl on little red stools, under a tent covering which was little protection from the mounting heat at high noon. How Trang managed to look so radiant in each of her heavy gowns and Trinh so cool in his suit, I'll never know! As is the custom, Trang wore a white gown for the ceremonies, which entail a few shouted words from the MC, a speech from the dads, cutting the cake and pouring pink "champagne" over a tower of glasses. There were mini fireworks and rocket like shots of confetti throughout. Later Trang changed into the bright pink dress.
Their parents were so proud and the grandparents and granduncles and aunties charmed us both. We couldn't resist snapping pictures and laughing together.

The best singer of the parade of amateurs who mounted the stage was Nguyen...what a fabulous, strong voice. He really belted out a fine tribute to his work mates.

Hooray for Olivia and Hannah

Please meet Olivia and Hannah. These two cutie pies live in North Vancouver. On their birthdays this year, they invited their friends to a swmiiming party.They had such fun AND asked their friends to help them help children in a developing country who were less fortunate than themselves. With the money they raised, which was matched by a loving grandmother, they were able to buy a bookbox for the children in the Hiep Duc district of Central Vietnam. We delivered their box of books today, along with three others from our fabulous Journeys of the Heart  home team.

 Many of the children who came to school today were from the surrounding minority villages. They were skinny and shy and many looked very dirty. This little girl, with a very short haircut captured our hearts. She probably can not yet read and may even speak the dialect of her people and not Vietnamese, but she was very alert and excited about learning.

Before we presented the big boxes of books which are created by Global Village Foundation, we helped the children make book marks. They loved the exercise, even though we had to show a few how to use a glue stick. Along the way, they learned some English words and they were shouting "book mark" very well by the end of the morning.

This is Le Ly Hayslip and she is the Founder and CEO of Global Village Foundation. Her granddaughters in California are just a little younger than Olivia and Hannah. She was so impressed with what our two young girls had done in North Vancouver, she wanted all the children to know the story. She told the story for all to hear and we practised saying the names Olivia and Hannah and then "Thank You" in English.

The kids were so excited, but they managed to line up quietly so that they could each take a book from the library...but not before Ba Elaine washed their grimey little hands.

There were 100 children at the school today. Many had never seen such an array of books and even the ones who could not yet read, cherished the pictures. Our hope is that this gift of books will inspire their teachers to teach reading creatively and open the world to their students.

Off the libraries go to the neighbouring schools on the backs of the teachers' motor bikes. This one is from the Red Tent Book Club of Vancouver. Thanks to Victoria and Carole and Philip who also donated book boxes.

 

 

We are so proud of Olivia and Hannah and all of our friends who are inspired to help us deliver books and learning to these sweet children.

Cam On!          Thank you!