Backglance 2014 / Hurdle race

3rd of October 2014

Wrapping up ... it was a wonderful mission. Yes we had some downs ... such is life ... we rejoice on the UP'S, that is all that counts !!! 

We interviewed eighty-three students with the help of our Vietnamese friend Mark Son Pham who speaks very good English. We wanted to know a bit more about our students, their lives and find out how they are doing at school / uni.

Over ninety percent of our students are doing really well, average marks between 7.5 and 8.5 out of 10, but a small number needed a bit of a wake up call ... 
"If you do not perform a lot better this year we will not support you any longer". 
Hopefully the message was received loud and clear.

We gave five pre-loved lap tops to top performing students

Five students have finished high school this year. So far four have been accepted at university. WOW, this is what our mission is all about!!!  Now they can study, finish a degree and get a well paid job which means the whole family will benefit.
That is wonderful, there is only one small problem, UNI and study support cost a lot more than just $135 per year for school fees.
Now we have to convince our supporters to open their wallets a fraction more ...
All good with the kids, no dramas. 
 

Sparky Marky ... always a smile on his face !!!

We received the message below from Mark Pham after we got back from the Mekong delta:

Hi Matt and Uli, thank you for allowing me to join you with your mission down in the Mekong delta in the last 2 days. It was probably one of best trips I have ever had. I really did enjoy it and at same time, admire with the work you have been doing over the years. Through the interviews we conducted with these kids, I have come to love them so much and understood why you are doing this work even though it has been a long hard road but you have come a long way. I feel so blessed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mark was so touched that he got Mr Van from the Company Of Grace to visit Father Duong, our contact in My Tho. It is now official Company Of Grace will organise a Christmas party for our children / students and bring them presents.
Thank you LORD !!!  

We also interviewed the students at the Hope school for Hearing Impaired children and invited them to a shopping spree at the local super market. They just loved it!!!

Happy students. Imagine 21 students, three teachers and us fitted in 3 taxis !!!

A pair of shoes and a shirt ... over the moon !!!

So far so good ... 

We lost valuable time in early September, Matt had a bad cold and stayed in bed for about a week ... which did not help.
The Mid-Autumn festival was flooded out, we were stuck in a taxi for half an hour ... water up to the door ... so we decided not to continue but go back to our hotel. The taxi driver was relieved too.

The government in Viet Nam is cracking down on money laundering. New banking regulations for foreigners are now in place. One can not transfer VND ~ Vietnamese Dong without supporting documents. We worked with the Commonwealth Bank and set up agreements with all our beneficiaries. It took some time and effort to get it all done. We got it right in the end. Lucky we were there and able to react immediately.

Phu, an IT student took eight semesters to find out that IT is probably not for him. He failed three subjects three times. Dr Thanh from the Peace village was not happy either and said the boy was lazy. Phu now wants to study something else ... we are not sure what ... it got lost in translation. Sorry mate, you wasted our time and money we will not support you any longer. 

Our good friend Hoan has had a hand full to deal with. Her sister, (34, 3 kids) is dying of lung cancer. She had various operations. In and out of hospital ... on the motor bike - no ambulance. Very hard. We prayed for her each and every day and continue to do so.

Then Hoan's father was admitted to hospital in Sai Gon. Diagnosis: Blood flow problems in his left leg, blocked vein, a stint was required. He had to go home to raise funds ($3000) then he came back on a Monday to have the operation. 
Of course we helped out ... no questions asked, using personal funds from our account in Australia transferred within hours. Which bank ??? CBA !!!

OP went well and he is slowly getting back to normal, so Hoan tells us. 

All in all it was a hurdle race with unforgettable moments, highs and some lows !!! 

Praise the LORD for all he has done through us.

 
 

Fun Shopping with 21 students ...

25th of September 2014
Early taxi ride to Hope school. The plan is to take 21 Hearing Impaired students to a CoOp supermarket in Binh Thanh district.

21 students, 4 teachers plus us, makes 27 ...
Q: How many taxis did we need ???      A: three !!!

1/2 selfie with 4 students in the back ...

Before we went in we had to take a BEFORE photo ... later on the AFTER photo. 

Can't wait ... take a photo so we can shop !!!

Each teacher got an envelop for every student in her care.

Dairy food section ... milk was one of the preferred items !!!

Nhat had all he wanted ...

After snooping around in the food section we went upstairs to the clothing department to see what the kids are interested in. 

Nice shirt ... and a pair of red shoes ...

Did she like the dress ???  Nooooooo !!!

The twins buying hair products for their mum

Time to go ....

Back in the taxi agian ...

Show and tell ...

 Back at school we all met and the kids showed what they bought. Interesting, some just got food for the family ... or some sweets but most bought useful stuff like clothes and shoes.

Proud ... she got a dress and matching shoes !!!

Lienh got a new dress, it was 7000 VND over her budget.

Yes, it looked like Lienh could not afford her dress, she was just 30 cent short. As she had not bought anything yet we gave her teacher who was looking after the money the 7000 dong.

Thu thanked us on behalf of the students

Back in Sai Gon ...

24th September 2014

At CBA Sai Gon ... with previous manager Phuong from Sydney

Finally we had internet again, and were also able to send and receive e-mails.

Boom - an e-mail from the Commonwealth bank, Sai Gon was among several others. The news was not good. As of the 15th of September the government wants to have supportive documents for every transaction / online payment, i.e. like rental agreement.

Bingo ... we do not have any agreements but ... we have to transfer funds. What now brown cow ??? Another taxi ride to the CBA Sai Gon. Lucky Miss Tram, the branch manager was not too busy so we were able to see her and discuss our situation.
Fact is, that we need agreements for any future transactions. Tram discussed a framework with us. Ok, we have to work it all out and obey the banking regulations.
Back to hotel. How do we go about it. We made some phone calls and then we sat down and set up agreements between our major partners like the Hope School. Before we sent it to the Hope School we wanted to make sure all is above board so we sent a copy to Miss Tram. Once we got her ok we were then able to send it to the Hope school first. We also set up a document to explain what CVSG is doing in Viet Nam.
We received the signed documents from the Hope school including a name list of supported students. Went to the bank on Thursday and signed the paperwork.

All good ... now we can transfer to Hope School, prepare the rest is a simular fashion and we are laughing.

Guess what, it's all done, all good but it took a lot of time !!!

Interviewing 21 Hearing Impaired students

16the September 2014

Early start, taxi to Hope school. As in the Mekong delta we interviewed all 21 students to see what has changed in their family situation and how their schooling is progressing.
Due to the nature of their disability the students need a lot more time to finish school. 

The kids were happy to see us and we got plenty of "High Five's".

Please click on photos to enlarge and start slide show.
All photos are: (C) 2014 Copyright CVSG, all rights reserved.  

They use a lot of sign language ...

 Then we started interviewing one by one while everyone else was listening ... or watching. Thu, one of the twins was the first cap off the rank. Everyone was interested what it was all about.

THU

Sadly Thu was not well, she asked to go to the toilet and did not return. She passed out and was found by other students. Thu has got a heart condition, one of her heart valves does not close properly. The condition was not new ... she just needs medication to help her heart function properly. Thu's dad was called and he came to pick up Thu and Trang. 

The father of the twins.

We asked Diep, the vice principal and were told the medication for Thu was about 1.000.000 Vietnamese Dong. A lot of money ... about $50. We immediately decided to give Thu's father the money so he can go and get the medication for her.

Back to the interview ... Trang was next.

It's not easy to tell them apart ...

Such lovely children, crazy and funny the way children are. It was interesting to see how some of them can hear a bit with a hearing aid and a bit of lip reading. Vietnamese pronunciation is hard enough let alone when you have trouble hearing.

Dung talking about her situation

Before we finished we had a little surprise for them. After a discussion with principal and some teachers we decided to give them all a treat. 
" A trip by taxi to the CoOp supermarket. Each student will receive an envelop with 250.000 VND ~ to $12 AUD. The following photos show their excitement !!!

Trang was very excited ...

Yea ...

Thumbs up from Dung

Then we took a photo of the three new students and that was it. Oh no, we still had to  do a group photo ....

Group photo with Uli

Kids dismissed, now we had to work ... organise the outing and negotiate the school fees for 2014 / 15.
Hard work makes the tummy rumble ... the ladies had just the right idea ...

Look ... fine food, good company ...

                         Very delicious food ....

The END ...

 

A message from a young MAN

16th September 2014

Our friend Mark joined us for the first time to visit our projects in the Mekong delta.

A fine young man. Not many have seen him dressed up !!!

We received the message below from Sơn Mark Pham after we got back from visiting the 56 kids / students in the Mekong delta:

Hi Matt and Uli, thank you for allowing me to join you with your mission down in the Mekong delta in the last 2 days. It was probably one of best trips I have ever had. I really did enjoy it and at same time, admire with the work you have been doing over the years. Through the interviews we conducted with these kids, I have come to love them so much and understood why you are doing this work even though it has been a long hard road but you have come a long way.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mark was so touched that he got the boys n girls with disabilities at Company Of Grace to go and see Father Duong, our contact in My Tho. They want to organise a Christmas trip to meet with our children and bring them presents. How is that !!!
What a wonderful MAN. 
 

Just to give everyone an idea whereabouts we support the children. It's in the Mekong delta in Tien Giang province.

Mekong delta, Hoa Dinh students

15th September 2014

Stayed over night at a hotel in My Tho. Did not sleep well. Our pillows were just too hard ... so we rolled our towels up, but it still was not the same. We always travel with our own pillows, but Matt decided we do not need them just for that one night.  W R O N G  ! ! !

Had breakfast with Father Duong, Mark and our driver. 

Please click on photos to enlarge and start slide show.
All photos are: (C) 2014 Copyright CVSG, all rights reserved. 

How many chop sticks do you need Mr. Mark ???

It took us just about an hour to reach Hoa Dinh. Some of the kids were already there. Parents and all the kids were in the room. we started

Short welcome speech ....

We set up and started to call the first student to be interviewed. Again Mark did a wonderful job. Some of the younger girls were really shy and afraid to talk.

Looking for the name of the first student to be interviewed

Gifts the kids received

Each student received a stuffed toy, a doll made by the kids of Coolum Beach Baptist church and either a hard wood cross or a hardwood fish with the letters JESUS carved out. We gave the kids a choice ... the fish was not as popular as the cross !!!
Next please ...

 

Again there were two students who did not perform. One was telling us his average was down because of English. Ok, Uli got the excel sheet out ... bingo - he was very low in all his subjects. Mark told him in no uncertain words ... Get your act together mate ...

Some of the kids were waiting outside playing with their new toys or just staying with their mums.

Mum was sitting in on the interview

Happy mums

Group photo, just the kids ...

... and with their parents.

On the Honda and bye bye ...

Well, most Hoa Dinh kids do very well at school, on average better than the other kids in our educational support program. We praised them and asked them to keep up the good work !!! 

Bye bye till next year. For us it was time to say good bye to the delta and also to Father Duong who is so deeply involved in our program and helps us wherever he can.

On the way home .... 

How many ducks do you think are carried by this women on her Honda ??? 

Make a guess and send us a comment, thanks.