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.

Mekong delta, My Trung & Ba Ton students

 14 September 2014

It was early afternoon when we left Kinh Gay by boat and then drove for nearly an hour to My Trung. This time we just walked on the ferry. 

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

The WELCOME committee was already waiting ...

A short stroll to the church and we received a warm welcome.

Kim Ngang welcomed us

Then it was our turn to greet the students and Mark translated simultaneously.

 We also asked how the laptops we previously handed out to the students were going. All still working well, which is great. After all they are pre-loved and one never knows.
Then we checked the school results of the last school year and handed out a brand new notebook a one laptop.

Uli checking the school results ...

... we made this girl very happy

... and another one !!!

During the year we organised six laptops and sent some with our Vietnamese visitors and friends who traveled to Sai Gon.
By the way, we always need pre-loved laptops for students in Viet Nam.
We also sent baby and kids clothes at any chance we can get. Here is a photo of one of our bags when it arrived at Than Son Nhat airport in Sai Gon. Lucky the strap was still holding it together. We did not lose a single item of clothing.

Back to My Tho and the students. The aim was to interview each student and find out how they are doing at school. Most achieved excellent results, some need to improve and only two need to improve dramatically.
We started with Kim Ngang who always stand out and is the speaker.

Van Anh ...

It took us nearly two hours to talk to all students. Some were more relaxed to talk, others a bit shy, but Mark did an excellent job to engage them into conversations. We are so glad Mark was able to join us.

Tuong Vy

 It was amazing how Marks presence relaxed Tuong Vy. This is the first real smile we have seen!!! Like every year Tuong Vy received a present from her sponsor in Coolum.

Holding her bag tight and also the little wooden cross we gave her.

Father Long helping us working out family circumstances

On a sad note we heard from Father Long that Tuong Vy's dad is seriously ill, he has only one kidney and needs dialysis twice a week. The family is struggling financially. Under these circumstances we immediately offered to pay $300 to help her family.

It was getting late and we had to wrap it up and drive for over an hour to My Tho where we stayed over night.
The kids thanked us and it was Kim Ngang who spoke on behalf of all the students present.

Then it was our turn to say "Good bye see you next year"

... but now without taking a nice group photo !!!

waving good bye ...

... on the ferry ... we made it !!!

Arrived at our hotel after dark ... a bit to eat, a cup of tea at a nice coffee shop. Lights out 9:15 ... it's been a long day !!!