Friday, March 31, 2017

About a budgeting session coming up ~ Guest blog by CEF's Ms Kim Chi


It is essential for the children CEF supports who are in grade 12 and at university, to learn how to budget. Their families have to pay all their expenses while they are at university and living away from home in shared accommodation. We want to help them understand how important budgeting is so they can budget properly.

We did a session last year for local children at the CEF office and they are did well with their budgets. We would like to run another one at CEF this April for those students who were unable to attend the last one. The students will work on their monthly and yearly costs with my support. The activities we do together will be useful for them and will also help them to make realistic decisions about going to university in the future.

US$59 will cover the transport costs for nine grade 12 students. You can help them take part in the session so that they feel more confident about managing their money when they become university students.

Please get in touch if you want to help with this cost: c.e.f.vietnam@gmail.com

A strong and determined student ~ Guest blog by CEF's Ms Vy


In Vietnam when a girl grows up without a father, there are a lot of negative effects on her life especially for a girl from an unstable low income family. She may face financial, educational or mental and emotional health issues.
Becoming the main breadwinner her mother certainly faces a lot of difficulties. While the father’s absence does not seem to cause a girl’s school results to be poor it appears that his absence seems to decrease the ability of a girl to attain high results.
There are a lot of challenges for a girl growing up without her father, but some girls in our education sponsorship program have been making sweeping changes in their lives including in their studies.
'D' is a typical example. She has been living in a poor farming family with no man over many years. Tough and difficult though their life is they are always happy and satisfied, seeing that D is not only a good student at school but a strong determined girl. Knowing her mother’s daily difficulties is the biggest motivation making her study really hard to change her future and that of her family. Rather than blaming her family circumstances, D considers them a challenge to overcome. She thinks very differently from most females in Viet Nam preferring a career working with men rather than having a man in charge, because she wants to be more authoritative and more straight-talking as well as showing that a girl like her can get a job which is normally reserved for men only.
One of her big goals after high school is to get into Da Nang University of Technology and Science which only boys usually apply to. She wants to be a quantity surveyor in civil construction, a career that it is thought that women cannot handle. As D says, "Don't stop when you are tired, stop when you are done”.

Tuesday, March 21, 2017

English language development with CEF staff ~ Guest blog by Graeme, CEF's Australian manager


We do a lot of writing at CEF. Hundreds of reports, biographies and letters are written and translated each year. It’s quite a task for our four staff. They are working in their second language producing English that will pass muster with sponsors across the English speaking world and they have to work within a strict time frame so that sponsors receive updates and letters from the girls they are helping in a timely fashion. So, to make all this writing more relaxed and efficient, even enjoyable, I have been working with Ngoc, Thuy, Kim Chi and Vy. They are all keen to write better which means things like more naturally, more accurately and, well, just better. They want to be able to write more complex sentences, have a broader range of vocabulary, use more idioms and make fewer errors. So we work together on their drafts, talk about what makes a blog catch a reader’s attention and play around with sentences to see how many ways we can say the same thing. I love it, and I think they’re having fun too. And now that their writing is getting better, I’m having less work to do editing and Linda receives letters, bios, blogs and reports faster! Win win win.

(Photo is of a couple of textbooks that are being used in the English sessions)

Thursday, March 9, 2017

Anti-Trafficking Education ~ Guest blog by CEF's Australian manager Graeme

Photos: Vulnerable minority tribe girl out of school and children working in vegetable fields

Trafficking people has many results, among them are slavery, exploitation and misery. The number of trafficked people around the globe is not easy to calculate, estimates vary from 10 to 35 million. However many there are, it’s too many. We have first hand experience of how vulnerable teenage girls are to grooming on social media leading to some form of slavery, usually sexual.

Our staff have trained with the anti-trafficking NGO Blue Dragon Children's Foundation in Ha Noi and are preparing to run sessions for children and parents who we support. What trafficking is and how it can be recognised is part of their English language course at CEF and we’re looking for other audiences in the Hoi An area the staff can present to.

This video gives a full and confronting view of this terrible trade in human lives: https://vimeo.com/44635600  

If you’d like to help us to raise greater awareness here in Vietnam, especially here in Hoi An or Da Nang and so equip young girls and their parents with essential knowledge about trafficking you can do so, by letting us know of suitable venues to present this important subject, or you can donate on our web page via PayPal or into our bank account, to support our anti-trafficking work. 

We also are happy to present in English to groups interested in supporting anti-trafficking.

www.ChildrensEducationFoundation.org.au