Poverty can be the inspiration to be a successful student ~ Guest blog by Thuy

Hoi An is a popular and interesting destination for tourists. Thanks to tourism development the income of many local citizens has increased. However there are still many disadvantaged families in the countryside around Hoi An where many of the CEF children live.

Although each child has a difficult background, such as being an orphan, or a poor child with a single or sick parent, they all enjoy going to school and trying their best.

More than 80% of CEF’s children who live in and around Hoi An had a ‘good’ or ‘fair’ school result this year. Some of children are at the top of their class, even top of their school. They are not only good students at school, but also good children at home. They often help the family to do the housework, like cooking, washing, cleaning and looking after their younger siblings or grandparents.

I still remember talking to a girl who has been supported by CEF for three years and who graduates this month, about how she was able to make such great efforts and such change from being an average high school student to one of the best college students in her class. She said her mother has been the great motivation for her. Because of their poverty her mother had to work very hard all the time even though her health was not good enough to work, take care of her children, and her mentally ill brother. The girl could feel how hard her mother worked when she helped her to do the farming.

This girl intended stopping her studies after graduating from high school because she didn’t want to be a burden to her mother, although she loved receiving an education. But with the support from CEF she was able to continue her education and tried her best to get a useful qualification in order to get a good job after graduating and to then be in a position to help her family in the future.

It can’t be denied that poverty affects students’ success, but it sometimes becomes a great motivation for them to overcome their difficulties.

Brian is in Phuc Le doing end of year home visits

Brian, one of our Australian board members and an annual volunteer here, is up in Phuc Le doing CEF's end of year home visits and assessments with two Vietnamese Catholic nuns who have volunteered to help him. One is taking him to the families and one is translating. He is enjoying working with them and seeing the families.

It's a part of Vietnam without any hills, but is quite lovely and very traditional.

CEF staff photos

Some recent CEF staff photos

About CEF's Thai Binh families ~ Guest blog by Kim Chi

The first time I went to our northern project in Thai Binh Province where we help poor farming families’ children to go to school, I was touched by how very hard-working and sweet they were.

The only work they can do in this area is farming. They are used to getting early in the morning to go to their farm and work all day, except for having lunch at home.

The scenery is very peaceful and beautiful but the weather is very harsh. The harvest often fails because of the weather and insects. They also raise pigs, fish, ducks and chickens but they often die because of different epidemics that affect them.

There are some sewing factories in the province, but they pay a very low salary, especially to the children who only finished grade 8 or 9. The children don’t have many choices, as there is only farming work and work in the sewing factories. Therefore, we want to help them finish their education in order to have a better future with a lot of choices.

In this area 88% percent of the CEF children are ‘good’ students. Some of the children who we have helped have graduated and have jobs already.

The cost to go to this area is very high for us, so we are seeking a volunteer to help in the area so we can continue to help them at lower cost to CEF. We hope we can continue helping the children for a few more years until they have all finished their high school education.

About the CEF families in Quang Nam I work with ~ Guest blog by Kim Chi

I am responsible for the Mountainous and Tam Ky and Nui Thanh areas where many poor CEF families live.

Although they are disadvantaged they are honest, lovely and friendly. The rural areas are beautiful but there isn’t much work. Some of them have land and grow rice, some are workers who are hired to plant trees in forest and receive a very low income, and others are construction laborers or garbage collectors. However with most of these they can only work in the dry season.

The children go to school half of the day and help their parents with farming or some other chores to reduce their parents’ work. They work really hard at school to make their parents happy and also they know they will have a better future if they are educated.

I don’t have many challenges when working with the children as they are very obedient, hard-working, and honest. Eighty percent of children are ‘good’ students which we are very happy about. We will increase the number of children we will help in these areas in next school year (2015-2016) as the applicants are good students too. CEF plans to increase the numbers of children in remote areas as long as they are good students, honest and hard-working.

An unusual CEF family situation about a single father caring for his three children ~ Blog by Thuy

CEF was introduced to Vy’s family through the Women Union. It’s an unusual case and different to most. It is a single father with 3 young children. It’s very difficult for a single mother to look after her children, but it’s more difficult for a single father in the same situation.

Vy’s mother died last December. Although they knew Vy’s mother had heart disease, she had no treatment because they had no money and they did not understand how serious her health problem was.

They live in a countryside village where most people work as farmers. If anyone wants to change their life by earning more money they need to go to another city or district to find another job, such as construction work, factory work, tailoring or housekeeping. Vy’s father considered finding a job in a town so that he could manage their daily costs and his children’s education expenses. However, he has no one he can ask to help look after his children. As he is the youngest child in his family and all of his siblings are poor farmers they can’t help. His deceased wife’s relatives live too far from his house to help. Therefore, he has to continue with just farming jobs near home. This allows him to stay near home to do the washing, cooking, cleaning and looking after his children. He sometimes goes fishing at night by using an electric rod. He knows that it‘s very dangerous and not allowed by Government but he needs to feed his family. Life seems so hard for their family but he still feels lucky and happy when he sees the smiles of his children.

About a visit to one of our CEF children ~ Guest blog by Ngoc

We had a nice time at Kiem’s house. They talked and shared about many aspects of their lives. Last time, they were quite depressed because of the big debt they had from building the house. However, they are now happier thanks to their change of mind. They have a new stable house, which can help them to avoid the heat when it’s really hot, and the wind and rain when it’s stormy, so they know that they are very lucky. Although they still have a huge debt, they have positive thinking that they can work harder to gradually pay it off. Her mother already paid off a quarter of the loan over a year by working all day. It is very fortunate that since they have had a new house to live in, her mother is healthier and fatter enabling her to work harder. I believe that no matter what happens, with their efforts and optimism, they will be always be joyful and ecstatic about their new home and life. 

New bikes for CEF children from Renaissance International School Saigon ~ Guest blog by Kim Chi

Our CEF children were very happy and lucky to receive new bikes from ‘Renaissance International School Saigon’. Their students worked very hard to raise money by selling food at their school at lunch time and raising sponsorships for their teacher who competed in the Iron Man competition. They donated all funds to CEF to buy new bikes for 11 children who really needed bikes to go to school.

It was a hot day, and fortunately the children from the mountainous areas came early to get their bikes. Both the children and their parents were very delighted to get new bikes.

After receiving training about how to ride a bike safely on the street, the children were trained in how to keep the bike safely with a chain and lock plus learn how to adjust the light to use at night.
The children had a chance to choose the bike which they liked and to test it out. Students of Renaissance International School Saigon helped our children to alter the height of the seat in order to suite their height and to align their wheels. They went back home with contented smiles.

The Power of Reading Books ~ Guest blog by Kim Chi

I really like reading whenever I have free time and every night before going to bed. I have found a lot of useful knowledge in books which I really need for both my life and my work. 

I just recognized the benefit from reading books when I was in grade 12. I became very stressed from having had a difficult life, plus living in the ‘Children’s Home’ in Hoi An. While living there and when I was in my last year of high school my behavior changed for the worse: I was impolite, jealous, felt disappointed and lonely as I felt no one cared for me. When I was given two helpful books from someone, I could then see, and could hardly believe how rude I had become. After reading these books, my behavior changed. I’ve believed in myself, believed in life since then. I have become confident and experienced the power of attitude. Since then, I save money and buy many books for myself, especially on each birthday.

Fortunately I work for CEF where we have a lot of books. I’ve now borrowed and read many of the books in CEF’s mobile library. This has not only helped me gain more knowledge, but it also enables me to give advice to CEF’s students about which books would be good to read when they want to borrow books.

Over the time I have been borrowing and reading the books from CEF’s library, I have thought of some of our students who should read these books as I know they would help them a lot in their life and with their education.

I have lent some specific CEF books to a CEF student who said she wasn’t confident, especially with communication and it helped her. As I know the benefits of the books we buy from my personal experience and from that of students too, I do hope that CEF will receive further funds for buying more books for mobile library for our students to read.

About CEF's first Life Skills Workshop ~ Guest blog by Kim Chi

CEF’s first ‘Life Skills Workshop’ took place on Sunday, April 12th, 2015. The students were very excited about it, especially the girls who came down from mountainous areas to attend. They had to come to Hoi An a day early in order to be able to join the workshop on time. I and Thuy took them to the ‘Ancient Town’ after they had chicken rice for dinner. It was a first time for some of the children to visit Hoi An. They enjoyed walking around the streets and saw many goods for sale at the ‘Night Market'.

(In town ~ Kim Chi with the students from the mountains. Thuy's photo)

(Kim Chi with the students from the mountains in Hoi An. Thuy's photo)

 Although it was cool and rainy on the workshop day, the hall was warm and they were even warmer as they also did warm up games.

(Warm up exercises. Thuy's photo)

For the morning session the students were divided in 4 groups, with 8 students in each one. In the morning, they learnt about ‘Goal Setting and Time Management’. They worked as a team and discussed each subject enthusiastically. When the lecturer asked about their biggest dream, some of the girls were very realistic. One of the girls said she dreamed her mother would be better as she has kidney cancer, and she cried when telling us of her dream. One other girl said she would like to have a job as soon as possible after her internship because she knows that would help her family. I was very surprised as they were very thoughtful and confident when they shared their dreams. The students gave presentations confidently about the statement ‘Do you think if someone was born into a poor family, they can be rich and successful’. Most of them supposed that the statement was right and they believed they could do that.

(Affirming success is possible even when from a poor family. Thuy's photo)

In the afternoon, it was a very helpful session for the grade 12 and tertiary students as they learnt about ‘CV writing and Interviews’. The lecturer and the students worked really hard on the questions and answers. They shared with each other about how to get information about employers and how to prepare for an interview. It was wonderful that some of the students were able to answer the lecturer’s questions correctly.  

                 (Answering the lecturers questions. Thuy's photo)

The workshop was very important and useful for both students and myself. Thanks to the workshop, the students have more knowledge and they understand themselves better. I also understand more about their thinking and their attitudes and that helps me to work with them as their mentor and also for the future when I plan the next workshop for them.