CEF's annual Water Safety Day

CEF's Water Safety Day didn't happen exactly as we had hoped as it had been windy and rainy prior to the event. When we arrived at the beach the seas were a little rough, but the waves got bigger as the day progressed. We knew that only if the waves subsided would we be able to teach floating and swimming.

Unfortunately the waves didn't subside enough. Games in the ocean still were possible to help them experience the strength of the waves and learn how far they could enter.

All our other plans went ahead of a thorough session on water safety theory with many questions and answers, games on the beach, games under shelter, having a lovely lunch and taking them to the movies. The day was enjoyed by all students, volunteers and staff.

We are grateful to Pauline for her donation for this event and the grant from Go Philanthropic making this day possible. Also Swim Vietnam were crucial in making it a safe day as they are professional teachers of water safety. Our staff and volunteers were important to make it run well and to help care for and supervise our students.

CEF staff attended a day of training in Emergency Paediatric First Aid

CEF staff attended an important one day course on Emergency Paediatric First Aid. As we work with many children it is essential to be prepared as we never know when we will need to use this knowledge.
We are grateful to our teacher Graham Buckley for sharing his knowledge and experience.

(Photo of CEF staff, with Graeme CEF's Australian manager, and their teacher Graham and their translator Lieu as well as the dummies they worked with through the day)

Drowning: A silent killer ~ Guest blog by Graeme, CEF's Australian Manager

An editorial in the Lancet this month draws our attention to some shocking facts: ‘…more than 360 000 people are estimated to die from drowning worldwide. The young, poor, and marginalised are among the worst affected. Most of the world's drowning deaths occur in children, making drowning one of the leading causes of death for children and young people. Drowning incidences in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) are over three times higher than in high-income countries, where many people, including children, need to live and work near water to have livelihoods or go to school, but lack effective support to do so safely.’

The above aptly describes the reality in Viet Nam where up to 15 children drown every day. CEF has over 250 children in it’s education programs and they all live close to water of some sort be it the sea, a river, a fish pond or lake. Every year we bring as many of these young people as we can to the beach for a water safety day. We work with Swim Vietnam to help them understand the dangers they face when they get in the water and they are taught how to float and when they can do this the basics of swimming. It’s a fun day too with games on the beach, lunch and then a trip to the cinema. We know of one case when a young man who attended the day several times got into trouble in water and didn’t drown because he knew what to do.

If you’d like to volunteer to help us at the beach this year on Sunday May 28 do email us.

http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(17)31269-2/fulltext?dgcid=etoc-edschoice_email_13May

Photo from the article

A CEF university student studied child sexual abuse ~ Guest blog by CEF's Ms Kim Chi

Child sexual abuse is more common than we like to think. It's an uncomfortable subject to think about and talk about, but is very important to discuss and educate children about. This year CEF started introducing this subject to our students. Below Kim Chi wrote about the experience of one of our students learning about this subject.

L is in her third year at Hue University of Economics and also volunteers for an NGO in Hue. She has attended a lot of training sessions with them and recently one called ’Child sexual abuse’ impressed her. She shared her experience with me in our monthly mentoring session and here is an extract from our conversation:
‘I was very lucky to have the opportunity to take part in a training session called “How to prevent child sexual abuse” which was organized by the NGO I volunteer for. Although I am 21, I’m still embarrassed to talk about topics to do with sex. The training gave me more confidence and taught me more about this issue. I also heard real stories from the children about child sexual abuse which they thought was normal. Most of the children participating in the session were aged six to fifteen and knew very little about the topic. I thought the parents should take part in this training as well so they have greater awareness of child sexual abuse and can help to prevent it.’

CEF photography project to run through June for our local CEF students

Here at CEF we do what we can to encourage creativity when we can get enough students with free time. Each year we have an art day when we have a volunteer art teacher. Throughout June, while the students are on holiday we are planning to run a photographic project.

We still need some help. We need funds for small point and shoot cameras, for developing the photos, for photo frames and for prizes.

The photos are of some of the CEF children taking photos.

If you can help please get in touch: c.e.f.vietnam@gmail.com

Budgeting sesison for our local high school students ~ Guest blog by CEF's Ms Kim Chi

I was very excited to talk about budgeting at CEF on Sunday with grade 12 students who may be freshmen this coming academic year. We wanted to help them recognise how important budgeting is so they can do their own budgets. They were serious about learning budgeting as well as confident enough to ask questions and share their thoughts.

It is essential for these young adults to learn about this subject because their families along with CEF will pay all their expenses while they are at university and living away from home in shared accommodation. They will need help with accommodation, food and other living costs and some will need to cover some of their extra tuition too, so these young adults have to learn to choose foods and personal items carefully always considering the cost or they won’t have enough money for their studies and living costs.

The students worked in two groups on their anticipated monthly costs and then presented their budgets. They now know what it costs to go to university and that they have to talk to their parents about how they are going to make their money last.

I was thrilled with the outcome of the workshop as the students not only learned about budgeting, but also know that they have to work really hard at school, understand their challenges and poor family circumstances and think about finding a part time job to help them cover all their costs.

What they learnt on Sunday will help them in the immediate future and when they are at university this coming academic year.

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”.

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)

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