A secondhand bike from CEF's 'Bikes for School' was given this afternoon

This afternoon we gave a good second hand bike to one of our students who has shot up. The bike we gave three years ago is far too small for her now. She was very pleased that it was in such good condition.

'Bikes for School' is one of CEF's support programs providing repaired or good second hand bikes so that the CEF children are able to get to school.

Donations can be made for bikes using PayPal or by depositing into CEF's bank account stating that the donation is for 'Bikes for School'.
Details are on both the website: www.ChildrensEducationFoundation.org.au
and the front page of the blogspot: http:ChildrensEducationFoundation-Vietnam.blogspot.com  

Fundraising can be sweet

One of our wonderful board members has effortlessly been raising funds for CEF by selling chocolates. Many people have a sweet tooth and nearly everyone loves chocolate!

She says about the selling of chocolates: "Chocolate selling is really quite easy !! They literally sell themselves !!! I order 17 boxes (that is the minimum you can order) $1 chocolates, $2 chocolates and $2.50 block ones…ask friends to take a box …they set up the box in the office or take it to a meeting and people come along and buy them ! I make sure there is no competition in the area I leave them and they are in a position they can be seen… like on a counter or somewhere boring..  l like the photo copy area or somewhere people have to wait.

My partner gets the girl on the front desk where he works to put them out during the day and they are locked up at night …she sells quite a few as does the girls in the front office at my work they just put them out with the money envelope and just keep an eye on them ! Everyone can afford them and they make people happy !!! I leave them with people I can trust …once I make the $540 to pay for the chocolates ( I pay them straight away I get 28 days from the date of delivery) and the rest is profit J about $480 per order and I have just placed my third order.....I actually do very little except deliver the chocolates and collect the money"

This has been wonderful support for CEF and for one particular girl! Funds raised from the chocolate-lovers have made it possible for one teenager to be educated for two years! We are thrilled this is possible as she is from a very poor family and she is a very hard-working student who deserves support to go to high school! Thank you Pam and the chocolate selling team and the chocolate lovers!

If you are interested in some sweet fundraising please do let me know :-) c.e.f.vietnam@gmail.com
You can read above how effortlessly these funds have been raised that will help change this teenagers life!

Guest blog by Brian - Burdened before her time

The ability to enjoy a happy, carefree childhood is something that the majority of us in the 'lucky countries' experience as a matter of course.  Yet so often a disproportionate number of young children in the developing world are deprived of that opportunity. 

A year 7 student I met is an example.  The loss of her mother several years ago left her poorly educated, low-skilled father struggling to support her and her now 5 year old brother, who suffers with behavioral problems and some hearing loss. 

She is desperately trying to balance her desire to get a good education with her increasingly difficult role as the 'woman of the house', while her dad displays signs of buckling under the strain.  The prospect of both children being institutionalized is a possibility on and off according to how he is coping.

The CEF team are doing all they can to support her and keep her dreams alive. We hope that while caring for the family she can still achieve her own personal goals and hopefully find a little time to enjoy her youth.  

Home visits to our CEF children and their families

I love home visit days; I greatly look forward to seeing the children and their families, as we have many absolutely delightful children and some sweet sweet parents and grandparents.

These days also are important to see them to hear about changes in their lives; to hear the good and to hear the sad or unfortunate news too. We also need to see if they need less or more educational support.

I think about them for a few days before the visits and make notes, write down questions I have for the child and family, and list anything we need to follow up on. I also think about the child and if they need some more stationery or clothing and then look around to see what I have in the office that we can give them as we receive clothes, toys and school supplies from friends and organizations we partner with.

High quality raincoats and t-shirts donated by a partner organization

But there is always a feeling of the unknown; what will we discover, what will have changed, what good news or bad news will they have. Sometimes it is not a feeling of joy I have, but one of heaviness and sadness when I think of some of the children and their dying grandparents or parents.

Sometimes I feel helpless. Our work is 'educational'; we are doing what we can to ensure the children who are in our sponsorship program complete their education with the educational support to make that possible. Sometimes it means we need to provide a bike to get to school, or food and supplements so they are less emaciated and malnourished, or send them to the doctor to find out what is the cause of them feeling ill and missing so much schooling. Sometimes we can't help in the way they would love as sometimes what they want in not educational and does not come under the category of supporting education; it is not in our 'line of work'.  Quite a few should have had surgery years ago and now it is too late, some need land and a house, some need a stable and strong house before the next rainy-storm season, and some need a good job to be able to support their families. But we can't give them life-saving surgery when they are on their deathbed, we can't buy them land and a house, or build them a house, or get them work in their district when there is no suitable work.

Fortunately in some cases, the local government has been able to provide land sometimes, or funds towards building, which has been a huge joy for the families and a relief for CEF. Sometimes the wait is long for the families as there are many poor people but the local government does help with land and housing when families are eligible and if they can help. They help the single parents before they help the families with two parents which is wonderful, but also some couples need help urgently as they can't earn much due to illness, disability, caring for a disabled family member,  or due lack of work opportunities or a combination of these challenges.

One of the families old homes and their new home being built and mainly funded by the local government

One of the old home and new home being built, mainly funded by the local government

We can't do everything and when we see them suffering we wish we could do everything to relieve their suffering and some days at the end of the home visits we feel sad. They know we care, they know we do what we can and although we know we have helped them a lot, have helped change their lives, and have helped their daughters to have better futures than their mothers; we still feel sad at the end of some home visit days.

It's International Children's Day today

Some of our lucky CEF children. They are amongst the world's lucky children; they are in school due to kind and generous sponsors

Volunteers still needed for CEF's 'Water Safety Day'

CEF's annual 'Water Safety Day' is on Sunday 8th June and we still need a couple more volunteers who are confident in the water.

We need you to assist with the floating and swimming lessons; to help the swimming teachers and to keep an eye on the children.  We are grateful for the volunteers we have, but we still need two more volunteers.

Please get in touch if you can help us from 8am-12md on Sunday 8th June and I will give you  more details.
Thank you, Linda

We now have a sign outside CEF's office!

To be able to put a sign outside CEF's office property might not seem of any importance, but here it means we have been registered with the government registration board for NGO's long enough to be allowed to let the public know of CEF's work. One way we are permitted to show we exist is by being able to put up a discreet sign outside on a pillar.

So we are happy with this step for CEF.

A serious day at the beach - CEF's Water Safety Day by Graeme

Hard to imagine a serious day at the beach, and of course CEF’s Water Safety day at the beach is great fun. But there is a serious side to it.

Every time I fly into Da Nang the closest airport to CEF’s home office in Hoi An in central Vietnam I am struck as I look out of the window by how much water I can see. Broad rivers winding down to the South China Sea, their sources to the west in the mountains which divide Viet Nam and Laos and fed by the torrential tropical rains. Lagoons stretch into the hazy distance and then on the other side of a sand bar or beach the sea. There’s no shortage of water and it’s a source of food and work for millions. It’s also a potential danger.

Nearly all of the children in CEF’s programs live near water on farms and in fishing communities. And very few know how to swim. So a few years ago Linda and her staff had the idea to hold a day at the beach to teach the children about what to do should they get into trouble in water. That’s the serous part. 

On top of expert tuition from the guys at Swim Viet Nam there’s plenty of fun: games on the beach and in the water, a picnic spread out in the shade of the palm trees, a movie as the sun sinks and just hanging out with new-found friends from other villages around.

It’s quite a logistical feat to get 80 plus children from far-flung communities up to three hours from the sea to the beach and Linda and her team have been organising the day for some months. On top of that they have to raise the money for the day. It costs on average $20 for each child. Pretty cheap when you think it will surely save lives as happened to one young man in 2012. You can read about how Phuoc saved himself on our fundraising site http://makingadifference.gofundraise.com.au/page/watersafety and help CEF make sure that our children stay safe around water. We don’t want them to become one of the 10 children who drown every day in Viet Nam.

Photos from one of our early Water Safety Days - By Etienne Bossot

Books for CEF instead of the couple receiving wedding presents

A kind, big-hearted couple who recently were married in Hoi An asked their wedding guests to give children's books to CEF instead of them receiving gifts.

CEF feels very blessed to have two large piles of gorgeous and humorous children's books. Some took me down memory lane as they were books my children had adored. There were many very useful  books; picture books with words for learning names of objects and animals, and some great number books that will help the children with their numbers too.

Also in the piles of books were some lovely coloring books. So that many can have the opportunity to have such lovely coloring books we have photocopied them and they are already being enjoyed!

Thank you so much for your thoughtfulness which allows many to benefit!

CEF children with family