While out and about doing home visits this weekend

Besides the delight of seeing the CEF children, it is always a stimulating and interesting visual experience being out and about visiting different areas and the children's homes. It gives a sense of the country and the lives of the people.

While out and about doing CEF home visits early in the morning

We start our CEF home visits early and there is a treat awaiting us each morning; the early morning peace, the beauty of early morning light and the dew on the grass.

Her parents committed suicide; a decade on her dream is coming true

No one seems to know what the full story is. The fact is that her father killed her mother, and then himself.

She has found it hard to live with this sad reality and ten years on is no longer a depressed and sad child. She has blossomed into a lovely, thoughtful, grateful young lady.

Because she is sponsored through CEF she has had the support to complete school, which she thought would never be possible, and now is thrilled to be in teacher training college.

Recently when we met with her we were surprised by the maturity she expressed at 19. She shared the following reflections on her life:

"Because I can go to college my dream can come true. I can get quality education and a good and stable job in the future."

"Spirit is more important than education. My spirit has become much better, much stronger. I know that lots of people love me and this is important to me." 

"It is like a bike, the wheels go round and round but they need the connecting bar to do that. I need my spirit to be strong to connect all the other things in my life, so I can benefit from my education and from my life experiences." 

A new second hand bike; now she can get to school

Many children can't get to school easily or quickly without a bike, so CEF started 'Bikes for School'. We purchase second hand bikes for the children who are in need of a bike to get to school. We get them repaired and then give them to the children. 

It is always touching to see how pleased they are with their 'new' bikes. CEF has just given another lovely second hand bike which was most gratefully received.

Successful university entrance results; another CEF girl to go to university

This sweet girl comes from a challenging family situation, but is full of positivity and determination; she has the potential to change her life and that of her mother and grandmother.

H (far right) - 2011

Both her grandmother and mother have had, and still do have, careers as garbage collectors including recycling. Granny although old, still works in Da Nang collecting garbage, and only illness stops her. Mum hasn't got good health, but still works full time as well. Sometimes in the holidays and weekends H (we will call her) used to go into Da Nang to help granny with her work when granny was tired or ill. She is both hardworking and compassionate and actually is a very sweet young lady.

H (second from left) with sister, mother and grandmother

CEF has had a sponsor for H for three years now and thanks to them she has been able to go to, and complete, high school. Her results before high school were only mediocre and we wondered if she would make it through high school. But each year her results have improved due to her not having to worry about the costs of her education, not having to collect garbage very often, and also knowing she can have what is called 'extra tuition' each year. 'Extra tuition' fills in the gaps; covers the school curriculum that is not covered in school hours.

 

In her high school uniform, the traditional 'ao dai'

We are very proud of her and thrilled she was successful in getting into university to study to be a literature teacher. This has been her dream for some years and now she can accomplish it!

With her sister and mother

CEF has lovely new t-shirts because of the generosity of New Paradigm Promotions

CEF now has some useful CEF t-shirts for both the female and male staff, the board and volunteers. New Paradigm Promotions did the graphics and production, and the result is really lovely.

The new CEF t-shirts ~ girls and guys styles

The front of the t-shirt and the back of the t-shirt

The t-shirts are a practical and soft lightweight cotton which is perfect for Vietnam's climate. They will be very useful! The staff know about the t-shirts, but need to wait patiently until I get back to Vietnam with them.

Thank you to Linda at Go Philanthropic for the introduction, and to Greg  Rivers at New Paradigm Promotions for his kindness and generosity.
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http://newparadigmpromo.com/

Thai Binh Education Program and one of CEF's university graduates from last year

When CEF started Thai Binh Education Program in 2005 we started with helping 12 children; 11 girls and 1 boy. Most of these children have completed school now, or will over the next three years. 

The one boy has completed school and graduated from university last year with excellent results. He trained as a PE teacher and now has an excellent paid job at Vietnam National University. He was on a trial for a whole year and we greatly admire his determination to prove himself and to become a successful coach and referee in that year. He is thrilled, and we are with his success. 

He still stays in touch with his sponsor and sees him as a father. His last letter of this week is below.  

2006 ~ The first 12 children we helped in Thai Binh Province

2007

Recent photo refereeing

Recent photo

Here is his last letter to his sponsor

Ha Noi, June 26^th 2014

Dear G,

How are you?

I saw your bright smile in photos of your family. Your family is very cosy.

Since my graduation I’ve worked for Vietnam National University for a year. I am really pleased with my job. Although I worked for this university for a year without a salary, I have had many successes. However, I was delighted when I recently signed a new contract and now will be paid. I’m very proud of myself as my co-workers praise me. I not only tell them about you, but also share about CEF.

If you come back to Vietnam, I will invite you to visit my work place.

I wish you good health.

Your son,

T

What is CEF's Mentoring Program? Blog by Kim Chi, CEF's Mentoring Program Manager

Our mentoring program is quite new, but we find it exciting to be able to support CEF’s children in this way.

We support high school students, University and College students in our program. Students in their last year of high school are often confused about which subjects they should be studying in school in order to be eligible for the specific departments they want to study in at university. Whereas university and college freshmen feel like ‘fish out of water’ and require emotional and practical support to deal with all they need to take on; living, studying and finding part-time work in a totally new environment.

We provide support for the students by phone, email and especially by Facebook, as they all have Facebook. We also visit those who study in the local vicinity.

Workshops are planned and will be offered to our high school, college and university students this year. These workshops will help them understand their strengths and abilities enabling them to see realistic options they can take and the direction to move towards. We will work on interview skills, presentation skills, writing a CV, budgeting, goal setting, time management and planning.

For those who aim to work in an English-speaking environment, we will provide helpful links to English websites to help improve their English.  We will also link them to a network of volunteer English tutors overseas. This support will enable them to find good jobs in an English-speaking environment in the future.

We can already see this support is beneficial and look forward to continuing to support our students through this program and implementing the workshop this year.

Blog by Kim Chi, CEF’s Mentoring Program Manager

Free dental education and dental care for more CEF children at EMW Dental Centre

21 children from our education programs in Thang Binh, Dien Ban and Hoi An received free dental education and dental care at East Meets West Central this week. 18 of them needed dental work; 14 had fillings and 6 had badly decayed teeth removed.

This is a wonderful partnership to have to help the children understand how to care for their teeth and for them to see and understand the consequences of not caring for their teeth. School time is missed when children have dental decay causing pain and some have taken time off school for emergency dental treatment.

Three of the CEF girls waiting for their turn with the dentist at EMW Dental Centre

Our goal is that all the children in our education programs in Quang Nam and Da Nang receive this education and dental care on an annual basis in the holidays so it does not disrupt their school schedule. Thanks to EMW Dental Centre this is possible!

Ngoc waiting with two of the CEF children at EMW Dental Centre

Free dental education and dental care for some of CEF's children

We believe our CEF children need to be healthy to do well at school. We support them to have medical care  when required, nutritional supplements and extra food when needed too. Dental problems need dealing with as well, as rotten teeth and tooth ache keep children out of school and affect their health.

Yesterday 16 of CEF's Hoi An children attended a dental clinic that was set up in Cam Ha commune in their community hall. Cam Ha is one of Hoi An's poor communes.  The clinic for the CEF children took all morning so they had to wait patiently.

We have partnered with East Meets West Dental Center to provide free dental care for all of CEF's children.  This week 16 of CEF's children had their appointments and were provided with free dental education and dental care. Over the prior days EMW also had provided free dental education and dental care for the children of Cam Ha commune.

Fillings were needed and she is not looking too happy about it (above)

Fortunately 12 of CEF's children had nothing wrong with their teeth, but one of the girls had 2 seriously decayed teeth removed and one girl needed fillings. Two other girls will need more time consuming dental treatment in the future at EMW's Dental Centre in Da Nang.

Next week CEF's children from Thang Binh and Dien Ban districts will have dental care at the center.

Thank you East Meets West Dental Centre for providing valuable and free dental education and dental care for the children!