Khai Tri - Helping Homeless Children in Vietnam

Next Visit to Khai Tri Orphanage is Planned for April 2012

2012-02-05T18:18:00.002-06:00

We have several projects in Vietnam and will definitely stop by Khai Tri in our next trip planned for April 2012.

Checking In at Khai Tri (Novemeber 2011)

2011-11-14T17:54:00.002-06:00

20111016_KhaiTri_Pic_03, a photo by learningexecutive on Flickr.

RightStart4Kids October/November 2011 SE Asia Trip -- November 14, 2011

Visited Khai Tri Orphanage & e-Learning For Kids Library today. We cooked a big meal and threw a party for the 90+ kids with meat & milk to make sure everyone had lots of protein.

We are still waiting for new management with less corruption before donating more.

Checking in at Khai Tri (November 2010)

2010-11-11T23:10:00.012-06:00

Library Chuck visited Khai Tri Orphanage three times in less than twelve months (Dec 2009, April 2010 & October 2010).

During my November 2010 visit to Khai Tri we continued to hear that many of the donations (for example cash, personal and school supplies) are not going to the kids. Also, on April 15th the An Giang newspaper published an article with very serious issues that appear to still be under investigation.

Library Chuck's LOV Delegation Summer Visit to Khai Tri

2010-10-11T23:24:00.001-05:00

Library Chuck Visits Khai Tri & An Giang University

2010-04-15T23:20:00.000-05:00

Library Chuck and Miss Le continues are good work partnering with An Giang University and stops by the library built with donations from RightStart4Kids and Rotary Club of Winnetka.

Storage Room @ Khai Tri Orphanage OVERFLOWING with Donations

2010-01-01T10:27:00.000-06:00

During our December 2009 visit to Khai Tri we were pleased to see all of the extra supplies they had. We heard that all of the donations are not going to the kids so we are interested in learning more before giving more.

Santa Visits Khai Tri Orphanage for an Early Christmas Party

2009-12-02T22:34:00.008-06:00

The Khai Tri Kids had a great time with Santa earlier today when Santa visited the kids with Library Project of Vietnam & Rotary Club of Winnekta Northfield who sponsored this Christmas party. We had wonderful support and help from the community who brought amble food for the 160 hungry kids.

More photos are upload to our Helping Khai Tri Kids facebook group.
Click here to see more photos on facebook.

Kids Reading in Library

2009-11-25T06:46:00.002-06:00

We have been in An Giang province for a few days and stopped by Khai Tri this afternoon. Everything seems peaceful. One class was in session; the older kids were at the public school; a group of kids were watching a movie; a few kids were resting.

We noticed that the library door was open and about 15 kids were reading.

We also talked to the new Principle and assistant running the school and told them that Library Chuck is planning on visiting on Dec 2nd to give the kids a Christmas Party.

Memo of Understanding

2009-06-09T19:54:00.002-05:00

The equivalent of a contract in Vietnam is an M.O.U.

You can click here to print a copy of the M.O.U. that was signed by Khai Tri Administration before we did the work.

2009-06-01T22:28:00.001-05:00

On our last trip to Khai Tri Orphanage (Summer 2009), I gave my flip video to some of the kids and then uploaded a dozen small vldeos to my YouTube channel.

Today's visit was to provide some basic medical aid for the kids

2009-04-27T09:46:00.003-05:00

We visited the Khai Tri orphanage today with some medical supplies. We think most of the cuts and infections are a result of poor hygiene and lack of proper adult supervision.

Currently there are only three full-time adult staff (Mr. Thi, Mr. Son, Ms. Nguyet). Mr. Son is in charge of the medicine cabinet and clearly is not trained with the skills that most Mother's in the U.S. learn the first year of raising a kid. The kids scrapes and bruises are much worst than last year or the year before.

Last July, we had a bus load of Doctors, Dentist & Nurses from Medical Aid for Vietnam and the kids were healthy. In 2007 on our trip, we noticed the kids were spotless and washed their hands before each meal. Now the lack of adult supervision is causing the kids hardship which could be easily resolved with more staff.

Spring 2009 Update from Vietnam

2009-04-23T16:30:00.005-05:00

I am in Vietnam and taught a workshop on emerging learning technologies at An Giang University this week. There are several learning technologies that we discussed would be good to research for elementary classrooms.

We have purchase some of the classroom learning technologies for donating to a needy school in Vietnam that will be able to provide teachers skilled and able to teach with technology. Next week, I will visit Khai Tri Orphanage and publish my status report on this blog.

e-Learning for Kids Announces New Advisory Board Member

2008-12-27T08:55:00.004-06:00

E-Learning for Kids (EFK, www.e-learningforkids.org), a global nonprofit foundation dedicated to providing free online learning for children 5-12, today announced the addition of Dirk Tussing, the Executive Director of the Learning Executive Exchange in Chicago, to its Advisory Board.

To read the press release which includes a reference to our project at Khai Tri, click here.

"Mr. Tussing has been involved with e-Learning for Kids for more than a year now and has supported the organization in numerous ways. These include championing the foundation with the Rotary Clubs from around the world, implementing the EFK courses in Vietnam at the Khai Tri Orphanage, building a social networking site for the foundation (http://elearningforkids.ning.com/) where one can join a group, view photos from schools around the world using the EFK courseware, download a poster about EFK in over ten languages, teleport to an Orientation Center for the foundation in SecondLife, read a blog, or informally learn more. "

Chicago fundraising event with e-Learning For Kids founder, Nick van Dam

2008-11-27T08:39:00.001-06:00

e-Learning For Kids founder, Nick van Dam, visited us in Chicago from Amsterdam while he was in the United States for work. Nick shared information on the free and fun computer-based learning programs that now has grown to over 150 courses to 250 executives who help provide learning programs to companies.

Photos of this e-learningforkids fundraising Chicago event are available on facebook: visit
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=176856&l=9e7ca&id=668525312 to see pics.

THANK YOU DONORS FOR OUR PROJECT: An Giang University & Rotary Helping Homeless Children at Khai Tri in Vietnam

2008-10-19T11:39:00.026-05:00

We have raised enough money for purchasing two SMART Boards through their Seed Program and eight www.ClassmatePC.com with Solid-State-Drives.

Our Chicago Volunteers helping in the Kitchen

Newest young visitor from Tom's home town in Long Xuyen (thanks to Dillon International)

Our Team Expressing our Thank You to Our Donors

We had a wonderful turn out for our 2nd Annual Vietnamese Benefit Dinner at Hadley School for the Blind (Winnetka, IL). We have raised enough donations (nearly $5,000) to start working purchasing the new state-of-the-art technology for Khai Tri Orphanage & An Giang University Foreign Language Department to help build English skills by adding creativity curricula in rural elementary education. You can click the SMART Board below and take a flash tour of the wall-mounted version we plan to donate two SMART Boards: one at Khai Tri Orphanage and one at An Giang University in the Foreign Language Department (English). Now that we have the funds donated we will need to next work on the Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) with the help of the Library of Vietnam NGO (www.LibraryOfVietnam.com).

We still need to find donors for two LCD Projectors (required for each SMART Board) and eight more CMPC with SSD to complete the desired next phase. Please contact me via email at Rotary@learningexecutive.com if you want to help.

Emerging Technology Fair for Kids Learning (Oct 9th, Chicago)

2008-09-01T14:41:00.001-05:00

As I get to know Nick van Dam better and have watched the ways our network of thought leaders have been helping kids around the world, it’s amazing to learn about the new technologies that are now available. With my travels this last year to remote corners of the earth, I have been able to collect several hard to find emerging technologies. For example, have you heard of MIT’s $100 OLPC laptop or the new Intel-powered ClassmatePC – would you like trying to use them? If you would, then join us at this emerging technology fair for kids.

We are hosting this session at SMART Technologies’ downtown Chicago office; they are helping us secure a state-of-the-art interactive whiteboard for the Khai Tri Orphanage Innovation Center we helped built with the Rotary Club of Winnetka-Northfield and Library Project of Vietnam.

We also will be dem9nstrating Nick van Dam’s e-LearningForKids free and fun educational computer software for kids ages 5-12. You can watch a recent global CNBC broadcast on July, 12th 2008 of Nick’s foundation directly from YouTube:

For more information, click here.

Khai Tri Kids Doctor's & Dentist Report (hum .. or "Football" Report)

2008-08-01T21:41:00.002-05:00

Tom suggested that the www.MedicalAidForVietnam.org July 2008 mission stops by Khai Tri Orphanage to check on the kids. Our understanding (which we receive contradictory information) is that the kids probably do not have access to quality medical and dental care. Well when the doctors and dental teams arrived the kids we so healthy that the spent most of the time of playing football (which we call soccer in the United States) with the boys. The kids were great and gave the medical team an amazing workout. Thu (an English teacher at An Giang University) shared that Khai Tri played football in a tournament with another school the week before and won too.

A few days later, the medical mission returned to give the Khai Tri kids a gift. Four of the dental & pharmacy team members from Vancouver bought a ping pong table for the kids to have more fun. After the team returned to the North American, Tom and I sat down with Khai Tri's principal and he agreed to put the ping pong table in the Innovation Center we built since there was plenty of room. We'll ask our friends at An Giang University for pictures to share and make sure the ping pong table is not locked up and not used.

Summer of 2008 will be remembered by the Khai Tri Kids - Their 1st Talent Show

2008-07-15T07:11:00.000-05:00

Tom headed back to Vietnam this summer to help with another mission for the http://www.medicalaidforvietnam.org/ I joined him to experience the raining season and visit the Vientiane Capital, Laos. One of the unexpected surprises was to notice the kids English was significantly better than in January '08. We also met Thu & Will (visiting faculty at AGU.edu.vn from Michigan). Thu explained the kids had a five week summer camp which was lead by an American from California. We also found out Khai Tri had their first talent show and we were given a two hour DVD. I'm trying to upload the video to the internet, but the video file is HUGE ... Stay tune and i'll replace the screen shot below with a link to Google!video when I have everything sorted out.

Corinne is back from Viet Nam, lots of stories to tell, stop by 24 Feb, enjoy friends, food, stuff…and hear all about it.

2008-02-20T05:09:00.010-06:00

Hello Friends & Colleagues,

I am just back from Viet Nam where, as some of you may know, as part of the Chicagoland Learning Leaders organization partnered with Rotary Winnetka/Northfield, I assisted in installing an elearning center for an orphanage in Long Xuyen. What an awesome trip. Thanks again to the many of you who contributed, your donations are helping to make dreams possible for these kids.

Since email cannot possibly explain…I am hoping you can stop by the my residence in Schaumburg on Sunday, 24 Feb, 1-5pm to see pictures, have a snack/drink, enjoy friends, and hear all about it. I will present a “slide show” at 2pm. You’ll be surprised about the things that you might think are universal, are not…like the process to cross the street!

In case you’re interested, I brought back a number of unbelievably gorgeous items (purses, silk pajamas, bracelets, embroideries, etc) that you can purchase as a donation – 100% of your purchase will go to our next orphanage project and your purchase/donation is eligible as a tax-deduction.

As a side note, while in Long Xuyen working at the Khai Tri orphanage, I connected with a young orphan girl and her two brothers. I made a commitment to them to assist in their education. The older sister, Sa Ron, wants to become a teacher and give back as those who have helped her. So now I have 3 new “kids” so to speak…

I look forward to sharing my experiences and stories with you!
Please feel free to bring others and pass this to your friends who may be interested…

Sunday, 24 February, 1-5pm
2pm slide show for Friends, Previous Donors, Drinks, Snacks and Gifts

Kind regards,
Corinne

Great Community Support Attended the Khai Tri Dedication Ceremony

2008-01-20T19:24:00.001-06:00

We had a great Dedication Ceremony at Khai Tri Orphange on January 19th The community support was wonderful and representatives from Chicago included: Dirk, Tom, Kristen & Wesley, Jody, Scout, Corinne, Adam and Kathy.

Khai Tri Dedication Ceremony (Jan 19, 2008)

2008-01-20T18:48:00.001-06:00

We had a great turn out from Winnetka-Northfield Rotary Club and members of the An Giang, Province community for the dedication ceremony. During the dedication ceremony our group distributed over 400 pounds of slightly used clothes, school supplies, beany babies, candy to all the kids and brought five computers and tables for the innovaation center. we plan to post more pictures shortly. Many thanks to everyone who as helped this dream become a reality.

Chuck Theusch and a 11 Person Delegation Visits Khai Tri Kids

2007-12-08T11:30:00.000-06:00

Chuck Theusch and Dick Espy lead the Library Project of Vietnam (LOVNP). delagation which included The Video Works of Kansas City who are in Vietnam capturing hi-def video for creating a new DVD.

MEETING: SATURDAY, DEC 8, 2007, 11:30
KHAI TRI ORPHANAGE
AN GIANG PROVINCE, VIETNAM

PRESENT:
LOVNP PROJECT TRIP #23 2007
DELEGATION (11 people)
VICE-DIRECTOR, KHAI TRI
4 ADMIN. & TEACHING STAFF
NGA, JOHN, & LOUIS NGUYEN AND PHONG HUYNH (Tom's family)

Chuck (LOV) and Thanh (Vice-Director, Khai Tri) updated the Memo of Understanding with the following terms:

GRANT IS $21,000
Library shall be used solely for e-learning programs and innovations as may be agreed between Khai Tri & Rotary Club of Winnetka-Northfield
Dedication & Signage shall be designed by Rotary Club of Winnetka-Northfield
LOVNP will included Khai Tri in its continuing support program

KhaiTri Kids First Computer Lesson with e-LearningForKids.org

2007-11-14T22:23:00.000-06:00

Tom Nguyen (Winnetka, IL) has a class of KhaiTri kids taking their first computer lesson using one of the online education courses from http://www.e-learningforkids.org/. Tom was amazed on how they had no clue how to use a computers and the kids thought learning was like playing a game. The kids loved learning with a computer and are eager to learn more.

Tom with the KhaiTri Kids in front of the library

2007-11-14T22:18:00.000-06:00

Oct 27, 2007 - Tom Nguyen visiting from Winnetka with the KhaiTri kids checking the project before the upcoming Jan '08 dedication.

School Library and Computer-based Classroom Almost Completed

2007-10-28T19:04:00.001-06:00

Tom is in Vietnam preparing for our Jan '08 trip. He took the picture below of the nearly completed school libary.

"We Always Come Back" DVD from Library Project of Vietnam (LOV) Video

2007-10-23T10:03:00.001-05:00

Last week, Chuck Theusch, one of the more significant contributor to this project gave an update at the Rotary Club of Winnetka-Northfield. During the meeting, Chuck shared with me a copy of a recent DVD they created explaining how they are helping the children through out Vietnam.

You can watch the video by clicking this link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mseGfJLq8o

Special Treat: Breakfast with Mike Leonard Helping Khai Tri Kids on Oct 12th

2007-10-05T08:56:00.000-05:00

We are thrilled to have a special opportunity for you to have breakfast with Mike Leonard on Oct. 12th at McDonald’s Hamburger University in Oak Brook, IL. Breakfast will be between 7:15 – 8:00 a.m. We are limiting breakfast to 20 people who are willing to donate $100 to Helping Khai Tri Kids. Feel free to stay to listen to Mike @ 8:30 a.m. when he presents to 300 Chicagoland Learning Leaders How To Tell Your Own Story and shares personal insight on his book The Ride of Our Lives.

Click here to make your $100 donation online and we will email a confirmation with directions to the Oct. 12th breakfast.

Construction is nearly completed and starting to focus on the interior

2007-10-05T08:45:00.000-05:00

Our Oct. 1st update from Vietnam, construction is nearly completed and new pictures will arrive soon for sharing on this blog.

The next phase of the Helping Khai Tri Kids project will be focusing on how we can help with equipping the library. Corinne Miller is looking into the One Laptop Per Child from MIT Media Lab and Allison Rossett suggested that we contact http://www.e-learningforkids.org/, a foundation Nick van Dam (CLO at Deloitte) founded and is the current Chairman.

Tom will be traveling to Khai Tri later in the month to help plan for our January ’08 trip and dedication ceremony with friends from Chicago. While Tom is in Vietnam is also be helping with a 12-day medical mission (Oct. 27 - Nov 11) – Tom will be keeping busy.

Khai Tri Kid Posing In Front of the New School Library & Innovation Center

2007-09-06T08:57:00.000-05:00

With the roof and exterior brick walls nearly completed, one of the Khai Tri kids poses for this snapshot to be sent to the states.

I personally like this picture for a few reasons:

the focus of completing the project is for the kids,

the dry, rough brown grass which is the kids main playground is a harsh contrast to the lush green grass I have seen in Spring during the Lunar New Year in February, and

we can visual how the school library “fits” in with the existing classroom buildings included on the right of this picture. Currently the classroom building is only one-story … the longer term goal is to add a 2nd story of classrooms as the students graduate into secondary school and more classrooms are needed.

Viewing Tip: If you want to see a larger view of any pictures in the blog, just click on the pic and a larger one is presented on your screen.

Construction Pics @ Khai Tri (End of Aug 2008)

2007-09-06T08:53:00.000-05:00

We are thrilled to see the construction progress on the new school library at Khai Tri. These pictures were received on Sept 6, 2007 from Vietnam. Tom is considering visiting the library at the end of October while he is on a medical mission with http://www.emascanada.org/. The construction should be completed in October and Tom can help make sure all is in order for when our Chicago group arrives in January ’08 for the dedication. Many thanks to all the people who helped make Miss Lam’s dream come true.

School Library Construction Underway

2007-08-06T10:29:00.000-05:00

Over the weekend, we received our first pictures of the construction of the new school library and innovation center we are building for the Khai Tri kids. Click the photo of the Khai Tri kids above to enlarge the construction pictures on your computer screen.

This time of year it's hot in An Giang and it is the raining season - not easy conditions to build, but they are making progress.

Many thanks to everyone that has been helping make this dream come true.

We will be having a meeting this Friday (August 10th) for the Winnetka-Northfield Rotary Club members interested in visiting Khai Tri in January. If you are interested in joining us on the trip, please contact Dirk.Tussing@learningexecutive.com.

June 6th Ground Breaking Ceremony

2007-06-11T17:14:00.000-05:00

Ground Breaking Ceremony was on June 6, 2007 and the library should be completed by the end of the summer before September classes start.

After we receive photos of the construction, we will post them on this blog.

The initial funds agreed to in the MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) have arrived in Vietnam today.

Join Us On Our Trip To Vietnam (January 2008)

2007-05-21T07:05:00.000-05:00

We are planning a twelve day Vietnam trip which will be leaving from O'Hare airport on January 19, 2008.

The trip is open to everyone from Chicagoland interested in touring this beautiful nation, helping needy children or both. At the Chicagoland learning leaders' innovation peer-networking breakfast on May 15th at Motorola, $1,000 was donated to help build the innovation learning center.

You can print a trip brochure with more details (click here) or feel free to contact me directly: +1.847.786.1002.

Picture of the Library & Innovation Learning Center

2007-05-08T20:36:00.000-05:00

Last week, Chuck Theusch gave Tom and I a copy of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) he signed with Miss Lam on his recent trip to Vietnam. Chuck came to Chicago to listen to http://www.ltdanband.com/ who was giving a benefit fundraising concert for another project in Vietnam.

Chuck explained to us that Miss Lam picked June 1st for the day to start construction because it is recognized as Children’s Day in Vietnam.

The architect emailed a picture of the library and the learning center (phase I and II). The entire building is planned to be 8m x 24m divided into three rooms: one room for reading, one for book shelves, and one for computer, multi-media learning.

The architect is busy creating detailed (blueprint) drawings and estimating the building costs. We are using $65USD per square meter for building costs and the Library Project of Vietnam is planning on holding back 5% of the funds for future unexpected maintenance.

Thank You Card for Friends of Winnetka-Northfield Rotary

2007-05-01T20:06:00.000-05:00

The Winetka-Nortfield Rotary
created this thank you card
to share with all the people
helping with the project.

A Memorandum of Understanding Signed

2007-05-01T19:59:00.000-05:00

To make sure everyone understands the commitment, Chuck Theusch and Miss Lam put their thoughts on paper and wrote a memorandum of understanding.

We have many friends of Rotary in the United States happy to help the homeless kids in An Giang, but Chuck has found the most successful projects is when commitments are shared between the local volunteers and the Rotary helping from the United States. They agreed on the ground breaking to be around June 1st with a completion before the September school year begins. Chuck also shared the amount of money we will be providing to help make sure a quality school library is built for the kids. Tom's sister has an architect making drawings, my understanding is the initial phase will be 8m by 16m for a two room school library (one room for the book and a quiet room for kids to read).

Other local visitors when Chuck Theusch Visited Khai Tri Orphanage

2007-05-01T19:34:00.000-05:00

While Chuck was busy on a tour of the Khai Tri Orphanage, Tom's family and friends decided to visit Khai Tri too. His nephew, who just graduated from college in Ho Chi Minh City, arrived to find the electricity out and being a typical hot day, the kids started to get thirsty.

Compared to Americans, the Vietnamese families don’t use nearly as much electricity. Throughout the country it is not uncommon to have the electricity go out and for the most part it is not a big deal. The big hotels and many of the internet cafes have generators to generate electricity for their guest – most households don’t have air conditioning, lots of gadgets or lights so they just make do.

But out in the country where Khai Tri Orphanage is, the electricity can be out for hours or all day long. Tom’s nephew quickly identified a solution to add some large water storage tanks to hold the water during these outages. He told Tom that when his friend comes back from Ho Chi Minh City he and his friend will install the tanks and run new plastic pipes to the kitchen and bathrooms. He thinks it would be good to add a filter on the kitchen facet for additional purification and a basic filter to trap sand for the water pipes going to the bathrooms. A simple, yet effective solution.

Another visitor that day was Tom's family dentist. Miss Lam has found a volunteer doctor to give each of the Khai Tri Kids a checkup once a year, but up to this point a dentist hasn't volunteered to help. Sure enough, Tom's family dentist was quick to help by connecting Khai Tri Orphanage with a group of other dentists volunteers that help homeless kids. Thank you.

Picture Taken on April 12th 2007

2007-05-01T19:26:00.000-05:00

We held the two benefit fund raising dinners in Winnetka on April 11th and April 12th. In the afternoon before the 2nd night, Chuck Theusch emailed me a picture of him with the Khai Tri Kids. You can see Chuck kneeling in the bottom right (2nd row from the front). Miss Lam is on the left side standing up.

By the time the dinner guests came that night, we were able to display this picture on the wall for everyone to see. It was great timing!!!

Behind the kids in this picture is the boys dormitory. Miss Lam explained to me that they were built with limited funs and someday she would like to replace them with more solid structures. Tom pointed out to me that steel roofs keep the rain out, but during the rainy session they are very loud. With nothing to muffle the sound, I would expect they would be quite loud if when the rain comes down really hard. The terrain in south Vietnam is very different than Chicago.

Benefit Dinner for Khai Tri Kids in Winnetka, IL

2007-05-01T15:25:00.000-05:00

We had two successful nights of fund raising benefit dinners and raised $4,000 for the Khai Tri Kids. Tom Nguyen was the master chef and served a multi-course traditional meal for 43 friends of Winnetka-Northfield Rotary. Everyone enjoyed the fellowship and many asked to visit Vietnam in the Spring of 2008 to learn more about the four thousand year old culture and cuisine..

Here are some of the comments from the supporters who came to our benefit dinners:

So glad that the event was a big success! You guys certainly earned it with all the hard work you both put in (Wayne)

What you are doing with Tom is fabulous! (Dave)

Great job DIRK!!!!!! (Mike)

Thanks for a wonderful evening. The food was out of this world!! You must have given us about 9 servings. It's so nice to be able to help others and have fun doing it at the same time. You were the perfect host. Glad to hear that this project has been such a smashing success. (Kit)

Last night was a blast! (Ellen)

What a wonderful evening we had on Thursday! Many thanks to you and Tom and the others who provided us with such an extraordinary feast and overall outstanding evening of Rotary comeraderie! Please extend our thanks to the rest of your "team." (Carole)

It is inspiring to learn how the contributions of Rotarians are having an impact in Vietnam. (Cliff)

Other Rotary Projects Happening in Vietnam

2007-04-08T10:09:00.000-05:00

The current largest project is being headed up by Forrest Lloyd Rotary Club of China Lake District 5240: Project ICU (Intensive Care Unit) for the Cancer Hospital, Ho Chi Minh City children’s ward. Hear from Forrest's daughter details on the project by visiting http://www.rotaryprojectsvietnam.org/home.html.

The hospital is the only facility available in the southern half of the country to treat children with cancer. At present, the hospital has no pediatric ICU facility. The incidence of children with certain childhood cancers is higher than in any other regional Asian countries, which doctors attribute in part to gene disorders resulting from the use of dioxins (Agent Orange) during the Vietnam War with the USA.

Forrest virtually introduced me to Sue McKinney, a member of the Rotary Club of Oakland Sunrise, who has been residing in Vietnam for over ten years.

Chuck and I met with Cliff Chan (Manager, Club and District Support Asia/Pacific) at Rotary International (RI) headquarters located in downtown Evanston, IL USA. Cliff explained that RI would like to support humanitarian Vietnam. He shared a list of Rotary Foundation projects over the last eleven years totaling $4,460,000. Cliff acknowledge that the largest item was RI’s PolioPlus (www.rotary.org/foundation/polioplus/information/history.html) but that his list was incomplete – actually Rotary initiatives were more but records were difficult to consolidate.

Other amazing rotary project in Vietnam includes Danny Low, a past governor of District 9680 (New South Wales), Wheelchair foundation which has donated over 1,000 wheelchairs to the needy in Vietnam.

A new partnership forged with www.LibraryOfVietnam.org

2007-04-07T23:43:00.000-05:00

As I was preparing for the initial 05-Apr-2007 presentation to Winnetka-Northfield Rotary Club, one of the club members remembered Chuck Theusch presented two years ago on his group building libraries in vietnam. With a quick google search, http://www.libraryofvietnam.org/ provided Chuck's contact information and information on the fifteen libraries they have completed in Vietnam. Wow!!! I thought.

Chuck returned my call while on a trip in Florida talking to another Rotary group on his foundation. It turned out he is based in Milwaukee, Wi (about 90 minute drive from me) and he was on his way to Vietnam the next Thursday. To make a long story short, we had lunch in Evanston, IL on Monday, met with Cliff Chan at Rotary International, and Chuck agreed to visit Khai Tri and meet Miss Lam while he was in Vietnam.

Khai Tri Presentation to Winnetka-Northfield Rotary Club

2007-04-07T23:38:00.000-05:00

Please join us on April 5, 2007 at 12:15 p.m. at
The Winnetka Community House
620 Lincoln Ave., Winnetka, IL 60093

Agenda:
1) Summary of current Rotary Projects in Vietnam
2) Our February 2007 Vietnam Trip Summary
3) Helping Homeless Children in An Giang, Vietnam

For lunch and a presentation
at the Winnetka-Northfield Rotary Club
By Dirk Tussing & Tom Nguyen

A copy of the presenation (full of pics) is online at http://www.clubrunner.ca/Data/6440/2417/HTML/17931/Vietnam2007.ppt (5MB MS-PPT)

Education is the only way to get out of poverty

2007-04-07T08:26:00.001-05:00

As repeatedly reported by the Vietnam News Agency for several years, a lack of funding for vocational training and the poor discipline of the children are cited as the main obstacles to finding jobs for homeless children. Vietnam’s employment is scare even for trained and educated workers and even less for homeless children, the majority of whom are untrained. Poverty is the main factor driving the migration of 70-90% of homeless children to large cities.

The homeless children are an extraordinary challenge in Miss Lam’s province; it has one of the highest rates of HIV which is entering Vietnam from Cambodia. Many children in this orphanage are from the Cambodian border; they are victims of HIV many losing their parents to AIDS. They are victims of poverty and discrimination. As a school teacher with a big heart, Miss Lam said: “Education is the only way to get out of poverty”. She was called to act on their behalf to build both a home and a school that would help teach them respect and skills to have a bright future.

The Winnetka-Northfield Rotary Club is leading a local initiative to raise the funds to help Miss Lam completes Khai Tri orphanage school library. 100% of each donation will be given directly to Miss Lam.

More details on how you can help is online at http://www.clubrunner.ca/Data/6440/2417/HTML/17932/HelpKhaiTriKids.pdf

2007-04-07T08:20:00.000-05:00

Fifty dollars from fifty friends … that’s all we’re looking for. Fifty dollars from fifty donors adds up to $2,500, which your help can complete the school library at Khai Tri orphanage for an unbelievable woman with a dream.

Miss Lam of Long Xuyen, Vietnam is my former teacher before I went to America. Inspired by her commitment to education I went on to complete medical school. My name is Tom Nguyen and in February 2007 on a trip to Long Xuyen, Vietnam, I met Miss Lam when she shared how a dream she had one night lead to the Khai Tri orphanage.

Mission Statement

2007-04-07T08:13:00.000-05:00

Mission: Winnetka-Northfield Rotary Club & A Full Life are engaging local community groups to help raise funds for unfortunate children of Vietnam to lead them out of poverty with shelter and education. The initial project is to furnish a school library and create educational/vocational programs for the Khai Tri orphanage in An Giang, Vietnam.