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

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:

1. the focus of completing the project is for the kids,


2. 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


3. 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)

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

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

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)

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

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

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