CAUSE & PURPOSE:

 

During a trip to visit our families in the summer of 2003, after almost 36 years since the day we left Vietnam in 1967 to pursue our studies in the US, we had the opportunity to visit Mui Ne, near Phan Thiet, a beautiful coastal city newly developed for tourists.  

In addition to enjoying the beach and the scenery around Mui Ne, we were quite saddened to witness the poor living conditions of many local children.

 

There were no toys for them to play with, no food for them to ensure the basic nutrition, no decent clothes to cover the dark skin exposed daily to the sun. Their daily life was comprised of wandering the streets - they were succumbed to the fate bestowed to them: illiteracy. Their parents, some illiterate themselves, were poor people who barely could make a living, were busy fighting with life to bring food to feed the whole family, therefore could not spend the time to educate their children. 

Even though the development of tourist areas brought in work for numerous people, illiteracy prevented these parents from securing jobs.

 

Ensuring quality of life is a responsibility of the government but without intervention, we can see that these children will follow in their parents' footsteps and will not be able to read. They will miss out on better job opportunities when it is their turn to start making a living.

 

We therefore have decided to step in to give a helping hand to these children: build a new school and hire a few teachers to teach them the most basic necessities in life: to learn how to read and write so illiteracy will no longer be their handicap.

 

 

HOW THE SCHOOL WAS FINALLY COMPLETED:

 

2003: Organized fundraisings

 

2004: With the help of Prof. Nguyen Giao from Phan ThietViet Nam, after negotiating with the Vietnamese government, a small land near Mui Ne was donated.

 

2005: With the money we got from fundraisings, the construction of a classroom was started in Jan 1st of  2005 and completed on Jan 30th of 2005:

 

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Under construction

 

 

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A classroom was completed

 

 

2005: We bought furniture (chairs, tables etc…) for the classroom in Feb 2005

 

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2005: In March of 2005, we have 41 poor kids attending school. Local teachers were provided by the Vietnamese government

 

 

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2006: we upgraded this classroom

 

 

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An extra roof was added to keep the classroom cooler

 

 

 

 

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Ceiling fan was added

 

 

 

 

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Restroom was added outside the classroom

 

 

 

 

 

EXPENDING OUR HELP:

 

 

In 2007 when a big storm hit Da Nang and destroyed several schools, we used our fund to repair one elementary school there.

 

 

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The roof of an elementary school in Da Nang was destroyed by the storm

 

 

 

 

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Repairing the roof

 

 

 

 

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Roof and Fence were completed

 

 

 

YEARLY HELP FOR OUR HOPE-FOR-KIDS STUDENTS

DURING THE VIETNAMESE NEW YEAR:

 

 

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Han Le

Founder of Hope For Kids