Hi everyone,
Rose and I have just returned from another wonderful trip to Hanoi. We were extremely busy but we had a great time catching up with everyone. It’s quite amazing how quickly ACCV is growing. When we decided that education was the tool that we would use to help these young people to break the cycle of poverty and to empower them to build a better life for themselves, we had no idea just how many people we would meet who really need our help.
As the initial massage and Braille course we funded has been so successful (eight out of ten students are now working) we have been asked if we will support a couple of other blind Association centres in the poorest parts of Hanoi. We will be running a number of different courses for blind students including Massage, Information Technology (IT), English language and IT teacher training courses.
A highlight to every trip to Hanoi is the time we spend with Quan, this trip was no exception. He is doing incredibly well and sometimes it’s hard to remember that the very sad, withdrawn young man we met a couple of years ago is the very same Quan we have come to know so well. Quan’s life is continuing to move forward and he’s embracing every opportunity that comes his way. While he is still working as a massage therapist, he’s also studying computers and IT a few afternoons per week, going to secondary school all weekend and he’s now been selected to study an IT course which will qualify him as an IT teacher to blind students! (yes, it’s difficult to remember that this is the same Quan!!)
The first English language course for blind students begins this week. It has been a huge amount of work adapting & preparing the materials but we are finally ready to go, very exciting! We have a great team of teachers and teaching assistants and of course our wonderful coordinator Juliette, she has worked so hard, we’re very fortunate to have her on board – Thank you Juliette!
Another lovely aspect to our trips is a catch up visit with the children of Friendship Home. They are also doing very well, growing in leaps and bounds and always very happy to see us. The staff at Friendship home have worked hard to make the place a home for the children and it is beginning to really take shape. When we arrived there was a hive of activity with the children painting cupboards etc.. ACCV has purchased new blankets and pillows for the bedrooms which the children were all delighted to receive.
ACCV is now providing rice and oil to Friendship Home on a regular basis and we will also be funding vocational education for the children.
We have a few more young people we are supporting individually, we pay for all of them to attend school and we support some of them with accommodation, food and medicines if that’s what is needed. At ACCV we address each case individually, just as people are all individual, we have found that no two cases are the same, there is no formula. Just individual people, needing individual help.
As we are growing quite quickly now it is difficult to put all of the news in a newsletter, so please have a look at the blog http://accv-alison.blogspot.com and website www.accv.net.au for regular updates. We also have an ACCV page on facebook.
We have now met so many delightful young blind people who are very eager for an opportunity to educate themselves, and we’re very eager to help them, there’s just a minor detail of raising the funds!
Here’s how you can help J
$10 Will buy a Braille board and paper for a blind student
$20 Will buy Hien’s family rice and medicines for a month
$50 Will pay for two blind siblings to attend school for a month
$100 Will pay for rice and oil for Friendship Home for two weeks
$200 Will supply the children of FH with necessary household goods
$500 Will pay for an English language course for eight blind students
$1000 Will pay for an IT course for ten blind students
$2000 Will pay for an IT course to train 5 blind IT teachers
$5000 Will pay for a massage course for ten blind students
Every dollar makes a difference, and all donations at all are greatly appreciated.
Once again we would like to thank you for your continued support. Without it ACCV simply could not function but together we can completely change the lives of many young people and their families.
Regards
Alison & Rose
http://accv-alison.blogspot.com/
