Nghe An

It was a busy week fundraising for Nghe An. Due to the short amount of time we had, it is amazing how we pulled everything off. This is my first time ever done something like this, gathering donations and personally delivering it to the students and family. We raised money by asking family members and do fundraising events. Even though fundraising events did not raise as much fund as collecting donations, but it was good in raising awareness to everyone about the work we do and what is going on outside of Hanoi. I had a lot of fun and it was priceless seeing the smile on the kid faces. Coming to the school, we overestimated the jacket size for the kids. Even though some kids are in 3-5 grade, they are still very small like they were in 2 grade. Everyone was the same size, so some jackets were too big for the kids. Nevertheless, they still had a big smile on their face holding on to their new jacket, might of been the one and only new jacket they ever received. I quickly collected 300USD donations from family members, in which not a lot in the states, but it made a big difference for these kids. Some have to walk for about 3-4 hours to come to class and they have to do it 4 times a day. Again, seeing these kids make me feel how lucky I am to have more than 1 jackets to keep myself warm and have a car to drive to school, while these kids only have their legs and little skinny body to keep them warm and move about from and to places.

What struck me the most was when we went to each student's house to give them the gifts and money. one family had 4 small little children about 5-13 years old. Their dad left the family for other woman and so leaving the mom to take care of the kids. She has to work elsewhere and can only come home every other 2 days or so. So the kids have to take care of themselves with no adult supervision. I can imagine how they have to go find food, cook it, and take care of each other at night. some family was speechless when they saw us. It was one heartfelt learning experience in which most houses have nothing but a bed and a table inside their house. Some don't even have a door to keep their house secure. I have always knew there are poor family living everywhere, but this time I am actually witnessing it. It's a different feeling. I felt helpless in a sense in which I dont know how much this 200,000 dong can last them until they are back to where they came from. From this trip, I fully understand how important this type of work is. It might be a small gift but it can make a big change to someone's family.