The Advocacy Project is seeking $1,500 to invest in a Vietnamese family that has been devastated by the herbicide Agent Orange. Ms. Toa, an aging widow, has three sons severely affected by Agent Orange. She is their primary caregiver and your donations will enable our Vietnamese partner, AEPD, to purchase a cow and calf for her family. This will help Ms. Toa breed calves and sell fertilizer to earn a sustainable income which she needs to cover her family's medical expenses and other daily costs.
Agent Orange still affects over 3 million Vietnamese. Ms. Toa is an aging widow who takes care of her two adult sons affected by Agent Orange: Nguyen Thanh Nam (40), has cerebral palsy and Nguyen Thanh Long (34), has mental disabilities and epilepsy. In addition to singlehandedly providing for her household, Ms. Toa is tasked with caring for Long's 3 children. Without a sustainable source of income she cannot provide for her family or purchase proper medication.
Your donations will purchase a cow and a calf for this vulnerable family and give them some financial security. Under a business plan developed by our Vietnamese partner, AEPD, Ms. Toa will rent the cow out to neighboring farmers, breed and sell calves, and sell fertilizer. AEPD's experience with other Agent Orange families has shown that cows are sturdy and can be easily managed. The cow-rearing business plan offers a sustainable way to ease some of the incredible pressure on Ms. Toa.
Ms. Toa's family will be the 11th to receive funding through AEPD's Agent Orange Campaign and we now hope to turn these short-term appeals into a long-term investment. Ms. Toa could be a role model for other aging widow caregivers in Quang Binh and leverage her knowledge of cow-rearing. If she succeeds in getting a cow, Ms. Toa would use the income toward household and medical expenses. It would allow Ms. Toa to face the future with some real hope, after so much heartache.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
