By Dana Doan | Strategic Advisor
Hello to our Narrow the Gap Fund Supporters!
In this report, we would like to share updates from the three projects that received funds in September 2013 to address the needs of disadvantaged children in and near Ho Chi Minh City. The three grants were made possible thanks to your support in 2013!
Project 1: Clean Water Tower for Children in Long Thuan (Long An Province)
Implemented by Ceporer Hoc Mon with 150 million Viet Nam Dong from Narrow the Gap Community Fund.
PROBLEM STATEMENT:
Long Thuan is a remote village, located north of Thu Thua District. Travel to and from the hamlet is difcult, the area is prone to regular ooding, drinking water systems are limited and most poor households rely on rain water, rivers and canals for bathing and cooking. Due to aluminum in the river water, it was necessary to do something to provide the 160+ children in this area with safe water.
ACTIVITIES:
Construction of one clean water tower that can serve 86 households in the hamlet.
After implementation of the project, 161 children now have access to clean water throughout the year, avoiding infections, skin and gynecological diseases for girls and women. Children have a safer, more stable and sanitary environment and family life. In addition, project staff and volunteers working on the project enhanced their capabilities through participation in the project and with this experience, they can apply the model of this project to other communes in the province.
TESTIMONIALS:
“We are very happy to have clean water to use instead of alum contaminated water or wait for rain water to fill our tanks, as before. We now have a more convenient and clean water at home, which saves us time and is safer.” - Mr. Thoi (a resident of Long Thuan Village who is benefiting from the project)
“My house and the other houses around here were very concerned about the water. We proposed several times, to the Provincial Committee and to the Commune, for clean water but we did not receive a satisfactory answer. So, when I heard about the Fund’s intention to build a water tower for our community, I volunteered to donate some of my land for the water tower project as I knew it would support my children and the other children in the area. I would like to thank the Narrow the Gap Fund and other supporters who showed their care for the people of Long Thuan, a poor commune in Long An Province.” - Mr. Nam (donor of the land where the clean water tower was built)
Project 2: Accompanying Children in Difficult Circumstances (Ho Chi Minh City)
Implemented by Nhan Ai Social Work Club (volunteer group) with 100 million Viet Nam Dong from Narrow the Gap Community Fund.
PROJECT GOAL:
To support and assist children in difcult circumstances and street children by offering basic education, future orientation and counseling so they can rise above their difcult lives; provide basic skills to help protect themselves against risky situations, such as the risk of abuse that regularly occur in the lives of these children.
BENEFICIARIES: 200 children
ACTIVITIES
220 children were supported, among whom 150 children participated in all project activities.
Nhan Ai supports 137 children who are studying in public school or night class, Nhan Ai also supports more subjects than in the project proposal. Following the last annual report, 3 children were ranked from fair to good students; 110 children were ranked from average to fair; 27 children were ranked weak to average and others increased their academic achievement at school. With more than 45 children over 6 years old being illiterate, by the end of 2014, they all can read, write and make basic calculations. Nhan Ai supported 20 scholarships for 20 disadvantaged children who could not afford tuition fees.
For the Cau Muoi class, we could not nd the venue initially and the classes were temporarily halted, however other activities were still carried out. Now the classes are re-opened and has made good progress. The teachers organized an award ceremony when students have attained academic achievements through preliminary midterm and nal grades. Students with good grades will participate in entertainment trips like watching movies, visiting museums or the zoo. Cau Ong Lanh Ward (District 1) has also agreed to provide venue to support organizing the awards ceremony to close-out the academic year.
To motivate children and teachers to make better progress, So Thung class opened a martial arts class. The So Thung martial arts class is taught at the appropriate level for the children to learn. On Sunday, the volunteers also taught them drawing so they can relax after a long week of studying. Besides, they also taught origami for the children to encourage their creativity and critical thinking.
TESTIMONIALS
“I would like to thank the teachers who came to teach us.” - (Beneficiary 1)
“I have found my dream after participating in a drawing class.” - (Beneficiary 2)
Project 3: “Let’s Learn” E-book for visually impaired children at shelters, clubs and schools in HCMC.
Implementated by Kim Tu Dien Multilingual Data (KMDC) with 50 million Viet Nam Dong from Narrow the Gap Community Fund.
PROBLEM STATEMENT:
There is a lack of relevant learning conditions and facilities for visually impaired children who are of school age, especially with regards to textbooks for studying English. With the help of this grant, KMDC is in the process of nalizing a “Let’s Learn” English language learning E-book for visually impaired children.
Direct Beneciaries: Bung Sang Shelter and Mai am Thien An Shelter
Indirect Beneciaries: Any visually impaired person who has access to the Internet.
ACTIVITIES/TIMELINE:
The Let’s Learn curriculum includes 12 units of content to teach English.
TESTIMONIALS:
“This project is the first project of great significance to help make it easier for visually impaired children to learn English using a computer. Educational software for children with visual impairment is quite limited. Through implementation of this project, we have a better understanding about the situation of people with visual impairment and their difficulties especially with regards to learning. The project is still in the process of review and testing.
We have not completed the project on schedule due to a number of difficulties. I hope, after deployment, the project can help visually impaired children to learn English and we hope that there may be more initiatives like this one, to support learning by visually impaired children. I would like to thank the Narrow the Gap Community Fund for making it possible to implement this project.” - Mr. Nguyen Minh Tri, IT Project Officer
For more information visit the following links
http://linvn.wordpress.com/2014/03/05/chuyen-tham-thuc-dia-den-trung-tam-du-lieu-da-ngu-kim-tu-dien/
Update on Narrow the Gap 2014: Focus on Education
LIN's annual Narrow the Gap Community Event 2014: "Raise Your Hand for Education!” took place on the 23rd of August, in Ho Chi Minh City. Over 400 people attended the event and 399 votes were submitted to decide the amount of each grant the three finalist projects would receive. During the event, a representative of YOLA Education moderated a panel discussion with the three project finalists and all guests were asked to vote to determine the theme for Narrow the Gap 2015 and how the funds raised together would be allocated among the three finalists.
Based on the outcome of those votes, we are allocating the funds raised to the following three projects:
During the event we were thrilled and honored to have Mdm. Ton Nu Thi Ninh - a seasoned diplomat, dedicated politician and an active educational and sociocultural ambassador - give an inspiring keynote speech. She talked about the importance of sharing information and working with others to ensure that everyone has access and benefits from development and progress.
Narrow the Gap Ambassador and Field Medal Winner Professor Ngo Bao Chau also joined the event, which thrilled the crowd and local media. We also had live entertainment by a local acoustic band, interactive booths set-up by local nonprofits, raffle prizes, networking games, education trivia and more.
Please check out the atttached event program. You can also view photos from the event and articles about the event on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/NarrowTheGapFund
Thank you, once again, for supporting the Narrow the Gap campaign and helping us to build a stronger community in Ho Chi Minh City!
Links:
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
