Winter Issue XIV December 2008

WORD FROM THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

VietHope is a non- By Alan Tu To express our appreciation for your support, we
profit organization have created new videos about the impact of your
dedicated to Vietnam’s At the start of 2008, VietHope began its sixth year support on students receiving Merit or University
socioeconomic of working to create educational opportunities for Scholarships. You can view the videos online at
development. We at financially disadvantaged children in Vietnam. As www.viethope.org.
VietHope believe that we near the end of 2008, all the staff, volunteers,
the wealth of Vietnam and scholarship recipients of VietHope are thankful THANK YOU AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
lies in its human capital for many things.
and its prosperity
depends on whether we We are thankful for creating a stronger organization
harness this human to help more Vietnamese children by receiving our
capital. As such, we legal operating status in Vietnam. VietHope also
developed a team of staff volunteers in Vietnam to
believe that good
ensure that our scholarship programs and
education is educational infrastructure projects reach more
indispensable to students in an accountable and efficient way.
Vietnam’s growth and
its future. We are thankful to receive the support of
Vietnamese student associations across the U.S. via
VietHope is a 501(c)3 uNAVSA's [Union of North American Vietnamese
non-profit. We are a Student Associations] Collective Philanthropy
volunteer-based Project [CPP]. As VietHope is this year's CPP
organization with 20 recipient, uNAVSA will fundraise throughout the
active team members. 2008-2009 academic year to support the launch of Merit students and VietHope volunteers (Thu Hue,
VietHope's Youth Development Program in Nhung, Phuoc Minh) from Hue
VietHope members are
Vietnam. VSAs in America are excited about this
based in Boston, San
program because it can help youths in the United
Francisco, New York, States connect with youths in Vietnam as well as
Washington DC and helping Vietnamese youths receive more
Southeast Asia. educational and community service opportunities. Please go to www.VietHope.org to sign
up for our quarterly e-newsletter
Contributing With the support of uNAVSA we plan to launch
Writers: Campaign Connect to fundraise for the Youth
Alan Tu Development Program over the coming year. With
Vi Nguyen many exciting and interactive fundraising activities
Chinh Ky Mai related to Campaign Connect, we encourage you to IN THIS ISSUE:
Lynn Huynh get involved today! You can learn how by visiting Word from the Board of Directors 1
our new website, which we launched this past
Hong Lam A Reintroduction: The Revamping of VietHope
December, at www.viethope.org.
Jennifer Lou
Website! 2
And lastly, we are thankful for your support over
Editors: Trips of Love 3
the past 6 years. With your support, we have been
Jennifer Lou able to make 2008 a highly productive year. In Learning Side of Life 4
Tiffany Phan 2009, we plan to increase the number of
scholarship recipients in our community, merit, and Why I Donate 5
university scholarship programs as well as our Become a VietHope Sponsor! 6
educational infrastructure projects and youth
www.VietHope.org
info@VietHope.org
development program.

VietHope | 423 Brookline Avenue #199 Boston, MA 02215 | info@VietHope.org | www.VietHope.org 1

 VIETHOPE NEWSLETTER
Winter Issue XIV December 2008

A REINTRODUCTION: THE REVAMPING OF THE TRIPS OF LOVE

Scholarship VIETHOPE WEBSITE! By Chính Kỳ Mai - Volunteer, Vietnam
Programs: By Vi Nguyen - Volunteer, USA
ƒ Merit Scholarship “In this life we cannot do great things. We can only
Program: Provide do small things with great love” - Mother Teresa
Since September, discussion of organization, color
access to education schemes, goals, and content has thrived among the Our trips are driven by love. Following our planned
for poor students in VietHope team in the U.S. Our challenge was to bi-monthly trips to help poor and underprivileged
rural areas from grade redesign www.viethope.org. people in different areas of Vietnam, we paid a
6-12 ($120 meaningful visit to Khanh Anh Pagoda on
student/year). Merit The website will provide access to our newsletter, November 8th, 2008 to lend a hand.
is a renewal up-to-date news about our Scholarship Programs,
scholarship program Infrastructure Projects and highlight our new Youth Khanh Anh Pagoda is located in a distant area
where-by scholarships Development Program. between the road from Soc Trang to Bac Lieu
are renewed on a
(~300km from Ho Chi Minh City). In 1995, when
Monk Nhat Trung first arrived and became a
yearly basis until
member of the pagoda, local parents were too poor
students finish grade
to handle their children’s schooling expenses so
12, or fail to meet
kids were not encouraged to go to school. The
VietHope criteria. monk was concerned about this. With all his love,
ƒ University care and dream of a brighter future for the children,
Scholarship Program one year later, the Monk set up two small classes
(USP): Provide access and started to teach children how to read. Since
to education for then, 14 classes have been set up educating more
disadvantaged than 300 Kherme and Kinh pupils. Fourteen
students at the teachers now teach the children, on modest salaries
university level from local Educational and Training Department.
($150/student/year). Monk Nhat Trung has to find sponsors and call for
USP aims to develop donations to support teachers and children studying
a network of in the pagoda.
university students In addition to providing the kids a good educational
and potential Not everything is new, as we’ve preserved a lot of environment, Khanh Anh Pagoda also cooks once a
community leaders. content from the older site. The faces you see are week lunch for them. He would like to provide
Summer activities are still the faces of talented youths of Vietnam. more lunches, but he cannot afford the cost for a
organized for USP The work that you have long supported is still large number of students.
scholars to engage in sustainable and promising. Our aim is to reach out
community service to thousands of new and old supporters through this
activities. new virtual framework.
ƒ Community
Scholarship Program: I want to recognize the plethora of work that a few
Provide monetary of our volunteers have put into this website. First is
support for uniforms Dang Tran, who built the foundation of this website
and school supplies
in so many ways to count. Second is Jennifer Lou,
who labored over the site’s content. And last but
for the least well-off
not least is Alan Tu, who funneled everything that
students in Vietnam
was great about the past website into this new
in K-5.
virtual image of VietHope.
Infrastructure The following piece is written by Chính Kỳ who
Investment Program: initiated the idea of bimonthly volunteer activities Chinh Ky and Trang surrounded by children at the
Provide access to for VietHope volunteers to have more opportunities Pagoda
education by funding to work together and help the community. These
construction projects for Providing assistance to the pagoda, VietHope
activities are independently organized by our
members in Sai Gon planned a two-week campaign
schools, libraries and volunteers and do not represent VietHope projects
to collect money and old clothes for our trip to
learning centers. or scholarship programs.
Khanh Anh. We collected VND11,000,000 (~6.50

VietHope | 423 Brookline Avenue #199 Boston, MA 02215 | info@VietHope.org | www.VietHope.org 2

 VIETHOPE NEWSLETTER
Winter Issue XIV December 2008

USD) and many pieces of clothing from friends, Merit Scholarship Program Update
Ways to Support
VietHope: VietHope colleagues and relatives. A team of 8 people By Lynn Huynh
welcomes anyone including Trang, Phuong, Quang, Ky, Hue, Tran,
who believes in our Thuy and Lan traveled together to the Khanh Anh The Merit Scholarship Program had a remarkable
mission. There are a Pagoda. More than 300 pupils were eager to go to year in many aspects. This is the first year we have
number of ways in school early on this beautiful weekend and join our successfully networked directly with schools and
which you can games in the school yard. Their happiness showed headmasters. In the past, we have attempted to
support VietHope: on their faces when they smiled, in their voices work with schools and were denied access because
when they sang and in every performance step we were still a young organization.
ƒ Sponsor a student when they danced with us.
through one of Our team tripled in size over the past summer. We
VietHope’s 3 had new volunteers and students from VietHope
Scholarship
University Scholarship Program (USP) help
Programs
promote the program and reach out to more
ƒ Donate to students in rural communities. Our USP scholars
VietHope’s traveled to their home villages, networked with
infrastructure middle schools and high schools, and reached out
investment to remote areas to find applicants deserving of the
program Merit scholarship award. As a result of our
volunteer efforts, we received 520 new applications
ƒ Spread awareness and 120 renewal applications. After filtering out 80
about VietHope incomplete applications, the Merit team reviewed
and VietHope’s 440 new applications from Hue, Quang Binh, Nghe
mission An, Thai Binh, Ha Nam, Nam Dinh, Ha Noi, Phu
Tho, and Thai Nguyen.
ƒ Donate time and
energy by
becoming a
VietHope
volunteer

Students from the Community Scholarship Program

Coming back to Sai Gon, our souls were filled with
joy. We feel more proud to be a member of
VietHope – a home of kind-hearted friends who are
always ready to help and support us as well as Rice Field
many other less fortunate people around. All the
wonderful images on the trip to Khanh Anh Pagoda
remain deep in our hearts and lighten our souls with The piece below is from a volunteer who visited
warmth, love and care. We look forward to our next our Merit recipients in Soc Son to hand them the
trip. Merit scholarship award and to assess the student’s
situation. Students in the Merit program receive the
scholarship award twice a year (early first term and
early second term).

VietHope | 423 Brookline Avenue #199 Boston, MA 02215 | info@VietHope.org | www.VietHope.org 3

 VIETHOPE NEWSLETTER
Winter Issue XIV
LEARNING SIDE of LIFE
VietHope events and By Hong Lam – Volunteer, Vietnam
activities: Translated by Tiffany Phan and Lynn Huynh
ƒ Release of Winter Each child we visited had a story of his/her own.
Newsletter
One child has never met his father since he was
(December 2008)
born, while another child lost her mother. We met a
child whose parents are both chronically ill and
ƒ VietHope fundraising
event in New York another who comes to school with an empty
City scheduled for stomach. Reflecting back on our visit, these
January 2009 (more children were role models for us. They have
information to come overcome challenges, are respectful to their elders,
on www.viethope.org and perform well in school.
contact Tiffany at
tiffany@viethope.org)
VietHope Volunteers (Van Nam and Hong Lam) and
Merit Student and Family
What follows are the thoughts that our VietHope
volunteers collected during visits to these students’
homes in Soc Son Ward, Ha Noi to give out Merit
Please visit Scholarship award.
www.viethope.org for
more details on The first household we visited was Ta Thi Thuy’s
upcoming events and family. Thuy lives in a small tattered house with
activities only essential amenities. She's the fourth child in a
family of six children. When we arrived, her father
just came home from the farm so he was covered in
mud. In front of us was a man who had broken his
leg during an accident and continued to labor in the
field to support his family. Thuy's mom has been
fighting a spinal cord disease for years. Regardless
of the difficulty she faces, Thuy and her siblings
have never disappointed their parents and have
been acknowledged by their school and the village
as admirable students who have overcome
hardship. Each year they received certificates of
excellence in their district.
Our next stop was Do Thi Trang's family, who had
the most impact on us. Trang is only 16 years old,
but has a sad and lonely face. She was very shy and
did not speak much. Only when we learned more
VietHope | 423 Brookline Avenue #199 Boston, MA 02215 | info@VietHope.org | www.VietHope.org
December 2008
about her family situation did we understand the
reasons for her demeanor. Her parents divorce has
affected Trang emotionally, mentally, and
physically. This demonstrated to us how family
strife in a broken home can devastate and deeply
affect a child. Trang is currently living with her
great aunt who is blind and deaf so that she can be
close to school and take care of her great aunt.
VietHope Volunteers (Van Nam and Hong Lam) and
Merit Student and Family
We next visited Doan Thuy Hang and her family of
three. She lost her father when she was 1 years old.
In order to support the family, Hang's mother
provides daycare services for a salary of less than
30 USD a month. This is a very small amount of
earning especially when the mother has two
daughters who are attending school. When we
asked the mother to talk about Hang, she was very
proud of her daughter: "She mentioned that Hang
and her sister love her very much and when they
come home from school they immediately go into
the kitchen to cook for themselves. Occasionally,
they would take trips into town to wash dishes for a
restaurant owner in exchange for a daily meal and
food for their mother.” No matter how difficult
things are for Hang, every year she manages to
receive top grades, especially for Math, Philosophy,
and Science. Hang's dream is to attend the
University of Foreign Commerce, and work hard to
help her family.
The next student on our list is Nguyen Van Hiep
Hung who has a similar situation: his mother died
years ago, and his father is a war veteran with
disabilities. There is no valuable furniture in their
house except for an old set of table and chairs to
greet guests. Other items such as a TV and fan were
donated to them. Hung shared with us that he hopes
4
 VIETHOPE NEWSLETTER
Winter Issue XIV December 2008

New additions to to get accepted into a college that focuses in In this land, there are millions of footprints left by
VietHope Staff: English because he likes to study English. many parents who will sacrifice their life for the
betterment of their children. We met a farmer who
The last family that we visited was Dinh Thi Huan's
Phong Nguyen was weaving baskets and was able to support seven
Phong is VietHope’s
home. Huan was sick when we met him. Both his
children through college. Another example is a
first Executive parents have chronic diseases. His dream is to
teacher who treats her students like her own
Director (ED) in attend a college of pedagogy so that he can teach
children, and always ready to help them overcome
Vietnam. Phong will underprivileged students like himself.
hardship.
lead the organization
of VietHope’s These are the people who have shaped our
activities in Vietnam, Vietnamese tradition to study hard, persevere, and
with the support of the one day a hard working person who is poor can
incredible volunteer become successful. Farewell to Soc Son, farewell
teams throughout to our role models of hard working students who
Vietnam. Phong first overcome challenges, farewell to the parents and
joined VietHope in we will see you again the next time we come to
2002 as a volunteer
give out Merit Scholarship award.
and has been a key
contributor to the
growth and
development of
VietHope. VietHope is
extremely fortunate to
have Phong as its first
Executive Director.
School in Vietnam
Vi Nguyen Coming to Soc Son, visiting these students whose
Vi is a VietHope
mind and heart are devoted to their studies despite
member based in
Connecticut where she
the hardship they face left us with mixed feelings.
is a second year We felt great sympathy as well as confidence
student at Yale knowing that these students’ dream will come true.
University. Vi has Indeed, we truly believe they will achieve their
been instrumental in dreams because after witnessing their conditions Students in Ca Mau
VietHope’s effort to
and speaking to their parents, we were assured that
reach out to WHY I DONATE
Vietnamese Student the parents will prioritize education for a better
future for their kids and will do everything in their By Jennifer Lou, Editor
Associations (VSAs)
and a key contributor power to support them through school.
in VietHope’s There are a million reasons to give to VietHope: the
We were touched by a statement from Nguyen Viet mission resonates with your personal values and
becoming a recipient
Hung’s father, "our family no longer has anything goals, you're inspired by what VietHope has
of the uNAVSA grant.
valuable, however, if needed, we would sell our accomplished, you're impressed that the work has
land so our kids can pay for school tuition because been done mainly during people's free time, you
we believe that his education could open my have money to give, it's good to give, and/or you're
knowledge as a father as well…" friends with a member of VietHope. What initially
We were convinced by Hang’s mother, who has an prompted me to donate when VietHope was
illness but continues to take care of infants to earn a founded was my friendship with the President. Nam
small income in order to pay off the family's debt is the kind of person that, if you give her your
from building this small home. Although their money, you know without a doubt that she will do
living standard is low and each day they struggle to all she can to put every single cent to good use. Her
make means out of the basics, the mother's face was dedication and drive, and by extension, the
always filled with happiness. She says, "Sometimes dedication and drive of the entire team, engenders
I'm very exhausted from work, nevertheless, seeing confidence and trust.
my kids study hard I become very happy and all my
exhaustion disappears."

VietHope | 423 Brookline Avenue #199 Boston, MA 02215 | info@VietHope.org | www.VietHope.org 5

 VIETHOPE NEWSLETTER
Winter Issue XIV December 2008

VietHope It is said that in giving you receive. Donating my

Executive time to VietHope has provided me with a platform
Committee to hone my abilities as a contributing editor and
occasional web consultant. I continue to give
for a prosperous Vietnam tomorrow
Nam Tran Nguyen, because I witness VietHope's tremendous growth
President and progress year over year. Watching their work

Lynn Huynh,
has also reinforced the belief that if you set your Donation Form
mind to it, individuals really can make a difference. (Online donations accepted via www.viethope.org)
VP & Scholarship But the most touching, rewarding part of my
Program Chair experience has been receiving letters from the
students who have benefitted from my donation. The objective of VietHope’s Scholarship &
Phong Nguyen, University programs is to provide financial
These scholarship recipients painstakingly detail
Executive Director assistance to children in poor rural areas in Vietnam
how my money has been spent in addition to
(Vietnam)
expressing their deep gratitude for my gift. That who cannot afford the costs of continuing their
Chau Nguyen, writing a check in a matter of seconds has that kind education. The students are selected on the basis of
Treasurer of impact is enormously moving. Former First Lady financial need, performance in school, and their
Barbara Bush once said, "Giving frees us from the motivation to excel. Your contribution will directly
Van Nguyen, familiar territory of our own needs by opening our support the education costs for these children.
Co-Fundraising Chair mind to the unexplained worlds occupied by the
needs of others." And it is through VietHope that I Name:_______________________________
Ai Hirashiki, have been able to address the needs of others.
Co-Fundraising Chair
Address:_____________________________
Alan Tu, ____________________________________
UPCOMING VIETHOPE 2009 ANNUAL MEETING
Public Relations and
Date: February 14-15, 2009
Finance Chair Email:_______________________________
Location: San Francisco, CA
My-Anh Ha, For more information or to RSVP, email
info@viethope.org.
Please check one or several of the boxes:
Project Co-Chair
‰ I wish to sponsor a child through
Dan White, VIETHOPE ACTIVITIES
USP Co-Chair VietHope’s Merit Scholarship Program.
THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO ATTENDED With my support of $120/year, I will help
Quang Duong, VIETHOPE NYC INFORMATION SESSION AT children in Vietnam attain a higher level
USP Co-Chair COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY AND VIETHOPE 3RD ANNUAL of education
BENEFIT DINNER AT NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY.
Tiffany Phan, ‰ I wish to make a contribution of $_____
Co-Head of Community DONATIONS FROM CORPORATIONS towards the University Scholarship
Scholarship Program Program
My Hue Nguyen VietHope would like to acknowledge the generous
‰ I wish to support and become more
Co-Head of Community donations from its corporate supporters.
involved in VietHope’s work by becoming
Scholarship Program a member for $25
Quang Tran, ‰ I wish to make a general donation to
Monitoring & Evaluation
VietHope in the amount of $______
Chair
*Please make checks payable to:
Tai Phan,
Dir. of Communications
VietHope, Inc.
423 Brookline Avenue, #199
Boston, MA 02215

______________________________
Signature Date

VietHope | 423 Brookline Avenue #199 Boston, MA 02215 | info@VietHope.org | www.VietHope.org 6