Lelan and Lacey Lockwood of Lang Son – Love Education Fund:
Food For Thought – give a child the energy and health needed in order to learn at school!
Lang Son is a beautiful mountainous province along the Vietnam-China border. It also has one of the highest HIV infection rates in Vietnam, a major prostitution problem, and many dangers to children due to its status as a commercial point-of-entry between these two rapidly developing countries.
With two beautiful children from Lang Son, Vietnam, the Lockwood family wanted a way to give back to their daughters’ country of birth. Working with Families In Vietnam, the 5LE fund currently focuses on educational and basic needs of children in Lang Son Province. Begun in 2007, the first project was to provide drinkable water for two satellite elementary schools. The children had been going all day without water. Building a well and providing a filtration system completed this project successfully in early 2008. In the fall of 2008, the project provided clothing, school supplies, and blankets to the 40 poorest children in the main school. In 2009, we started the chicken project, giving baby chicks to very poor families. When their flock has grown, each family “gives forward” baby chicks to another needy family. This project has been very successful! The school now has a vegetable garden to supplement the school lunches.
Families In Vietnam is working with Tan Lien elementary school in rural Lang Son province to improve health and education for the poorest families in the district. Many of these children walk an hour each way to school. Some are extremely malnourished, affecting their ability to benefit from education. However, the families are highly committed to their children’s schooling, understanding that it is the only way out of a cycle of poverty. These children are from ethnic minorities in the area. Their families participate in the chicken project to enable them to increasingly provide for themselves and send eggs for the children’s lunches.
Food For Thought Lunch Project
Families In Vietnam has started a school lunch program for the poorest children at Tan Lien elementary school who cannot walk home for lunch. The poorest children tend to live furthest away, up in the mountains, and walk an hour each way to school. Previously they ate rice for lunch with a small amount of vegetables. These children have stunted growth and in some cases extreme malnutrition, having virtually no sources of protein and a very limited diet.
The school lunch includes a source of protein (meat or eggs), yogurt, rice, vegetables, and fruit. The cost is 40 cents per day per child. There is no overhead taken out of donations- all the money goes directly to the school lunch project.
