Helping in Vietnam for nearly a decade, the true successes of all our volunteer efforts and your generous donations are beginning emerge! Seeing the happiness and pride that providing safety, shelter, nourishment and education brings our FIV families is what Families in Vietnam is all about! Read just a few of our favorite success stories below.
- 78 children completed the 2011 school year.
- 3 children are currently in foster care as an alternative to living on the streets or orphanage placement.
- Several children who missed the first few years of elementary school in order to sell postcards or beg to support their families are now in school with excellent attendance records.
- 3 former prostitutes and their children are finding hope for the future through access to education.
Mother: L. Sons: Q.A. and Q.L.
Q.A. and Q.L. with their mother at their grandmother's house when FIV first met them.
L. used to peddle to tourists in Hanoi with no support system nearby. She worked all day and long into the evening, and didn’t have time to take care of her sons, so she sent them to live with her mother in the countryside. Unfortunately, their grandmother didn’t approve of her lifestyle, because she was an unwed mother, and favored her other daughter over L. Therefore, she was not kind to her grandsons, Q.A. and Q.L. The boys were malnourished and would often be locked out of the house.
When FIV board member, Christen, visited, she discovered that the boys were having to sleep in “the duck room,” a small room in the house where the family kept their ducks and other fowl. The sanitary conditions were deplorable and the smell you could only imagine.
Q.A. and Q.L. excited to receive a study table at their new home with L. in the safer countryside.
FIV was able to rent a small house for L. in the countryside, and helped her to secure a steady job. Three years later, L. is able to raise her boys in a safe countryside area, out of the slums of Hanoi. She is no longer peddling. Q.A. has outstanding grades, and was ranked second in his class. Q.L. has average grades.
The boys were thrilled when FIV purchased a study table, lamp and calculator for them, as they value their studies but had no place (except miniature stools) to do their schoolwork. The second photo shows the family just after their new desk was delivered, and the boys are beaming. FIV continues to pay the boy’s school fees and provides monthly family support in order to ensure that L. is able to care for her boys sufficiently.
