Community and Development - Vietnam

Residential Shelters

Christina first opened the Boys' Shelter in October 1994 and later a Girls Shelter in 1998 with a vision to provide safe and loving home environment for street children between six and eighteen years old. The majority of children who live within the shelter are runaways from abusive parents, or children from families so impoverished they have been abandoned. On the streets they are at constant risk of starvation and sexual or commercial exploitation. In addition to providing the basic necessities of food, clothing and a place to sleep, the shelter always tries to create a child-friendly and loving environment as spiritual and sentimental needs are given a high priority.

The girls who live in the shelter attend school and share daily chores. They are also assisted with education and vocational training and can choose from a range of apprenticeship courses, to prepare them for the future. Classes are also offered in extracurricular activities and children are avid participants in the Sunshine Sports, Art and Music Project and social events and excursions.

CNCF, in co-operation with UNESCO, constructed five residential homes within a purpose-built compound in January 2000, to shelter a maximum of sixty (60) visually impaired street children. The home functions as both a residential and educational centre for children suffering from either partial or total blindness. Almost all the residents attend daily classes at the Tay Ninh School for Children with Special Needs, and the Tay Ninh Centre provides a long-term service of education, healthcare, entertainment and vocational training to all children.

Having been in operation now for nearly 10 years, the centre has earned a reputation among the local community for the incredible changes it has brought to the lives of visually impaired children. As for vocational training, since 2006 the centre ran courses on blind massage therapy. In Vietnam this is generally seen as a promising career for visually impaired people. CNCF are always looking for trained people to develop the Tay Nnh children's skills.

The Family Assistance Programme

This programme was set up to help children or their family in special difficult circumstances, those who need assistance that is not provided through existing CNCF projects. It could be a family facing immediate financial difficulties, needing capital to start a small family business so that the family income can be more stable and sustainable. Or it could be a parent who does not have any training and is thus unable to find a stable and sustainable job to provide for the family's livelihood. In such a case, special assistance would be provided for the parent to learn a suitable trade in which work is available.

Revolving Loan Projects

The objective of this project (which was first set up in 1997) is to provide loans with low-interest to help families living in poverty to find a sustainable livelihood. The projects have not only helped women increase their incomes but, more importantly, they have contributed to the empowerment of women and secure their children's schooling by way of lessening the financial burden of school fees. The funds have been used to start up micro-enterprises such as rice or cash crop farming, livestock breeding and grocery stores. Such loan initiatives are an extremely effective way of helping families escape poverty, a view shared by the Vietnamese Government.

The duration of a loan cycle varies from 1 to 2 years and each family has been granted with anywhere between US$65 and US$440, depending on the type of production. A family can often be involved in several loan cycles to gain sustainable development with the assumption that the family becomes self-reliant within several cycles. Once repaid, each loan is recycled to assist another family.

To date, the Revolving Loan Projects have focused in Ben Tre, Kien Giang, Dong Nai Provinces and Can Gio District, Ho Chi Minh City and has provided 248 families living in poverty a loan.

The Bicycle Support Programme was established in 2004, and is open to all children involved in CNCF Projects. Generally it is a CNCF Project Manager that will make a request for a bicycle to be donated to one of the children in their project. However, the project is not limited to just these nominated children, as community children are also able to apply for a bicycle. Community children are referred to CNCF's Bicycle Support Programme through local partners who are aware of the child's needs.

To receive a bicycle, the child must be unable to afford the bicycle and it is either unsafe or too far for them to walk to school. These are also children who, without a bicycle are at risk of not doing well in school or even dropping out because their schooling is dependent on them being able to get to school. The cost for a new and very good quality bicycle with a helmet is $130USD (as of August 2010), and in 2009, the programme distributed 77 bicycles and towards the end of the year we started distributing new safety helmets with each bike.