I have been trying without luck to get pictures posted over the past few days with no luck, so here is a catch up and I will get many more pictures up within the next few days.
We left Lang Son a few days ago, it was an amazing sucess. We will now follow up over time on how the project moves forward. The school principal is my new pen pal. I will practise Vietnamese and she can practise English and I can keep up on how the project is doing.
In addition to the chicken project at the school, we were so pleased to be able to give the school 10 new bikes. The bikes will be lent to children that kive far from the school and have to walk each day (some walk an hour or more). The school goes to grade 5, once the child moves to the next school, the bike is left for the next child. The government in this area (becasue it is so poor) pays for the kids to go to school until grade 5. When we asked sponsored families if they plannd to keep thier children in school past grade 5, most of them told us that they hoped to but it will depend on whether they can find the money. I think it costs $10/month. I learned quickly that bikes are transportation here- a bike can greatly improve the quality of life for a family.
I was so happy to see the chickens go to their new homes! By the time we left, there was only the teaching flock left for the school. We hired someone to take care of the chickens and was she ever doting on them! I will post a picture of her later. We bought 1100 chickens, knowing that some would perish. I am happy to say that we only lost about 40 chicks. That left 140 chicks for the school (they planned for 100). I will post picture of the chicken coupe at the school (it is delux!). The chickens will stay in the little room they have been kept in until they are big enough to go into the coupe (they would fit through the chain link fence that pens in thier "yard" right now. Even over the few days that we were there, each morning they would be just a big bigger, just a bit fluffier and just a bit faster! It brought us all so much joy to see them so healthy.
The school chickens will reproduce (more babies for families), they will produce lots of eggs for lunch (in addition to what the kids bring, this wil be great nutrition for the kids)and the school will teach the kids how to care for the chickens (a teaching flock).
We met the the social center that my daughter is from (which I wrongfully called it the orphanage- but it is also home to seniors and people with special needs). The social center is also in need. We hope to help them get more pigs (breeding pigs, not meat pigs). We also got the first steps clarified for the scholarship program. The social center has some great candidates (that have already won acedemic awards). The last think the center needed were resources for the special needs kids. Not just wheel chairs and walkers, but someone to come and do some therapy with the kids. We are hoping to partner with universities in Hanoi and have the students in this field come to Lang Son for practical training (internship). This is a nice compliment to the scholarship program for the center.
We met a great fellow who runs another center for orphaned kids with no where to go. It is called the "Hope center". I will post pictures soon. It is a very modest facility but a happy place. We enjoyed our time with them. It is not supported by the government in any way so they rely on local donations. They do a lot for themselves, they have chickens, pigs and a huge garden. The pigs are meat pigs, we hope to get hem some breeding pigs as well. Breeding pigs cost $100 each- I was shocked it was so high- but it makes sense why everyone has meat pigs which can be easily purchased in the market (breeding pigs must be ordered). All of the kids are in school.
So there are the coles notes! Please bear with me as I post pictures and fill in the gaps of our amazing adventure. We look forward to coming back and seeing the kids and continuing our work in Lang Son.
thanks for checking in!
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