Map of Vietnam
Today was an exciting and productive one, as the ROW team, consisting of Drew McIlreavy, Freddie Davis, Andy Stamp, Karin Clack and Charles Johnson, traveled to Da Nang to meet with representatives of Children of Vietnam (COV). Over the past year, Drew has been talking to the founder of Children of Vietnam, Ben Wilson, to better understand the mission of this group. It became clear that ROW and COV share a common vision in its efforts here, and the purpose of today’s meeting was to discuss where COV and ROW might work together to compliment one another’s efforts. Joining us at the meeting was Luong Thi Huong, the Country Director of COV. As a result of today’s meeting, ROW and COV will continue to explore ways in which they might work together in the future.
Also, the team formulated a detailed budget for effective ways to benefit the children that it hopes to serve in Vietnam. Included in the budget are funds to donate to eight orphanages for food, clothing, school tutoring and other necessities, funds to purchase fifty two bicycles to be distributed to an orphanage and impoverished children in rural areas, calculators for orphans, clothes for 280 impoverished children, and a new water pump for one orphanage. Other items funded by the budget include two washing machines and two dryers for orphanages, the construction of a day care center in Quang Nam Province, the construction of two homes for poor families with disabled members in the rural area near Danang, and funds for books, toys, clothes and rice, to be distributed on behalf of ROW by the staff of Children of Vietnam.
Following the meeting with COV, we all had lunch with old friends at Bread of Life, a café run by deaf young people in Danang. We all received a warm welcome, especially Freddie and Drew, who are old friends with the kids at Bread of Life. We also traveled to at bike shop with the COV staff and purchased fifty two bikes to be distributed per the budget mentioned previously.
It was quite a day and one that we hope will lead to a better and more productive effort in our work in Viet Nam.
Charles Johnson
