OneHeart Newsletter Issue 3

Dear Members and Friends,

At our regional meeting in Houston earlier this year, VA-NGO Board heard loud and clear from members about the need for enhancing health education to benefit children, and for collaboration towards gathering a library of health materials to be shared.

Our Capacity Building Workshop team has developed a curriculum of presentations to enhance essential skills for partners and staff of member organizations in Vietnam. With a broadened participation and new contributors such as speakers in the US and Vietnam from CPI, ICEVN, O1W, PALS, TCF, Trường Sư Phạm Mẫu Giáo and SDRC, we strive to offer value for your membership.

Project Vietnam Foundation (PVNF) was charged with finding a health project of universal need. The safety of young children in out-of-home care is an issue close to my heart, as many incidents of injuries and serious events are frequently reported in childcare facilities. Last fall, the only child of a family I knew in Hanoi, was brought in a coma to the National Hospital of Pediatrics, after aspirating food in his lungs from being force-fed at his childcare center. The fate of young children is all too often at the mercy of childcare workers and teachers who receive little training in emergency interventions and first aid, a requirement for licensing in the US. The American Academy of Pediatrics has a successful training “Pediatric First Aid for Caregivers and Teachers” which PVNF just obtained the authorization to translate and teach in Vietnam. We are diligently at work, and anticipate the first training in November. This is a project of obvious public benefit, and most appropriate for VA-NGO, that every member can bring to the schools they support. In Saigon alone, there are almost 70,000 school children under 5yo, who attend 700 kindergarten and 860 childcare centers. They should be our priority concern whether in the cities or remote rural locations.

Friends of Hue Foundation this summer has developed a very effective model for peer education, with the potential of building the student leadership of the future. Other member-organizations may have similar projects, and we appeal on all of you to share best practices and innovative ways to strengthen the youth of the future.

To keep children safe from birth, and create a nurturing environment to develop their young minds is truly the best investment for Vietnam. Many of us have chosen to work for the benefit of children. We will be calling on you to contribute in some way so that these projects become a true collaboration. The cause is worthy and VA-NGO can advocate as per our motto “the strength of many, the voice of one”…

As the summer wears out its heat into the fall, many of you have used their vacation to work on assistance programs. Please share your pains and successes, concerns and problems, so we can work on your behalf whenever possible, and learn from your experience always.

Quynh Kieu, MD
Chairperson, VA NGO Network

Capacity Building Workshops, Spring 2010 – Vietnam

April 2-3 – Huế
April 5-6 – HCMC

The series of CBWs are titled “Seeds of Change: For the Interest of the Child.” The Spring CBWs was a collaborative effort between VANGO Network, Trung Tâm Giáo dục Nhân đạo Huế and Trung tâm Nuôi dưỡng Bảo trợ Trẻ em Gò Vấp.

The Spring 2-day Capacity Building Workshop included new topics: “Life skills for success: Top tips for communication skills, Listening and Time Management,” “Emotional Intelligence Quotations,” and “Language and Literacy Development: The Art of Story Telling.” There were a total of 81 participants (76 females and 7 males) in Hue on April 2-3, 2010. On April 5-6, there were 56 participants (40 females and 16 males) at the CBW in Go Vap, HCMC.

“Language and Literacy Development: The Art of Story Telling” was presented by Ms. Ngô Thanh Giang. Participants were captured by the presentation on the significance of language development with emphasis on the art of story telling. Ms Giang delivered the workshop interactively with in-class exercises and dialogue among participants and presenter.

The participants attending the workshop on “Life Skills for Success: Top Tips for Communication Skills, Listening and Time Management” learnt that practicing life skills not just about dealing with purely social issues, it is also a process that involves education and mobilizing of communities and individuals to effect change with the objective to be successful in society. Ms. Bình Nguyễn Rybacki from COPI gave many examples and used the humor with interactive questions which made the session more lively and engaging.

The workshop on “Emotional Intelligence Quotient” (EQ) facilitated by Dr. John Nguyen from ICEVN inspired the workshop attendants with the four core-skills for communicating social emotional interactions effectively. Dr Nguyen also showed many video clips on specific cases to illustrate the importance of EQ and its role in fostering effective and productive work?

The topic on “Social work practice with children and families” was presented in Hue by Ms. Trần Ái Mỹ, a consultant from SDRC and lecturer from HCM University who enriched the subject with insights from her extensive experiences in working in social work leading to lively discussion on handling difficult situations.

Lunch and Learn: After Our1World’s “Sustainability of food and the environment for healthy living” workshop, Ms Cathy Lam and Ms. Lê Quý Tiểu Hải, engaged members like FHF, CESR, TCF to bring one cooked ingredient (brown rice, lotus seed, green Mung Bean) for the VA-NGO “collaboration rice”. Together they demonstrated the lesson by providing delicious lunch and snacks. Participants made action commitments to preserve the nutrients in cooking, to use nutritional food chart and to follow the hygiene & sanitation procedures when feeding children.

Capacity Building Workshops, Summer 2010 – Vietnam

July 12-13, HCMC

VA NGO Network Summer Capcity Building Workshop (CBW) on July 12 – 13, 2010 titled “Seeds of Change: In the Interest of the Child” was held at the Trường Nghiệp vụ Nhà hàng Thành phố in Bình Thạnh District.

The Summer CBW brought together 68 participants (69% female and 21% male) who came from a diverse professional background and gathered for exchanging ideas, learning and sharing experiences. They currently are working for 21 VANGOs and institutions in HCM City, Bình Dương and An Giang.

Collectively, the workshop on the children civic education titled “Tiên học lễ hậu học văn” by Ms Vũ Kim Yến, Principal of Stafford Primary School, from ICEVN inspired the participants with presentation on six characters/virtues of a person/citizen – trustworthiness, responsibility, respect, fairness, caring, and citizenship. Ms. Kim Yến created a lively atmosphere for the workshop with vivid real-life examples.

The workshop on “Social work practice with children and families” was presented by Ms. Nguyễn Thanh Tuyền, a social worker from COPI giving examples on children’s rights and protection of the environment to expand the scope of knowledge in relation to the protection and advocacy of children rights.

Ms. Võ Thị Bích Thủy of Trường Sư phạm Mẫu giáo HCMC presented O1W workshop on “Sustainability of food and the environment for healthy living.” Her presentation was informative and gave key issues on the importance of nutritients and how much we eat.

Participants also were engaged in the discussion and sharing of stories on difficult behaviors and positive disciplines during the session on “Understanding Children’s Behavior: Social and Emotional Guidance” facilitated by Ms. Trần Kim Ánh and Ms. Nguyễn Tri Như Quỳnh. The scenarios were shared on how to develop an ability of critically analyzing social and emotional issues using several pedagogical methods to assist participants to incorporate techniques of foresight into their daily routines when working directly with children.

At the last hands-on workshop on “Physical Development,” workshop attendants actively participated the fun art activities carried out by Ms. Nguyễn Hoài Nghĩa, a First grade teacher of Tinh Hoa School in Long Xuyen, An Giang. Participants enjoyed practicing fine motor skills to make simple toys for children and within 15 minutes they also made a beautiful poster using recycled materials.

A Team of eight volunteers from Bee’s Resource Center, Children of Peace International, Compassion Flower, Our1World, Institute for Civic Education in Vietnam, Pacific Links Foundation and Tinh Hoa School worked together to coordinate the workshop activities including preparing workshop packages, selecting books, purchasing needed supplies, printing certificates and making nutritional snacks for participants.

After dinner on the last day of the CBW, the last session was devoted to inputs from workshop attendants on CBW effectiveness and suggested items to be improved for the next CBW. At the closing ceremony, participants shared that the CBW has contributed an efficient forum for exchange of ideas, views, and experiences. They also appreciated the training methodologies, which involved education and mobilization of communities and individuals to effect change to quality care.

MENU for VA NGO Lunch

Cơm VA NGO

Gạo lức – Đậu xanh – Bí đỏ – Hạt sen – Rau húng lủi – Mè

Nước sốt: Nước Cam và quýt, dầu ăn, muối, tiêu.

Cách làm: Thái hạt lựu bí đỏ chín đã luộc, trộn với đậu xanh, hạt sen và gạo lức đã luộc chín.

Trộn chung nước sốt với húng lủi thái nhỏ. Một ít dầu ăn + mè rang.

Salsa và bánh tráng mè

Xoài – Cà chua – Roi/mận – Đậu đen – Chanh – Hành hương – Hành lá – Tỏi – Ngò – Đường – Muối – ớt đỏ.

Cách làm: Tất cả đều thái hạt lựu, trộn với muối, đường, nước cốt chanh. Sau đó rắc lá ngò lên.

Soup susu

Susu – Hành lá – Hành hương – Barô – Nước dùng gà – Sả – Nước cốt dừa

Cách làm: Nấu nước dùng với xả.

Xào barô + hành lá + hành hương cho thơm. Sau đó cho Susu thái mỏng vào xào chung cho chín. Đề nguội cho vào máy sinh tố xay nhuyễn. Rồi nấu với nước dùng, cho lửa riu riu. Cuối cùng cho một chút nước cốt dừa vào. Cho ra chén

O1W’s Recipe

Upcoming Events

VA NGO Network – www.va-ngo.org

Sep 25 – San Jose, CA – VA NGO Network Fall CBW. Join us to share highlights from Health Initiatives & Human Trafficking Programs. Guest speaker Jerry Hildebrand to speak on Social Entrepreneurship. Reception & Evening Mixer from 6 – 9pm. Register at http://bit.ly/a2HKNj.

COPI – Children of Peace International – www.childrenofpeace.org

Sep 25 Colorado: Humanitarian award ceremony from United Nations
Oct 23rd Utah Annual fundraising gala

FHF – Friends of Hue Foundation – www.friendsofhue.org

Sep 18, San Jose, CA 1st Annual Benefit Concert – showcasing young aspiring talented musicians in our community. We will also featuring an incredible fashion show with couture Ao Dai and jewelry collection from Lanvy Nguyen of Fashion for Freedom and fusion-style fashion from Debbie Nghiem of GGConnection.

KwoB – Kids without Borders – www.kidswithnoborders.org

Oct. 18 – 31, 2010 HumaniTour Viet Nam & Wheelchair Distribution http://KidsWithNoBorders.blogspot.com

O1W – Our1World – www.our1world.org

Aug 25 – La Mirada, CA – HS Solar Academy: Project Based Learning CBW
Sep 25 – Newport Beach, CA – International Coastal Clean Up Day at Upper Newport Bay & watershed awareness education. Please bring your own reusable water container so we can reduce our plastic use.

PVNF – www.pvnf.org

September 19, 2010- Annual Fundraising Gala “Bright Futures” at the Rose Center in Westminster, Orange County. Proceeds will help improve the lives of needy children.
October 31-November 14, 2010 PVNF Medical Mission – Training Team.

TCF – The Compassion flower – http://tcf-ngo.org

Oct – 02 : Fundrasing Party, Orange County, CA Nov – 06: Fundrasing workshop (Gemstone, Jewerlry making ), Singapore
Dec – 05 Fundrasing Concert, Melbourne Australia

VCSA – Vietnamese Culture & Science Association – www.vcsa.org