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Vital Gift Distribution |
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Vital Gifts are very important for poor families in Vietnam. In summer, the net to protect from Mosquitos, a blanket to keep warm in the winter, the clothes to wear in daily activities, and the food to eat... All these requirements are luxury to many poor families in Vietnam. We go to villages to deliver these basis needs and send them our love and care. |
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From Understanding To Love |
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Right after arriving Noi Bai Airport , I was picked up by the driver of Hoan , the director of a construction material company . On his own car , I was driven straight to VinhCity on the same day to be ready for distributing 55 packages including gifts and scholarship to 55 orphans . Hoan quietly supported us by selling building materials we supposed to buy for our voluntary projects at a very special price . He also tried his best to provide us the most convenient ways to achieve our goals . |
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We visited totally five schools : Nam Yen , Bac Yen , Hung My , Hung Xuan , and kindergarten Hung Thong , gave gifts straight to the kids . We took pictures of the kids with the gifts in their hands , and these pictures will be sent to the benefactors as a sign of appreciation . |
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All school boards , parents and students were moved by our deep sympathy and compassion and by our practical gifts . Entering their class , looking at their books , their notebooks , their writing utensils , their clothes , we clearly saw their hard struggle . Many of them came to school without pencils , nor notebooks because their bags were too torn to keep one . Their teachers had to lend them pencils and she would collect them back at the end of the school day . Certain students had no books and they had to borrow from their friends . However when we asked them which one of them had no book , no one dared to raise their hands because they were afraid that they might not be allowed to enter the class if they came to school without book . Of course , borrowing books to study like that really limited their capability to learn . But they were patient ones . With a pale face , they lowered their head to avoid being stared at , and sat quietly at one corner so that they can be allowed to go to school , day by day , just like other kids of the same age . |
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Looking at their skin so pale , their eyes so unconfident , their face so dirty , their only clothes wearing day in day out , at school as well as out in the fields tending buffaloes , wrinkled , shortened , mismatched , and their shoes broken , unfit , we felt vastly sad . When we held them in our arms , their teachers were afraid that we would feel disgusted of their odor and their dirtiness . They just did not understand that we had just come from the other side of the world , just to be able to meet those unfortunate kids , to share with them love and hope . |
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Later , we were told by the school head that after our visit , the kid referred me as Miss Sun . Miss Sun promise you kids she will be back when she collects enough financial aid to buy you books , notebooks , old clothes from Saigon , and enough sweaters and blankets knitted from TayLinhVocational School . Each book set for Class 1 and 2 costs VND$ 80,000 ( USD$ 5 or CAD $7 ) , book set for Class 3 , 4 and 5 costs VN$45,000 (USD$3 or CaD$4 ) , blanket or sweater , VND$25,000 ( USD$1.5 or CaD$2) , not counting cost of labor . |
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From Understanding to Love : Probably I could feel the Cold , the Hunger, and the Misery through Thang’s words , a student of Class 5C , Hung Dao School , and a fatherless kid because I had gone through almost the same situation . I brought the letter to Mrs Oanh , a soft hearted person , who always cares about unfortunate kids . Reading Thang’s letter in a snowy Canadian night , I lay awake through the night , feeling like still hearing the sound of the waves twenty years ago tapping the coast of Hai NamIsland , where I was drifted during the escape from VN . I remembered vividly those wandering days with many nights I lay head down on the sand , dew as covering net , wind as blanket hovering my small body . Many nights flew so slow that I had the feeling I would not stand through to welcome the next morning dawn . Many years later , settled in Canada , the cold , the hunger , the fear , and the desperation still haunted me . Yes , many years later , I still cried quietly under my blankets , feeling sorry for the poor ones who passed the day longing for food and clothes . I dreamt that someday I would be able to place a blanket or a set of clothes on the hands of the needy , to put a warm blanket over a sick old and lonely person lying in their poor thatched house , to take care of a young kid who innocently looked around at the strange faces , and many , many more dreams . Today , I am so happy to find that my dreams have come true . |
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My dream could not have come true like this without the warm support of the benefactors , many of you I have never been met , of my friends who are always there for me, in happiness as well as in sorrowful time , and the understanding from my dear husband |
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Waste has been converted into flowers , miseries into blessings , unfortunate experiences become means , understanding and love have led me to a very real happiness . |
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I am walking , peacefully Lips maintain a smile , brightly Clouds flowing by above , under the sky Like water in a river running to the sea Sadness and sorrows become so lightened I am walking , so peacefully With you my little , we will promenade With you my little , we will reach the world |
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Dieu Lien . |
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Questions about how |
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