Some of us believe in communism,
Some of us believe in capitalism,
Some of us believe in spiritualism,
Some of us believe in materialism
Some mothers believe in heavy dandy,
Some fathers believe in understanding.
Some of us believe in total freedom,
Some of us believe in laying the rules on.
But the children believe in friends,
For the children of the world,
Every boy and girl,
All they'll know is what we teach 'em,
Most of us fail when we try to reach 'em
For the children believe in having friends
Children believe in friends,
Children believe in having friends
Children believe in friends.
Some of us believe in Jesus Saves Ya,
20 children we sponsored in My Trung
"Only by coming to grips with difficulty can you realize your full potential." It is so true. This trip as not easy, but we managed to make the best out of it.
Dear CVSG Supporter,
At first we would like to take the opportunity to thank you all for your ongoing support over the years. Here is a quick back-glance of our activities in Viet Nam. We already talked to some of you about it, here are the exact figures.
We had a very different trip this time. As they say "ends well, all's well!!!
First downer was as Truc, a girl, we helped the first year. Her son was tongue tide, we paid for the operation and medication, roughly $ 170. This year she approached us again. Justin has problems with the waterworks. We asked her to see us at our hotel. Truc came and presented us with invoices for an operation, anaesthetic and the lot over $600. Ok, we have to have Justin checked out by a doctor. We organised an appointment 2 days later at children's hospital 2. We informed Truc but she did not like it. Hospital no good .... and she found all sorts of excuses. We insisted. Then she rang again and told us she would go and see the doctor on her own. "No, you have to take Justin" ... to cut a long story short, she did not go at all.
What a disappointment!!! But that was only the beginning!!!
It was amazing how wherever we came, people saw white skin and the $$$ signs popped up in their eyes!!! At a charity meeting in Danang the chairman asked how much money have you got. Re-phrase ... we are here to help, yes but .... then 5 minutes later someone else ... We told them again we are here to help children, to give scholarships ... not to buy tables and chairs for a new classroom. They showed us around, schools, pre-schools ... we saw plenty. We had to put our foot down, then we were driven to meet with the orphans. Yessss, and we sponsored them, 7 all-together. Two days of meetings and driving around!!!
Then we wanted to print a calendar, had it all set up .... for 2011. Found a printer, price was ok, $2.5 - $3 depending on the numbers. I gave him the pictures on an usb stick. When I rang him two days later he told me he can only print 15 - 20 copies ... we wanted 300. You need a government permit to print calendars. Our calendar did show poor people in VINA, which the government does not like, so we would not get a permit. It did not come across that blunt, but we asked other Vietnamese people, and that is how we found out.
We encountered some problems with the Hope School too. We already sponsored 12 children last year. Everything is sweet now, but it was just the straw that broke the camels back when it happened.
We dropped off three lap tops at the Hope School, but they NEED more LAP TOPS ... and other places asked for lap tops too. Everywhere you go there is WIFI in VINA. Talking about WIFI, I bought myself a new mobile with 2 SIM cards and WIFI ... now we do not have to carry two phones when we travel overseas.
Our friend Hien introduced us to Ha from the Saigon Times Foundation. The foundation has been set up to give scholarship to underprivileged children and students all over Vietnam. Now we cooperate with the STF. The foundation is currently working on the scholarship for the 20 students in My Trung. Here is an article from the Saigon Times .... we sure had fun .... and we decided to work together, we have common goals, they have the local knowledge ... clearly a win win situation.
Pic.: Meeting at Saigon Times Foundation
http://www.thesaigontimes.vn/epaper/TB-KTSG/So36-2010%281.029%29/33469/ <-- here in colour and in Vietnamese!!!
Conclusion
Scholarships for ONE Year:
Paid scholarship for 13 pupils at the Hope School for Hearing impaired children Binh Thanh;
Paid scholarship for 20 pupils in My Trung (Mekong delta);
Paid scholarship for 10 pupils in Binh Thanh district;
Paid scholarship for 3 pupils at 'Song Lo' school, Binh Thanh district;
Total Scholarships 46
Paid hex fee for 2 orphan students in Danang for one year
Paid music lessons f. 2 students at the Peace Orphanage for six months
Paid support to 5 orphans for food and general expenses in Danang for one year
Donated money to 18 disabled children in Binh Thanh district;
Total support 73 pupils / children
We also donated VND 20.000.000 ~ $ 1200 to Hoa Van Stone's Company of Grace (CoG).
Uli and Hoa
Hoa and the Company of Grace are helping young disabled kids – we are on the same wave length and have so many common goals. A contact was established and we will support Hoa and the CoG as much as we can.
Hoa set up a power point presentation. Hoa and CoG are interested in second hand mobile phones. When your plan expires, please get a new phone and donate the old one to us, we will find a way to get the phones to Hoa, thank you.
Here are some blog statistics:
All in all we had over 400 views of the blog,
> 250 from Australia alone,
49 from USA closely followed by
41 from Germany then
30 from Canada
19 from Vietnam
15 from UK ...
It reads like some medal tally at the Olympics, except for Vietnam ....
Now ... this is the end !!!
We can not thank you enough for your support.
witten and performed by John Denver.
1st of September 2010
... our bags are packed ... it's time to go. Will write a final page when we are home to give an overview of what happened and what we have achieved.
Now, 6 hours later we sit at KLIA LCCT terminal.Air Asia announced a delay. Hope not too long. I wanna go home!!!
So long ... and thanks for your support everyone!!!
Matt n Uli
31st August 2010
Another good old Beatles song ...
They say it's your birthday
It's my birthday too, yeah
They say it's your birthday
We're gonna have a good time
I'm glad it's your birthday
Happy birthday to you
Ah Ah Ah
Come on Come on
2 enlarge the picture, pls double click !!!
Yes we're going to a party party
Yes we're going to a party party
Yes we're going to a party party
Ok, we still had a busy day, went so see Ha at the Saigon Times Foundation, meeting with the team. We handed over the rains for some of our scholarship projects and money. Millions of it, but that is the way it is here. We had some fun and then Kim played with the umbrella and asked Matt to report about what the CVSG did over the last three years.
He wants to write an article for the Saigon Times. See how we go.
We had to rush, see Hien in the office,
then to CBA where we had an appointment with Pauline. We were running late, Pauline did not mind.
Quick lunch, then off to the Peace Orphanage. Good news, Hoan told us that she passed her final exam, and that she will start working tomorrow!!! Congratulations Hoan, very well done.
Before we left all the kids sat on the floor and sang "Happy Birthday" for Matt. Wonderful feeling. Got some kisses too.
Said our 'good byes" to Nhi and back to the ANAN hotel. Kim, the receptionist wished Matt a 'Happy Birthday' and then handed a beautiful cake to Matt.
More pictures and kisses!!! We then cut the cake and shared it ...
Who says you can't have your CAKE and eat it ??? I can !!!
Tonight we go out to Gartenstadt restaurant in the TP HCMC = city centre of Ho Chi Minh City.
More tomorrow ... after all - it's my birthday.
Baby I see this world has made you sad
Some people can be bad
The things they do, the things they say
But baby I'll wipe away those bitter tears
I'll chase away those restless fears
That turn your blue skies into grey
Why worry, there should be laughter after the pain
There should be sunshine after rain
These things have always been the same
So why worry now
Baby when I get down I turn to you
And you make sense of what I do
I know it isn't hard to say
But baby just when this world seems mean and cold
Our love comes shining red and gold
And all the rest is by the way
Why worry, there should be laughter after pain
There should be sunshine after rain
These things have always been the same
So why worry now ...
Keep your head up, Uli !!!
It's time to go home !!!
Doubleclick to enlarge pickture!!!
This morning we were waiting for a call from Hien Re: Sponsorship of 10 children in Binh Than district and donations to 18 other children who are disabled.
Phone never rang. Ok, we had to write a paper about the cooperation between the Saigon Times Foundation (SFT) and the Coolum Vietnam Support Group. This gave us ample time, and we finished it just before lunch.
@ 2pm we met with Ha at Schneiders bakery, a German Café and Tea corner. Van came along and also Xuan, the deputy director of STF.
We all arrived at the same time. Downstairs we picked a nice piece of German cake, went upstairs, ordered a drink and then we slowly got stuck into the nitty gritties of our co-operation. There were no stumbling points, the ladies agreed to our proposal. Then we moved on to discuss our projects. After two hours we parted, having learned a lot about the STF and set the foundations to a partnership, which hopefully will last for a very, very long time.
After an unsuccessful visit to the CBA Uli called Hien on the way home. All the things we had planned for today and tomorrow suddenly changed. Ok, we can adjust, no worries!!! Scholarship for ten Binh Thanh children was postponed … we will get it done!!!
Tomorrow is another day ….
.... Pink Floyd this time !!!
Saturday, 28th August 2010
Today, we have another appointment with Hoa, the Baptist paster. We left early to be at his house in Binh Thanh District at 10 am. Taxi driver was good, found the hidden place and there we were, 10:05. We rang the bell, no answer. After a while Matt rang Hoa’s mobile. “G’day mate, how are you going ….” Long time no hear the Aussie talk. He told us to wait a few minutes until someone from the outside can open the door. To explain, Hoa is disabled, and his room is on the first floor. Needless to say, he is not happy in this house, but in two to three month he will move to the new premises.
We were waiting outside, in the blistering sun. Then we moved into the shade … 20 minutes …no change. After 40 minutes Matt rang Hoa again … yes someone is coming, but he was held up. Ok. We were talking to the neighbours … time flies when you are waiting … or is it???? Warten steigert die Geduld – that is what my father in law always said. Or in English: Waiting increases patience!!!
However after an hour of waiting someone came and opened the door. We knew our way, so we went upstairs and finally said “HI” to Hoa. We had a long chin wag and talked about this that and the other.
Hoa and the Company of Grace are helping young kids – we are on the same wave length and have so many common goals. We made a donation towards to the company of Grace.
Hoa gave us two beautiful mugs and other advertising for CoG. We left with a very good feeling. A contact was established and we will support him and the CoG as much as we can.
We spent the rest of a rainy day doing our home / administration work, downloading pictures from My Tho, maintaining the blog, keeping track of our activities.
It rained when we went out for dinner … but we had a beautiful umbrella, thanks Sparkasse Braunfels!!!
... today Garry and the Pacemakers!!!
Friday, 27th of August 2010
At 6:30 Nathan said he would pick us up. 6:27 the phone rings … where are you??? On our way Uli replied, just on the to the lift. No breakky – I do not function.
At 8 we stopped at a nice place to have some breakfast. Only noodles and soup, no baguette. What!!! In VINA and no baguette!!! We left. Christine, a family friend of Nathan who joined us for the ride is from Hong Kong, and she does not have noodles or soup for breakky either.
Helpful driver found a place. A cut of Lipton tea, baguette and some fried eggs. Yessss!!!
Then into town to pick up Father Duong. After one and a half hours we branched into a narrow road, small bridges and not much traffic.
In some places people were drying their rice on the road.
Father Duong earlier mentioned that we will go on a ferry. What ferry ???
Soon the road ended, but no ferry. We all got out of the car and grabbed our bags. A small long boat, not very wide was our ferry. Hard to get into, but easy to fall out!!!
Trip took about 10 – 15 minutes to a remote area, which can only be accessed by boat. We are in the Mekong delta after all!!!
We stopped right in front of the church. Father Long helped us to disembark. The children were already waiting. We had a short meeting and then wanted to take pictures of the children and give them our presents.
They just had their lunch, so we handed over the cloths Annette Harper has given us for the children.
We established an order and took pictures and Uli handed out the presents.
Smiles all round, and then we had lunch. Very nice, they had quails for us. We preferred chicken and noodles, nice fruit and even steamed Chuoi, pronounced tschoii = bananas. When we pronounced it sounded like Choi – which is broomstick!!!
All the paperwork was in excellent order and we agreed to support the 20 children through the Saigon Times Foundation.
Back in the boat, back in the car and at 4:15 we were back home. Most of us had a nap or two in the way back to Saigon. We said our “Good byes” to Nathan and Christine.
Matt downloaded the pictures and photographed the profiles so we do not need to carry the paper and pictures home. Later on went out for dinner with Tam.
Thursday, 26th of August
Our new business cards are ready … after breakky Matt hopped in a taxi to pick them up. All’s fine, apart from a minor detail. $ 11 for 500 who cares!!! And he had a bag of at least a 1000 if not more, so when we need more, just go n pick them up!!! Could not get a cab, I had no change, so I walked. By the way, 2 k walk in the heat is never a bad exercise. Arrived home soaking!!!
Changed and wrapped the painting in bubble wrap, which we got at the Tax centre yesterday – for free I must add!!! Off to the GPO again, to mail the painting. The guy did an excellent job to manufacture the right carton size to cover the picture. Ok, let’s not count the chickens before they hatch … fingers crossed that it arrives in good shape.
Lunch at ‘Tous le Jour” – French – as you might have guessed. It’s a bakery chain. Good quality food… From the city centre we caught a cab to Hien’s office. Nice driver, but he had no idea, from the word go he wanted to go in the wrong direction. Matt guided him to the office using reference points like the Benh Than market. At the end of our little journey the taxi driver thanked Matt many times, but not for the tip!!!
Hien had plans to go shopping with Uli this afternoon. This was news to us. Matt went home for a kip, but before he went he asked Uli not to come home without the parcel we were waiting to receive. Mind you it has been in HCMC / Sai Gon for over two weeks. The kip was short lived. Uli rang and told Matt to get a letter from the Hotel stating that we are still in residence and the passport from the safe. All done in no time, Matt used the hotel computer to type the letter, poor receptionist did not know what it was all about, but printed, signed and stamped it anyway. Hung, one of Hien’s staff took Matt on the Honda to the ‘International Post Office Sai Gon’ in the middle of the CBD. Hung and Matt went in.
I just remembered, I sent a thank you letter to my friend in Germany. Here it is, translated by “GOOGLE”. Hope you have as much fun as I had when I read the translation!!!
Hello from Sai Gon,
what will come to those ends well ... by 15 clock today we have finally made it after dozens of phone calls, etc., we could then go to the International Post Office. Have a precaution taken a Vietnamese, or rather he tell me, because we are driven Honda.
Uli wanted to do today with our friend Hien afternoon a few errands (shopping). As we said goodbye in Hien office I said to her that they should not get (heimtrauen) home without the package. Big laughter.
Then Uli at me and says, you can pick up the package, but need your passport and a confirmation from the hotel that you live there still. Well, from the front, with Doan have been writing the certificate, printed, she signs, 2 x stamp from the hotel ... from the taxi ... the remaining documents to pick up our friends in the office. Then wanted to send out to me alone ... nooo I said, after all the complications, that is good comes with Hung. He drives Honda, so I hintendrauf. Amid the throng of ... in the city centre
Found the right switch (counter), ... Talkshow (discussions)... no, not here, package is in district 10, as it appears on the note. Hung was stubborn and has prevailed. Ok, drawer, and behold, there was the process. all clear. Now everything was back and forth checked, hotel ok, other certificates also. Then I had the sender's address written on a form, then 5 or 6 signatures. Ok, she gets the package. But then she realizes that's still a middle name. Matt and Uli .... ok now what. Where is Uli?? Not there. Then I began to explain to the good woman that Uli is my wife. Oh, well then ... and now the best forms began to be filled ... see pictures ... So, at first 183,000 VND inches, then 24,574 VND storage fee and taxes. All in all, around $13. Cost what it may, I want to have NOW the package.
Believe it or not ... they hand over us the package.
Please double click to engarge the pictures!!!
Team Sparkasse Wetzlar - Braunfels branch - Thanks Thorsten and staff!!!
All the goodies .. for a good cause!!!
It was an experience ... and now we have to tell you all you have! At the hotel I then opened the package. Wonderful stuff, thank you. We go tomorrow to My Tho - ie - Wed Toor - where we can bring a big part of the gifts to the children was like. Thanks for the picture, it comes with other things like the blog!
Back to normal English tomorrow - my English anyway!!!
We are so glad we finally received the parcel!!!
