Our Charity
Our partner is the Vietnam Veterans Association.
The friendship village in Vietnam is an international project that cares for disabled children and adults who have suffered from the legacy of war and Agent Orange.http://www.vietnamfriendship.org
It was started by former Vietnam veterans and continues to this day. It is now a living community near Hanoi and now has ten family houses, a health centre, a school, professional education classes, a kitchen with a biogas system, organic fruit and vegetable gardens, animals and fishponds.
The friendship village offers therapeutic help for mentally and physically disabled children as well as their education training.
Adults who suffer from the consequences of war also get help in the Friendship village.
About our contribution and commitment.
In May of this year I discussed with Don Blackburn, a Vietnam veteran who is a member of the American Committee for the Friendship Village Project, about working with them as our main charity.
In July Mr Dung the director and Ms Ha the secretary of the village showed us around the facilities and provided us with such a wealth of information.
We also met a lot of the children and watched them work, learn and study during class time as well as that we discovered that they have a number of interesting classes such as embroidery and sewing, computer studies and five classes for special needs.
As a result of their endeavours and hard work we are now promoting some of the children’s ‘products’, such as the ‘red rose/pink rose broaches’ of which we have purchased 200 to sell online.
‘Its all about children growing, learning new skills, and developing their confidence’
The children stay at the Friendship Village for 3 years and with the jobs studying here, they can reintegrate into their communities. Every summer, the village receives many visitors and volunteers from more than 20 countries including Great Britain, New Zealand, Australia, and the U.S.
In April, Ms.Marlene from New Zealand donated 800 U.SD to purchase the laptop for the children’s computer class, and also in April, New Zealand Minister Honrick Barker donated 25,000USD for improving the wastewater system of the Friendship Village .
‘Our continued pledge is to donate a certain amount of monies back to the Friendship village’ from our online store.’
