About Children's Education Foundation - Vietnam
Our foundation supports many programs in Vietnam, enabling girls and young women to be educated, empowering them to break the poverty cycle. Girls from impoverished or marginalized communities complete school or receive further education or training, helping not just the young women, but also succeeding generations and their communities to have the possibility of a better life with more choices.
A better life for young women can mean many things. A girl who completes her schooling grows into a woman who is better able to look after her health and that of her children. By finishing schooling herself, she will care more that her children finish theirs and be better able to support them while they are in school. As a result of the skills and competencies she has gained during her schooling, she will be better equipped to earn a living and so have greater independence and dignity. An educated young woman is also at considerably less risk of becoming a victim of the sex trade or ending up an imprisoned worker in a sweat shop.
The sense of self esteem and confidence that completing school gives, can contribute significantly to the positive development not only of the individual, but also to that of their families, their community and society as a whole.
A better life for young women can mean many things. A girl who completes her schooling grows into a woman who is better able to look after her health and that of her children. By finishing schooling herself, she will care more that her children finish theirs and be better able to support them while they are in school. As a result of the skills and competencies she has gained during her schooling, she will be better equipped to earn a living and so have greater independence and dignity. An educated young woman is also at considerably less risk of becoming a victim of the sex trade or ending up an imprisoned worker in a sweat shop.
The sense of self esteem and confidence that completing school gives, can contribute significantly to the positive development not only of the individual, but also to that of their families, their community and society as a whole.
How CEF came about
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Linda tells her story and that of CEF:
My first trip to Vietnam to set up a culinary tour for my students of Vietnamese cuisine in Australia resulted in not only the creation of a tour, but also the beginning of Children’s Education Foundation. I promised to help educate three children who had been abandoned by their parents and so began Children’s Education Foundation.
On my next visit I went to the central highlands of Vietnam and met some K’Ho families with poor health and that visit resulted in three years of fundraising to build a medical centre to provide free medical care and medicine to improve the level of health of the whole village, and therefore improve school attendance.
CEF has grown and has been providing educational assistance to students from ethnic communities, to children and grandchildren of lepers and children from impoverished farming and fishing communities. We sometimes pay for the education of boys in dire situations, but mainly concentrate on the education of females because the strong Confucian and Taoist influences in Vietnamese culture favors the education of males. The family is run by the mother, the health of the family is influenced by her and she is often the main breadwinner. It is therefore important that the females receive an education. An educated female will make a difference to her family, her community and society as a whole and will give her a future with many more choices.
Children's Education Foundation would not have grown and developed without the ongoing support of my family for many years. Our non-profit organization is blessed with help from compassionate, committed volunteers who assist in overseeing projects and contribute to CEF. All the work we do in Vietnam is not possible without the donations, the help and care and support of our kind donors, sponsors, volunteer board members, family and friends. Linda Burn (Founding Director and In-Country Manager - Vietnam)