Our Children
These are some of the lovely girls in our education program in Quang Nam. They have differing family circumstances, but all couldn't afford to continue their education without financial support due to the low income of those caring for them. A few are no longer in our program, but together they give a sense of the variety of children we take on, find sponsorships for, provide financial support for, as well as CEF's extra education programs.
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Ly
Ly's mother left her with her grandparents when she was very young and she is still angry with her. Her grandparents brought her up, with granddad supported the three of them, by selling lottery tickets. Sadly he died recently and granny is very weak now. Ly has been a tomboy and quite tempestuous, but has settled down as she realized she has a big responsibility coming as she has to support herself and her granny. She has been sponsored for thirteen years now. She did well in high school and entered university to study Russian and at present is studying in Russia. |
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Minh
Minh has one sister who also was sponsored by CEF to study accountancy, and who successfully completed her college course and is working and helping support her mother, sister and uncle. She and her sister live with their mentally ill uncle and their single mother. Minh was sponsored for five years, and was an excellent student each year. Her teachers were proud of her and entered her in education competitions. As mum sold some of their land, she was able to build a new home, and they renovated their old house and rent it out now, so they no longer need help. Minh still attends CEF workshops and events. |
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Nhu
Nhu is an orphan who lives with granny and auntie in the hallway of a government apartment block, next to the rooms of an aunt. They live here while they wait for the local government to release land for them to live on. Nhu is a very sweet young woman who was sponsored eight years and when young did well in school, but in high school struggled with her education. She has completed her education and is working now. |
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Tuyen
Tuyen's parents are both blind and dad worked full time as a massage therapist earning about $1 a day for a massage centre. For two years he had no income due to Covid, as people watched their budget. Mum hasn't good health and stays at home to look after Tuyen. Tuyen's grandparents live next door and help out when need be. Tuyen has been sponsored for ten years and wasn't doing very well at school because she didn't have anyone at home to help her with home work. We found a tutor nearby who helped her for three years, kindly funded by her sponsor. Now there is no one to give that support, so once more is challenged. As she gets older she realizes the importance of being educated and is making a greater effort, but she also knows that it's unlikely she will get into high school, so doing vocational training would give her a career and is looking at training as a hair dresser next year. |
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Ha
Ha's father died and her mother moved to HCM City with some of her siblings where she sold food and sent funds to granny each month to feed Ha. Ha moved between two homes; the home of one granny and that of her other grandparents. Ha, a sweet, thoughful and helpful girl, was sponsored for seven years. She worked very hard and was a good student. She graduated from high school and moved to live with her mother in Ho Chi Minh City and to study at university there. Granny also moved down there with her. |
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Thuy
Thuy lives with her granny, a disabled aunt and her cousin and his mother. Her cousin's mother helps to support her. Her father died and mum remarried and she has not seen her much since then. Thuy worked very hard at school, but her results suffered because she had little time for homework; she helped her aunt and uncle who lived next door with childcare as they helped support her. She has graduated from high school and is now studying at college. |
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Vy
Vy's mother died of stomach cancer ten years ago, and since then she lived with dad when he was not away working, until he died six years ago. She is a sweet girl whose school results suffered for a couple of years with all the sadness and insecurity, but they improved again. Another charity built a house for her as her old wooden-slat home was delapidated. Her brother sometimes stays with her and other times an aunt does. She now has graduated from high school and is studying to be a nurse at university. |
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Dieu
Dieu's parents drowned and then she lived with her sister, brother and elderly grandparents. Her sister received educational support from CEF to complete high school and to attend college and lived at home until she married, and now lives near by. Her brother had a sponsorship to study at university which he completed six years ago and is now working. Granny died five years ago and now just Dieu and granddad live at home. Dieu has been sponsored for twelve years and has been doing well in high school and soon will be going to university. |
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My Nhu
My Nhu lived with granddad and her mentally ill aunt who is in her 40's. Granny died before she was born. Her father died in an accident when she was a baby and mum remarried and moved to the south of Vietnam when she was in grade 1. She has not seen her mother since. My Nhu didn't do well in high school, due to too much social media time, but she did pass. She is now studying to be a receptionist. |
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Trinh
Trinh was a weak, unhealthy and frightened toddler when we first met her. Over the years she gained both weight and confidence. She lived with granddad and an auntie. Mum died from brain cancer eight years ago and granny passed away soon after. Trinh who was sponsored nine years loved school, but due to no one being able to help her with homework didn't do well in school and is now training as a seamstress and working. |
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Phuong Linh
Phuong Linh lost her father four years ago after he had a stroke. She’s only 16 but shows a maturity beyond her age. She asked her extra tuition teachers to reduce the fees they charge to help her mother, and she help around the house a lot. She’s a hard worker in class too, often complimented by her teachers. Her only dream is for her mother to live a long and healthy life. She will be going to university in the next academic year. |
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Dung
Dung was living with her mum, elderly granny and auntie when we first met her. Nine years ago she moved into boarding rooms to be in a position to attend high school, as there was no high school near her family home. She adjusted well, worked hard, and did just as well in high school as she did in secondary school. She then went onto university and has just finishing her work experience and will shortly graduate in Construction Finance . She has been getting good results all the way through. |
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Hien
Hien is a bubbly girl and loves singing and had a strong desire to be a professional singer. She lives with mum and her elderly granny who both have poor health. Mum works in a factory and granny is too old to work, but helps out at home. She loved school and did well. Hien requested English classes as she wanted to communicate with the English-speaking children in her neighbourhood. She was thrilled when we told her of free classes she could attend at STEC, a local English language centre and she did well there. She has graduated from high school and is now studying English at university. |
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Hoai Nga
Nga's father only can do domestic chores because of a serious back injury and mum works in a factory. Nga was excited when her mother bought a cooker, as she no longer had to cook for her family on a wood fire, giving her more free time for home work, enabling her to maintain her ongoing very high standard. Maintaining a high academic standard has always been important to her. She did well in school each year and now is doing well in university and is now studying English. |
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Tuyet Trinh
Tuyet Trinh, a quiet young lady who was hard-working at school and consequently always had excellent results even though she helped her mother with her work for a couple of hours a day. Her mother made a meagre living from selling rice porridge early each morning and then made small colourful lanterns with silk threads during the remainder of the day. Trinh who was sponsored for five years is now studying psychology at university in Ho Chi Minh City. She was successful at obtaining two grants for her university studies. |
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Diem Quynh
Diem Quynh has a lot of character and is full of energy. Having HIV doesn't seem to impact her present day life in any obvious way except she has to take her medications at set times and have regular health checks. Both her parents have passed away from HIV. From when she was born she has lived with her grandparents and cousins. Granny is a farmer and garbage collector who works hard to support the family. Quynh loves school mainly for the friendships and art and is not doing very well academically. No one is strict with her as they expect her to die and tell her so. As Quynh gets older she is a little more motivated to study, but not enough to do well. |
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Thuy Van
Thuy Van is a hard working and clever girl who is doing really well at school. When not at school or doing home work she helps her mother around the house. Her father died suddenly from a stroke although he had stopped working and was taking it easy as he was told he had congenital heart disease. Mum does whatever work she can get to support her two children and at present grows vegetables, then sells from her bike each morning and cares for someone else's acacia trees. |
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Dieu Huyen
Dieu Huyen loves school and after graduation she plans to be a modern farmer using modern farming techniques and equipment. That is a long way off as she is still in secondary school, not doing very well as dad isn't attentive to his children or their studies. Dad has been looking after three children since mum died from a brain injury as the result of a serious motorbike accident. She had emergency brain surgery but it wasn't soon enough to save her life. |
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Huyen Vi
Huyen Vi's parents divorced years many ago and dad remarried. Mum works away from home doing two jobs to earn enough to support her mother and youngest child, Vi, who lives with granny. Mum sells coffee in the early morning then has a cleaning job in a hotel for the remainder of the day. Vi dreams of being a physical education teacher so she can teach young people how to stay healthy and how to get enough of the right exercise. She has been doing well in high school as she wants a university education. |
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Thanh Thao
Her mother is very caring and spends a lot of time helping her with her school work. This has resulted in her doing well at school. Her mother used to work, but got weaker and lost a lot of weight. Nowadays she has no income as no one will employ her so she helps her relatives and cares for her daughter and the family help support the two of them even though poor themselves. Thanh Thoa lives and eats with her grandmother as mum doesn't want to risk Thao getting infected. Her mother has HIV and dad has passed away from HIV. |
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My Lan
Lan is a sweet girl and is doing very well in school. She is unusual as ethics is her favourite subject as she loves to solve ethical problems. In literature classes she loves writing about and describing trees. Her mum works in a factory and earns very little and can't afford to support her four children. When her parents divorced she went to live with her paternal grandparents with her brothers. Mum and her sister lived with the maternal grandparents. Soon after the divorce dad was stabbed by a drunk stranger. Recently with a loan mum has built a small home next to her in-laws, enabling the family to be reunited which has thrilled Lan. |
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Thanh Nhan
Dad died five years ago from a lung infection, possibly from aspestosis, as well as kidney failure. He had been a construction worker for his working life and his health had been suffering for many years. Since dad died this young girl has learned to look after herself more and can do cleaning such as mopping and can wash her own clothes. Her biggest dream is to stay in school a long time. Her mother sells snails each morning in the hope of earning enough to support her three children and when there is a lack of snails, she looks for construction work. She wants them to all to be well-educated so they can have a good income. |
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Nhu Quynh
Nhu Quyn lives with her parents, two brothers and grandfather. Mum was unwell due to cancer and the required treatment, so was living with her mother for some years. Dad is a rice farmer and works in a rice mill too. Grandad makes money from using the front room for motorbike parking. As there was no woman in the house Quynh did the housework and most of the cooking for three years. This is understandable but unfortunately it affected her results. Mum has been well for two years now, returned to live with the family, and worked as well as helping in the home. Quynh has been able to do more study and her results have improved. Mum managed to save, and with a loan they have been able to build their own home, no longer needing to live at granddad's home which they are thrilled about, as he was a difficult man. The finances of her parents have improved, they have a home and can now support Quynh to complete high school, so in a few months she leaves our program. |
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Thi Thanh Thao
Thao who is a sweet, shy and very quiet girl, loved going to school, especially studying literature as it helped her get in touch with her feelings. Sadly one of her older sisters killed herself due to the effect their poverty had on her and her education. Since then the parents have been very aware of how their children are feeling and do whatever they can to ensure they have the educational support they need. They only have a small amount of land and grow rice and corn in rotation, and sell bananas, steamed cassava and sweet potatoes at the market, so CEF has been sponsoring two of their children since one of their daughters died. The eldest we helped through high school and university and now she is working. Thao struggled with her education although loved school. Once her sister graduated from university and the family income had improved the family said they would put Thao through the remainder of her education. |
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Thanh Tra
When we first met Tra eight years ago in front of her old dilapidated wooden house she greeted us in excellent English and just wanted to practice her English, as her goal then was to study English at university. She has been successful with her studies and did exactly what she wanted. Now she has graduated from university and is working in an English center. Her elderly parents have poor health from a life of ongoing hard work and now neither can work much these days. Fortunately the eldest of their children are all working, including Tra and are all able to help their parents a little. |