Sponsor's update from Go Vap (Ho Chi Minh City), Vietnam

Child sponsorship update from the SOS Children's Village Go Vap (Ho Chi Minh City), Vietnam from Summer 2008.

Dear Friends,

Already the first six months of the year 2008 passed over. And now summer comes to our country. It is time for children’s summer vacation. This is also the time for us to write and tell you about the changes and developments in SOS Children’s Village Go Vap.

A warm home for many children
Eighteen springs have passed through SOS children’s life. The first children who were one or two year of age when we first received now become young men and young women who have dreams, ambitions and confidence. They are all ready to join into future with many challenges. What the stroke of happiness to see the Village children are more and more mature. However, it will be happier and happier when more and more destitute children can be welcome to the Village so that they can have a warm home and good chance for a bright future. Since the beginning of year 2008, we have received 7 more children and celebrated 3 more wedding ceremonies taken place in the Village, bringing the number of married young people to 45. Sons in laws and daughters in laws of the Village have stable jobs, orderly family.

For the time being, there are total 244 children living in the Village in which 39 are working and living independently, 185 are studying in schools or universities, 13 children studying in Nursery School and 7 children are under nursery school ages. One year old girl Khanh Nhu is the youngest. She has been brought up in the Village since she was 2 days-old.

Academic performance

Since the beginning of September, our kids have started their school year 2007-2008 and finished in the early June.
Once again we are happy to tell you that our children achieved good results at school, all of them have passed their tests and were transferred to the next level. One 12th form child won the third prizes and one 9th form child won the first prize at Literature in the City talent student competition.. Their good achievement in studies sets a bright example to the rest of the SOS children and also a motive for them

In Viet Nam, going to universities is the burning dream of most pupils. Already 14 young girls and boys of our village reached this goal and are following their professional courses at various famous universities of the country. However, not all grown up children can become engineers or doctors. For the children who failed the entrance exam to universities, the village helped them to follow courses at vacation schools they like. This year we have 15 youngsters will take the entrance exam to universities, colleges or vocational schools in this August. We hope that they could enter their school as their aspiration.

Club and activities
On March 15th fifty passengers and the captain of ship Europa visiting our village. Through the friendly talks , children’s performance and moments of visiting families, the visitors could learn more about the SOS children’s daily life. They could also recognize how are the effectiveness of the support and contribution from people around the world to SOS Villages. Afterwards did a tour of the village with 25 good children to shipboard.

As usually, every year we hold a ceremony on International Children’s Day to give rewards to those who have gained much success in studying during school year as well as their improvements in life.. We organized for children some outdoor games: tug-of-war, skipping rope, marathon race… All kids felt excited when playing games.

As the same time, we organised ‘aptitude clubs’ . These clubs are singing and dancing, drawing, martial art, football, table tennis … We also has paid much attention to anniversaries and festivals throughout the year. Exchange activities among charity organisation, voluntary students from Universities were often help.

We launched many competition of composing stories, prose and verse … Children expressed their happy feeling by writing many thoughts about life in the SOS Children’s Village.

In this summer, children studying in universities or vocational schools will participate the ‘green summer campaign’ that organized by their schools. They and their friends come to remote countryside to help the poor in their daily living: repairing house, making road, planting trees, teaching children … They are now very eager for this

Moreover, it is special honor for all of us to receive the participants who are the leaders of City People Committee, P&G and Metro visiting our Village. They gave gifts and highly appreciated our achievement in 18 years.

Taking children to the beach in the summer time become the one thing in our Village. After enjoying the salt of sea water and being tired of playing with wave, it often has football and volley matches between boys right in the sand-bank. The girls often spend much time to build castle in the air, to look for the nice stone and to catch small crab in the sand. The bigger ones are busy to help mother to look after the smaller ones.

A good football player

At the Nationwide Children’s Soccer Cup, the audience began to take notice of a player worn the No 9 T- shirt played very well of HCMC selective team : forwarder Thanh Loi. He was the author of 7 goal winnings, taking his part to bring the City children’s selective team won the Bronze Medal.

In 2000, Thanh Loi and his younger brother Thanh Sang were admitted to the Village. Lost of mother since 1999, the father had left away. He seemed to have no way out until he had a family, a house roof, the sisters and brothers and most of all a mother’s heart to get a place to console their sorrows and shares of joys.

Thanh Loi started coming to school, allowed to learn the skills he loved. In addition to regular attendance at the Taekwondo class, he was particular fond of soccer. His skill gradually revealed, in a match among the schools of the whole Go Vap District in 2003, Loi was discovered. He was present in the District’s Children selective team ever since. In 2004 Thanh Loi and his team brought back the Golden Medal to Go Vap District in the Citywide Children’s Soccer Cup. Another turning step came to Loi : Being recruited for HCMC Children’s selective team.

He gradually grew up more in personality as well as soccer technique owing to be professionally trained. Martial arts also brought to him the rapidity and more dexterity in moving, attacking upon going out to the ground. 1.57 m high, weighed 46 kg, looked from the outside he seems to be skinnier but on the playground, Thanh Loi operates very well.

Loving David Beckham and the British selective team, Thanh Loi likes to collect the photographs of the players and selective team he is fond of. Therefore, at his corner of study or in his drawer are always full of these pictures.

Should you ask what his dream is, certainly you would receive the answer : to become a professional soccer player. And, one more certain thing is that you would also wish that dream becomes a reality then, wouldn’t you ? One dream, several dreams, millions of dreams of the unfortunate children who have found out the smiles below the roof of SOS House that I want to tell you. Because living is sharing with one another of joys and smiles. I believe you think so, too.

Such success can only be achieved thanks to your great distributions and supports both materially and spiritually. We would like to send you our most heart-felt gratitude. Wishing you and your family all the best for a summer.

Kind regards,

Nguyễn Văn Trừng
Director
SOS Children’s Village Go Vap