Letters from Vietnam #12 – Annual Report and Christmas Greetings

We received another letter from Vietnam. But see and read yourself:

Dear friends,

Christmas will soon arrive and my handicapped children look forward to the festivities. They hope for small presents, a good dinner and spending time with other handicapped people.

This year, however, their expectations might well be in vain, because we have no money to spend on a festivity such as we had last year.

Here is a short overview of last year’s activities:

1. A group of 15 girls in the Hanoi district of My Dinh had to move out. Bishop Peter built a tin house on a small property donated to us by a good catholic family in the Cau Giay district of Hanoi. There is room for 10 girls and it cost 200 million VND. The girls in this group work as seamstresses, making high-quality kimonos for a Hoi An/Da Nang boutique. Thus, they now earn enough for a living.
2. I spent some time in Germany. First, I went to Munich, among other things attending Roland’s birthday party. Donations motivated by his appeal were around 4,000 Euros. In the name of all my children, I would personally like to thank Roland and all his guests and donors very much for their generous contributions.
3. During the following months, more than 1,000 Euros more were donated.
4. I went to the Don Bosco Mission in Bonn. Thanks to the help of Don Bosco Bonn, Bishop Peter at Thai Binh can build a centre for vocational training (Don Bosco Shelter) for handicapped people. The money comes from the “Hilfswerk Deutscher Zahnärzte” and amounts to a sum of 188,000 €.
5. After having attended Roland Dürre’s party, I cooked for a Commerzbank event in Munich (Sushi Buffet). After taxes, we collected 2,500 Euros. I handed the money over to Bishop Peter.
6. During my time in Bonn, I also worked for Caritas Vietnam and Caritas Deutschland (in Freiburg). As a consequence, I learned about probably very useful addresses for the handicapped.
7. In September, we started building the Don Bosco Shelter. It will be finished by June, 2011 and will provide room for 50 children. The children can learn a simple, easy task during their 6-month apprenticeship, for example seamstress, nails, photo shop, laundry, cell-phone repair,…

8. This year, I had three visitors from Germany. Frau Svantje Hargens from Konstanz, Frau Cornelia Brenig and Dr. Peter Blosch of the Don Bosco Mission and Frau Kirstin Plöger with her sister Astrid from Bonn. All visitors took a very close look at my work in Vietnam and gave a lot of help. They made the children realize that they are not alone.

9. Four children were baptized catholic, one married.

10. Bishop Peter bought a cheap house in Thai Binh City. I would like to renovate it for a group of 15 girls and 5 female students. The idea is to let the children live in the same household as the female students, which would make integration a lot easier. The students are supposed to keep a watchful eye on the children.

This group is mostly from central Vietnam, where flood waters have now been devastating everything for two months. Many families were thrown back to the time of 1954: poor, ill, illiterate and without a house of their own. They live in huts, the soil has been swept away by all these masses of water. Cows and pigs drowned and nothing is left to them. I went there for a week. To be precise, I was in the province of Kim Lu /Quang Binh. What I saw looked exactly like what I had seen when I was a small child in the year 1954 as we fled from North Vietnam to South Vietnam.  Just five years ago, Vietnam had managed to abolish hunger. Now we are back to the stone age of 1954.

11. I had a small accident. My motor bike, built in 1987, is now damaged. Spare parts are not available. I wish I could get a new one for Christmas. Without a motor bike, I cannot move around in Vietnam. I drive a lot and far, so I would need one with 175 ccm.  Now I ask for help, because, so far, I only managed to save 10 million VND, which leaves me short by 40 million.

Dear friends, this was my report of the year 2010. The year is not yet over, but almost. I am tired, and I also miss Germany. Believe me, what you have in Germany is a gift of God. In Vietnam, the same is not possible. Be thankful to God and stop complaining all the time. Be happy and live well. Enjoy life and share, because that is how you will enjoy life even more.

Please remember me around Christmas and pray for me to be able to work even better in 2011. I pray for you. May God give you peace – and please drink a cup of hot spiced wine with Maroni and gingerbread and “Christstollen” to my health…

In love and peace,

Francis, MS (revision)
(Translated by EG)

For all those of you who want to help, here is where you can donate money:

Empfänger: Salesianer Don Boscos

Verwendungszweck: Agent-Orange-Kinder