The day after Christmas with the women of the Nguyen family. Thomas and Benjamin were our guests of honor. The lady on TV just dropped by uninvited.
Monday, December 26, 2005
Xmas in Old Greenwich
The day after Christmas with the women of the Nguyen family. Thomas and Benjamin were our guests of honor. The lady on TV just dropped by uninvited.
Monday, December 12, 2005
Report from Vietnam for CHH
I'm back in Paris, and here is some info gathered from my talks with sr. Marie-Anne (who's also my aunt and in charge of our classe de 8è), and sr. Marie Thérèse Thuan. I tried to speak also with sr. Helena, but she was not available. I met briefly with sr. Alexia Quynh, but apart from saying hello, did not meet with her.
Although I'm not sure to have gotten all the details, I think what we've got here is a good summary of the projects that are available to us for possible funding. Once you've had a chance to digest this, let's talk more to plan on our next steps ... BTW, I did ask, but there does not seem to be any collaboration between the sisters of RM and Regina Pacis.
A. Info from sr. Marie-Anne:
Sr M-A spoke to me at length about 4 projects, all to do with educational funding for children from a poor to modest background. 3 of these are under the aegis of RM (Congrégation Notre Dame, Province Vietnam), while 1 of them is run by an association called ADEP. The common denominator in all 4 projects is that funding is provided to 1) both boys and girls, 2) regardless of religious background. The difference is in the time commitment: funding for the first project must be continually over the long term, while funding for the other projects may be made on the spot basis.
1. Sr. Helena works for an association called ADEP. The goal of this association is to facilitate educational exchanges between France and Vietnam. One of their projects is to sponsor a number of students to pay for all their schooling, from the time they join the program until the end of their studies, which could be high school or university. The students could be from all background, religious persuasion, with parents or without, attending middle school, high school or university. Sr. Helena is in charge of selecting the students, monitoring their progress, providing periodic reports back to the association, and facilitating onsite visits from the association members with the students. The university students are expected to help with monitoring and helping the middle school and high school students. The point to stress with this project is that funding must be available to ensure that the sponsored student may complete the full cycle of studies. Let's say if the association decided to take on 10 students in 1st grade, then it would have to commit itself to paying out certain annual sums over the next 12 years, taking into account the effect of inflation. Although sr. Helena is involved in the project, it is run by ADEP and NOT by RM.
2. The second project is run entirely by the sisters of RM, however, under the cover of a state-controlled school principal. The reason for this is because religious orders are still not allowed to teach in VN. For them to operate this middle school, called Truo`ng Ti`nh Thuong, the sisters have to rely on the good will and borrow the name of a lay principal of a public high school. Based in Tân Thuâ.n / Nhà Bè (on the ouskirt of HCM City - a "difficult" area with lots of social/urban problems), Truong Tinh Thuong have been in operations for over 15 years. About 200 kids (boys and girls, from all religious background) attend classes from first to 5th grade free of charges. Some of them also get free lunches. In the past years, all 100% students from the school have sucessfully passed the entrance exam to go on to high school. Another branch is being considered for Ban Mê Thuâ.t. The funding for Truong Tinh Thuong has mostly come from contributions from couventines of the "older" promotions over the years (Dinh Ha et al)
3. The third project is also run entirely by the sisters of RM. The grade school is based in Long Thanh and provides grade school education / day care to about 80 kids (boys and girls, regardless of religious background). The parents have to pay a subsidized fee for their kids. Funding for the rest of the operations comes from occasional / personal contributions to the project from friends/families of the sisters at RM.
4. The fourth project is also run entirely by the sisters of RM, and consists of a scholarship fund to be administered at the discretion of a committee run by 3 sisters on a rotational basis. All sisters of RM may submit applications on behalf of families / students in their circles of acquantainces to get funding for a student on an annual basis, for studies at middle school, high school and university. The exact amount, as well as annual renewal, is determined on a case by case basis by the committee. It is the personal responsibility of the sister who does the nomination to monitor and control progress of the student. The maximum scholarship amount is $10/month/kid.
B. Info from Sr. Marie Thérèse:
Sr. Marie Thérèse is involved in running a women's dormitory for university students set up by her god daughter, Phuong Dung. It's a 2 story house, converted into a dorm, to accommodate 34 women, with modern, spotless, though a bit cramped facilities for washing, sleeping, studying, eating, etc. The rule here is a bit different than above: The accommodations are only for girls from catholic background from places at least 200km away from HCM City needing to attend university classes in the city. The dorm in fact was an answer to a problem apparently pretty pervasive in VN: rampant pregnancies and abortion of women university students due to lack of proper housing accommodations. The parents and girls need to pay anywhere between $13 and $34 for a month of accomodation, including meals, depending on their financials. I think the operation is pretty much self-financed. Sr. M-T did not mention needing or getting funds from anyone for this project.
Although I'm not sure to have gotten all the details, I think what we've got here is a good summary of the projects that are available to us for possible funding. Once you've had a chance to digest this, let's talk more to plan on our next steps ... BTW, I did ask, but there does not seem to be any collaboration between the sisters of RM and Regina Pacis.
A. Info from sr. Marie-Anne:
Sr M-A spoke to me at length about 4 projects, all to do with educational funding for children from a poor to modest background. 3 of these are under the aegis of RM (Congrégation Notre Dame, Province Vietnam), while 1 of them is run by an association called ADEP. The common denominator in all 4 projects is that funding is provided to 1) both boys and girls, 2) regardless of religious background. The difference is in the time commitment: funding for the first project must be continually over the long term, while funding for the other projects may be made on the spot basis.
1. Sr. Helena works for an association called ADEP. The goal of this association is to facilitate educational exchanges between France and Vietnam. One of their projects is to sponsor a number of students to pay for all their schooling, from the time they join the program until the end of their studies, which could be high school or university. The students could be from all background, religious persuasion, with parents or without, attending middle school, high school or university. Sr. Helena is in charge of selecting the students, monitoring their progress, providing periodic reports back to the association, and facilitating onsite visits from the association members with the students. The university students are expected to help with monitoring and helping the middle school and high school students. The point to stress with this project is that funding must be available to ensure that the sponsored student may complete the full cycle of studies. Let's say if the association decided to take on 10 students in 1st grade, then it would have to commit itself to paying out certain annual sums over the next 12 years, taking into account the effect of inflation. Although sr. Helena is involved in the project, it is run by ADEP and NOT by RM.
2. The second project is run entirely by the sisters of RM, however, under the cover of a state-controlled school principal. The reason for this is because religious orders are still not allowed to teach in VN. For them to operate this middle school, called Truo`ng Ti`nh Thuong, the sisters have to rely on the good will and borrow the name of a lay principal of a public high school. Based in Tân Thuâ.n / Nhà Bè (on the ouskirt of HCM City - a "difficult" area with lots of social/urban problems), Truong Tinh Thuong have been in operations for over 15 years. About 200 kids (boys and girls, from all religious background) attend classes from first to 5th grade free of charges. Some of them also get free lunches. In the past years, all 100% students from the school have sucessfully passed the entrance exam to go on to high school. Another branch is being considered for Ban Mê Thuâ.t. The funding for Truong Tinh Thuong has mostly come from contributions from couventines of the "older" promotions over the years (Dinh Ha et al)
3. The third project is also run entirely by the sisters of RM. The grade school is based in Long Thanh and provides grade school education / day care to about 80 kids (boys and girls, regardless of religious background). The parents have to pay a subsidized fee for their kids. Funding for the rest of the operations comes from occasional / personal contributions to the project from friends/families of the sisters at RM.
4. The fourth project is also run entirely by the sisters of RM, and consists of a scholarship fund to be administered at the discretion of a committee run by 3 sisters on a rotational basis. All sisters of RM may submit applications on behalf of families / students in their circles of acquantainces to get funding for a student on an annual basis, for studies at middle school, high school and university. The exact amount, as well as annual renewal, is determined on a case by case basis by the committee. It is the personal responsibility of the sister who does the nomination to monitor and control progress of the student. The maximum scholarship amount is $10/month/kid.
B. Info from Sr. Marie Thérèse:
Sr. Marie Thérèse is involved in running a women's dormitory for university students set up by her god daughter, Phuong Dung. It's a 2 story house, converted into a dorm, to accommodate 34 women, with modern, spotless, though a bit cramped facilities for washing, sleeping, studying, eating, etc. The rule here is a bit different than above: The accommodations are only for girls from catholic background from places at least 200km away from HCM City needing to attend university classes in the city. The dorm in fact was an answer to a problem apparently pretty pervasive in VN: rampant pregnancies and abortion of women university students due to lack of proper housing accommodations. The parents and girls need to pay anywhere between $13 and $34 for a month of accomodation, including meals, depending on their financials. I think the operation is pretty much self-financed. Sr. M-T did not mention needing or getting funds from anyone for this project.
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