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Vietnam Charity Project - Childrens hospitalVietnam Travel Plan supports small-scale charity projects in Vietnam. The projects concern children with physical handicaps, and are co-ordinated by the "Child Surgery Vietnam" Foundation. You can support this Vietnam charity project by indicating on the booking form that you wish to donate a one-off contribution of £5; this donation is entirely voluntary. We'll add the £5 to the cost of your holiday, and will deposit 100% of it into the Vietnam charity foundation's account.If you want to keep your holiday in Vietnam, and your contributions to Vietnam charity separate, that's fine we're not seeking to create any moral obligation. We just want to offer you the chance to make a contribution to the country you're visiting, and a project that fits into how we feel about Vietnam. |
How the Vietnam charity foundation worksThis Vietnam charity foundation was established in May 2005 and the first operations were carried out at the beginning of 2006. From the organisational perspective the Vietnam charity foundation works with a Vietnamese agent. In 2005 this agent set up a Vietnamese charity organisation: Center II - Direct Support for Disabled Children, which is linked to the Vietnam Association for Relief of Disabled Children. This agent previously worked for a long time for the now defunct Dutch organisation Committee Two and has plenty of organisational knowledge and lots of contacts.The Vietnam charity founder travels to the regions involved and makes contact with the local doctors and the local government bodies. He helps to choose children in the local area who will benefit most from the programme. He then organises their transportation to a provincial hospital or surgical centre, as they can be some distance away. He then ensures that the children are comfortable, and that they do not go home until they have learnt the training/rehabilitation programme they will use at home. |
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The charity foundation offers direct rehabilitation help to physically handicapped children in Vietnam. It particularly targets the children from the poorer areas of Vietnam, who have the fewest prospects. This usually means far from the major cities, where the standard of life is much lower than average, and getting help to the children or getting them to somewhere where they can be helped is almost impossible. Up to the age of 6 children receive medical aid from the goverment for life-threatening situations, but after that they have to pay for it themselves. Vietnam is a rapidly moving country, and many things are getting better, but it will be a long time before health care is given a high priority. The charity foundation will mainly help the children in North Vietnam, and especially the poorer mountain regions close to the Chinese and Laotian borders. |
How help is givenMany disabled people can be remedied or alleviated by orthopaedic and reconstructive plastic surgery. These defects have a variety of origins from birth defects affecting the skeleton and muscular systems, injuries caused by accidents (including amputations and serious burns), and some that are the consequence of poor hygiene.One major problem that is difficult to estimate is the after-effects of Agent Orange, the defoliant sprayed so widely over central Vietnam during the Vietnam War by the Americans. Many of the combatants from the north, brought it home, absorbed into their bodies, where its after-effects continue to affect future generations. Depending on what a child needs in a particular circumstance, the charity foundation helps by supplying crutches, artificial limbs, braces and even wheelchairs. Everything is made locally and adapted to the terrain and weather conditions. In addition, attention is paid to the family setup of severely handicapped children who cannot be treated, as this puts an enormous burden on the family. By improving their income position, for example by developing some form of home industry or by purchasing breeding animals, the family is more able to spend the necessary time caring for the child. |
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Teaching Foundation The charity foundation uses local doctors and pays them the local going rates. It uses both doctors working in several Orthopedic Rehabilitation Centers closer to Hanoi and doctors from the better provincial hospitals. The doctors have previously been given a 5-year 'on-the-job' specialist training. The basic concept is that it's better to teach a person how to fish once, than to keep giving them fish, so there's already been a large amount of knowledge transferred to the local doctors. |
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