FHF successfully built an orphanage/children's shelter in 2003. Presently, there are a total of 40 children living full time at the shelter, consisting of children mostly displaced by the 1999 flood. Our children range in age from 7 to 20 years old, with two young men ready to graduate from nearby college and Hue Univeristy in the summer of 2008. We are very proud to be the only children's shelter in Thua Thien - Hue Province to produce college and university bound students.

We are continuously raising funds to support the children in the program. Each child is supported at a low cost of $365/year...one dollar a day for shelter, guardianship, nutrition, caregiving, education, and tutorial. We welcome opportunities to collaborate with all organizations, indivdidual contributors and volunteers. For more information please contact us at info@friendsofhue.org

Fairly soon after the children and staff moved in we realized there is need for a larger library, additional classrooms, vocational space and volunteer guestrooms. In 2004, we collaborated with the East Meets West Foundation and generous private donors to build a multi-purpose annex. Grand opening for the Vocational Center took place in the fall 2007. We have just concluded our first vocational courses in sewing, computer literacy and ESL. We are currently seeking additional funds and resources to further equip and strengthen the vocational center and its programs and welcome an opportunity to collaborate with other organizations in this endeavor.

Future plans are to engage these courses into revenue generating programs where, for an example, sewing students get hands on experience in producing gift bags to be sold through wine merchant stores in the US.

Undoubtedly, there are few things that are as precious to all of us as to being healthy. Yet, illness is a certainty in life that befalls each and every one of us at one point or another. However, most of us have the ability to access physicians, medicines, or surgical procedures that could help alleviate or eradicate our illnesses. Unfortunately, these options are not available for many individuals living in the remote regions of Vietnam; they do not have access to even the most basic of health care. To further compound the problem, Agent Orange, malnutrition and natural disasters are rife in this region, which can worsen any existing medical conditions.

Our Healthcare Program, thus, has one simple mission: improve health care for those less fortunate around Hue regions - by affecting one life at a time.

The Corrective Surgery Program (CSP) was created in August 2001 with a $2,000-dollar donation from the Vietnam Foundation to provide surgeries for patients with debilitating medical conditions, such as tumors, cleft palate, deformed extremities, severe burns and innate hernia. Since its inception, the program has provided surgeries and medical cares to more than 200 patients, with most cases costing between $75 to $125 US dollars. Thus, for an annual cost as little as 30 cents a day, this program enables our patients — most often are young children — the ability to do simple things such as eat, walk, talk normally again, or smile for the first time.

Currently, funding for the project comes from FHF's fundraising efforts and sponsorship by individual benefactors. Cases are taken on a rolling basis and treatment are given based on available fundings. To obtain more information on the Corrective Surgery Project, please contact Uyen Nguyen, the Director for FHF’s Medical Programs, at uyen.nguyen@gmail.com.

The purpose of the Mobile Clinic Program (MCP) is to provide general health care to needy families and children living in poor and remote regions of Hue province, and to identify patients requiring corrective surgeries and long-term care for their serious medical conditions. With the voluntary co-operation of doctors and pharmacists from Hue Central Hospital and Hue Hospital, FHF organizes a monthly medical mission to remote areas of Hue province to deliver care and medicine to thousands of poor people without any fees. The approximate cost for each medical mission is $350 USD, which covers all aspects of the program, including physical examinations and medicines for approximately 250 patients per medical mission—an equivalent of $1.4 USD per patient. As of the end of 2007, we have delivered care to more than 26,000 patients through 75 MCPs. You can learn more about the working of our mobile clinic by reading one of the following MCP reports prepared by our staff in VN:

1) Mobile Health Clinic at Duong Hoa commune

2) Mobile Health Clinic at Huong Phong commune

3)Mobile Health Clinic at Quang Thanh commune

• Dental Care Program
  Beginning in March 2007, FHF, in collaboration with East Meets West, will provide children in our shelter and surrounding Hue areas with dental examinations, fillings, cleanings, extractions, medications, fluoride treatments and education information.

• Operation Healthy Heart
  In collaboration with the East Meets West Foundation's Operation Healthy Heart (OHH) program, Friends of Hue will provide life-saving surgery to children with serious heart disease in Hue and the surrounding areas. The cost for each life-saving OHH surgery is approximately $1,500 USD, with 50% of the cost being matched by one of EMW's partners in the US or Vietnam, including Friends of Hue Foundation. However, OHH still needs donors to provide the initial donation before the match. Thank you so much for considering a donation to this important and life-giving program.

To learn more about OHH, please go to:

http://eastmeetswest.org/programs/ohh/index.html

If you'd like to donate directly to the OHH program, please go to one of the following links to:

donate through the East Meets West Foundation

or

donate through the Friends of Hue Foundation

for more information please contact Uyen Nguyen, the Director for FHF’s Medical Programs, at uyen.nguyen@gmail.com

Funds are used to give scholarships and to buy educational materials and books for needy children living in areas devastated by floods.

Since FHF was founded in 2000, we recognized a great need in Thua Thien - Hue province for small funds to assist local entrepreneurs who were too poor to have any collateral worthwhile for banks to lend them money. With a small grant from a private foundation and donors, FHF's microfinance funds were used to develop small-scale economic and business projects that are feasible, cost-effective, and meet the immediate needs of impoverished people in the target region. The primary activity is giving non-interest loans to street vendors for buying simple things such as a table and chairs for their food stands, to fishermen for buying fishing nets, and to peasant farmers for buying rice seeds, piglets, and chickens. Modest loans ranging from $25 to $100 were big enough to be helpful to borrowers yet easy enough to pay back.

In 2007 we partnered with Fund for the Encouragement of Self Reliance (FESR) to extend our reach in targeted areas. Plans in 2008 are to greatly increase loan amounts to provide successful small size enterpreneur businesses grow.

To view photos scroll your mouse over the text below without clicking on the links.

• (pic 1)- A loan of $400,000 VND ($25 USD), enables a roadside stand to sell local noodle soup and fried sea snails
• (pic 2)- Mr. Hung V. Tran's roadside baguette sandwich stand
• (pic 3)- Ms. Hue T. Mai breakfast items stand: poridge and sweet rice
• (pic 4)- Ms. Cam T. Pham sells seafood noodles

(view on mouse-over, without clicking)

Monsoon season hits central Vietnam the hardest of the three major regions in the country. Thua Thien - Hue and its people seems to take the brunt of this annual phenomenon.

Friends of Hue Foundation Distributed Flood Relief Necessities

2007

As reported from our staff in Thua Thien - Hue Province: "Since Saturday November 17, by using trucks and speed boats, Friends of Hue and FESR have been distributing 70,000 kilograms of rice and 700 boxes of instant noodles to 700 flood victim families of the most affected including Quang Thanh, Quang Tho, Phong Binh, Huong Phong and Quang An. Our staff and a volunteer medical team will be following up with mobile medical clinics.

When the FHF Children Shelter's 1st floor submerged under water, as our children and staff evacuated to the second floor waiting for the storm to subside and water to retreat, our staff still managed to activate our emergency relief plan to distribute food and other necessities to 600 families.

FHF Flood Relief Distribution Effort

Copyrighted photos courtesy of Photographer Doug Young, another friend and lover of Hue.

People are still in desperate need for food, water and fuel. The help is just not enough. We are planning for a second batch of distribution of clean water making kits, condensed milk, sugar, salt and possibly oil (dau lua). A medical team with medicine will be followed. We anticipate that the Cholera situation will get worse with the lack of clean water. The approaching 5th storm of the month will cause more suffering to the people.

It would be great if any other organizations can join us in this effort. All these are possible due to the generous donations of chu Nguyen Van Van, Co Chu Phung Lien Doan, chi Vi Tuong Nguyen and many of FHF donors."

2006

On the 11th of October,2006, FHF organized the distribution of 1,280 cement-metal sheets (worth $2,000 USD) for 64 families with collapsed houses in villages of LocVinh (14 families), Loc Binh (10 families), LocTien (10 families), LocDien (10 families), LocAn (10 families) and LangCo (10 families), each in the PhuLoc District of Thua Thien Hue Province. Each family received 20 pieces of cement-metal sheet (worth 500.000dvn=$31.44US per family) to repair their houses. Before carrying out the program, FHF consulted with the local People's Committees of 6 communes and Thua Thien Hue's Red Cross in order to select the 64 families, out of a total of 603 suffering severe home damage, to assist. Selection was based on financial need.

After finishing the distribution, the assisted villagers and the local authorities from the six communes thanked us for the timely support of FHF. Our assistance enables the villagers in rebuilding their houses and returning to a stable life.

Central Vietnam frequently suffers from major natural disasters such as floods and typhoons. In 1999, Thua Thien Hue suffered the worst floods in 500 years, resulting in widespread economic and environmental devastation from which the region will take years to recover. The Friends of Hue Foundation is providing emergency relief and reconstruction, particularly for food, dwellings, clothing, and health. The Foundation holds special fund-raising activities to deal with specific emergencies as they occur.

You can be a sponsor for a child or a young adult who needs a corrective surgery. With a small amount of money, you can improve their lives forever.

You can sponsor a Mobile Clinic that goes to different places every month. You will provide people a medical examination, maybe the first they ever had in their lives, and you will provide patients with free medicines.

You can donate to the Small Loan Project and give families a chance at opening up a small business and increase their living standard.

You can participate in FHF events or you can organize a fundraising event for FHF. Together we can make a difference!

for more information please contact us at info@friendsofhue.org

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