The ACCV blog has moved....

We now have a wonderful new website for ACCV, a vast improvement on what we had! Robert Fox very kindly donated an enormous amount of time and research to this project, and we think it has paid off. Thank you!! :)

We hope you will enjoy it, It also includes our blog page


You can read our latest entry It takes a village...

Please have a look at the website and let us know what you think of it. We would love to hear your feedback.

Kind regards

Alison & Rose

Where your money goes....

Gratitude... it's a piece of cake.

Recently, our office staff enjoyed a pleasant surprise. The family of one of the children we sponsor took the time to hand make some Gio cakes for the ACCV team.  A traditional dish in Vietnam, Gio cake apparently contains "the hidden wonders of art and the countryside of Vietnam" it's a big favourite.
.

The family brought the cakes in as a thank you gift. Their little boy Thanh suffers from brittle bone disease, technically known as Osteomalacia Imperfecta (OI). No matter what you call it, it's a terrible, debilitating disease and one that requires constant medical care & treatment.

Living in poverty with a seriously ill child places a huge strain on an already stressed family. Sadly, it can lead to the child not receiving vital medical care. That's usually the situation when we first meet the family and the child then becomes part of the ACCV Christine Edith Sponsorship Programme.

Mai and our staff were very touched at such a nice gesture from people who have so little themselves.

Thanh's parents wanted to express their gratitude to ACCV and to the people who very kindly provide sponsorship for Thanh. His health has shown great improvement since we first met him.

If you would like to sponsor a child...

Kind regards

Alison, Rose & the ACCV team

MAKE A DONATION

(please drop us a quick email so we can acknowledge your kindness)

Calling all Hanoi musicians...

We are looking for musicians and other acts who would be happy to be involved with our ACCV Annual fundraiser to raise funds for seriously ill children living in poverty. 

Our event will be held at the Australian Embassy Hanoi, 

 Friday March 30th 2012 5pm - 10pm

If you are interested or you know of anyone, please contact Alison at accv@bigpond.com  

 or Mai at:  accvmai@gmail.com             Phone:0979032169                ACCV  Office: (84-4) 39974935

100% of all funds raised will go directly to our program at the Paediatric Hospital Hanoi

Kind regards

Alison, Rose & the ACCV team

MAKE A DONATION

(please drop us a quick email so we can acknowledge your kindness)

They can see a Brighter Tomorrow...

Our Brighter tomorrow programme works with real families living in poverty. They are dealing with the stress of having a very sick child along with the incredible burden of being incapable of paying for medical treatment. We can only imagine…

It is extremely rewarding to see a seriously ill child go from strength to strength. To see parents obvious relief  as they realise that there is help at hand for them and their child. As our programme at the National Paediatric hospital is now well into it’s second year we are beginning to receive many positive feedback stories. We’d like to share some of them with you.

Your money is very well spent, 100% of all donations go to ACCV programmes. There are almost 100 children in our programme, there are 500 seriously ill children waiting for our help. 

Our annual Hanoi fundraiser will take place Friday 30^th of March at the Australian Embassy Hanoi. We are looking for volunteers to help us to make this night a succesful event

We’re looking for donations too, but that’s nothing new...

Kind regards

Alison, Rose & the ACCV team

MAKE A DONATION

(please drop us a quick email so we can acknowledge your kindness)

English Club Topic: Traditional Vietnamese Tet...

The year of the Dragon is about to begin. It will be the sixth lunar new year for ACCV & our friends in Hanoi. Each year has brought about a number of new developments for ACCV, while some were great, others have been quite challenging.

A definite highlight of last year was the development of our ACCV English Club at British Council. It has been a wonderful success for all involved. Dat & Hong have stepped up beautifully in their new role as leaders, with full support of Matt, Leath, Mai & Huong. 

Dat & Hong take turns in preparing a report and sending it through to us. I always look forward to hearing from them. The latest Club topic was Traditional Vietnamese Tet, they did a great job and everyone had a wonderful time!

Here is Dat's report...

Please remember that this young man could not speak a word of English when we met him just a few years ago. Enjoy! 

To welcome New Year atmosphere, everyone was very excited when they came to English club to talk about Traditional Tet of Vietnam. However, there were some students who couldn’t come to English club, because they live in other places where so are far from Hanoi city. They didn’t come back home for a long time and they wish to come back their homeland for a family reunion.

In discussion, most of students told that Tet holiday is the most important festival in Vietnam. It has become so familiar to the Vietnamese when spring arrives. During Tet holiday, you can see full of colorful flowers on all streets. Peaches, Apricots and Kumquats are specific trees of Vietnamese Lunar New Year. People believe that it can bring them the luck of life and fortune.

                                      

Besides, they also discussed about traditional customs in Tet holiday such as: visiting relative house on the first day of the New Year, ancestral worshipping, wishing New Year’s greetings, giving lucky money to children and elder people, opening the shops…etc. There are many different customs in Tet holiday. Each place has a different custom to welcome the New Year.  In additional, they talked about special and meaning of foods in Lunar New year. Chung cake, Day cake, Five-fruit tray are symbol of land, sky and prosperity.

                                              

Activities

Every student was very surprised when they were playing an interesting game. The pictures were decorated by their hands. For blind people, it is very difficult to create a picture, but they did very well. It made them feel more confident and happy.

 Thank you very much!

Dat Tran.

Chuc mung nam oi 2012 with best wishes from all at ACCV!

Kind regards

Alison, Rose & the ACCV team

MAKE A DONATION

(please drop us a quick email so we can acknowledge your kindness)

                  

Event planning volunteers....

ACCV  is preparing to host  "A Brighter Tomorrow"  our second annual fund raising evening in the beautiful grounds of the Australian Embassy on Friday March 30^th

We are looking for volunteers to join the committee to help us to make this event a great success. This will involve planning, managing and hosting a high energy, fun and financially successful event to raise both funds for the children and awareness of ACCV in Hanoi.

The successful applicants will be part of a small committee of people all geared to working together for the success of this event. Each successful applicant will manage a particular aspect of the event.

Scope of work includes:

- Working with a team to develop and implement an event plan.
- Monitor and manage each aspect and stage of the event.
- Oversee smaller committee
- Manage and delegate responsibilities for;

• Event correspondence 
• Donations, sponsorship 
• Marketing, advertising, promotions 
• Entertainment 
• Vendors 
• Raffles, competitions etc. 
• Staffing rosters 
• Event schedule

This is a short term position commencing immediately and culminating at the event on Friday March 30th

If you would like to register your interest please email your CV: accv@bigpond.com

All proceeds will go directly to our “A Brighter Tomorrow” program working with seriously ill children at the National Pediatric Hospital

kind regards

Alison & Rose

100% of donations will go directly to the children of Vietnam

Christmas wishes & gratitude...

 What a year it’s been! 

We’ve enjoyed some amazing high’s and some very sad lows, but overall it’s been a very good year for ACCV. Our students are doing so well at their classes and their English Club at British Council is flourishing. A huge thank you to all involved.

Our Christine Edith sponsorship program is now supporting over a hundred children. I still find it quite remarkable that a small amount of money can completely transform lives, yet it does.  We’re humbled at the support we receive to help these families. Thank you.

I’d like to offer a special thank you to Mai and the staff in our Hanoi office, they have really been amazing this year. They care very much about the people we are helping, this often willingly extends to outside of work hours. Thank you Mai, Huong, Phuong, Toan, Khanh, Thu, Dat & Hong, you do a wonderful job.

Without dedicated staff, committed volunteers and generous supporters, ACCV simply can not reach those who need our help most. We genuinely appreciate all the support that we have received, whether time, money or gifts in kind. It makes a difference.

We’d like to extend our best wishes for a happy & safe Christmas and New Year to all. We look forward to your continued support in 2012

Kind regards

Alison, Rose & the ACCV team

MAKE A DONATION

(please drop us a quick email so we can acknowledge your kindness)

A helping hand, not a hand out...

This has always been our main objective. We want to help people to help themselves, and it's lovely when it works. My favourite type of letter is one that tells us that someone we have been supporting has found the means to stand alone. It really means alot... 

I recently received such a letter from Hien  a delightful young lady who has shown amazing strength and character in the face of challenges her family has faced. When we met Hien in 2008 she desperately wanted to stay at school, but with two terminally ill younger brothers, the families resources were stretched beyond compare. ACCV been supporting her since, and she's been doing very well.

 Dear ACCV,

My name is Hien, one of the children receiving ACCV support during the high-school period in Bac Ninh. My family and I greatly appreciate your help as thanks to this support, I overcame the difficult circumstance and achieved a positive educational result.

 

 I am now learning at a vocational training school and I will complete this course as an accountant in the next two years. Currently, I not only focus on studying, but also doing some extra jobs as I would like to cover the school fees by myself. I am quite busy everyday, I go to school in the morning, go to work in the afternoon and study at home in the evening. Now, my situation has certainly been improved so I would like to share with the other disadvantaged students by withdrawing from ACCV sponsorship.

 Again, My parents and I would like to thank ACCV for your help for me over the pass three years. I wish that ACCV will further develop in order to bring the happiness to many many disadvantaged children in Vietnam.  Thank you very much

Hien

Well done Hien, we're very proud of her! And we're very pleased that we were able to help.

Once again I would like to extend our thanks, we could not possibly help young people like Hien without your generous support.

Kind regards

Alison & Rose

MAKE A DONATION

(please drop us a quick email so we can acknowledge your kindness)

Home is where the heart is....

Over the past few years I have mentioned Quan's mother to you a few times. Duyen is honestly one of the nicest people I have met. And she really does it tough.

It is always a joy to go up and visit the remote village where she lives. We don't get there very often, but it's a highlight to our trip when we do. Although a very poor area, it's such a beautiful part of the country.

Duyen is so proud of the wonderful progress Quan has made and the nice life he has built for himself. She is always so happy to see us, and we're given a very warm welcome (granted, we do have Quan with us).  This visit Duyen had quite a houseful, we had staff, friends and family with us, it was a fun crowd.

Duyen takes so much pleasure from visits from Quan and his friends. She loves watching him mix with everyone, and she just beams when he chat's to us in English, you can see the pride on her face. It's so nice to be part of it all, they're very close.

We had a lovely chat that afternoon, she was telling us how hard it was when Quan first went to live in Hanoi, she cried every day. When you think about it, it was such a leap of faith for her to let him leave with us. But she did, and they've never looked back. She again told us how thankful she is for the help we have given to Quan.

Now we would like to help her....

This is Duyen's family home. It's a small timber shack and as you can imagine, it's boiling hot in summer and it's freezing cold in winter. When Quan goes home for New Year in February, the cold plays havoc with his arthritis. There is just no escape from the elements.

We'd really like to change that.

For less than $1,500.00 we can build a solid concrete little building where Duyen and her invalid husband can live.

If you would like to donate towards a secure home for Quan and his family this Christmas, please make a donation and simply mark it  "Quan's home"

Hoping all is well in your world.

Kind regards

Alison & Rose

MAKE A DONATION

(please drop us a quick email so we can acknowledge your kindness)