Hoi Tu Thien: the homeless children's club

Hoi Tu Thien: the homeless children's club

Buu Tri Pagoda

Buu Tri Pagoda

Welcome

The Can Tho Youth Empowerment Project has partnered with VietHope and Princeton in Asia and is currently working with two institutions in Can Tho--Hoi Tu Thien and Chua Buu Tri--to provide educational opportunities to poor children in the community. Chua Buu Tri is a pagoda in Can Tho that houses and cares for nearly 50 orphans. Hoi Tu Thien is a home for poor and homeless children which houses almost 30 children and provides educational services for many more.

It is our belief that all children deserve an opportunity to flourish and it is our privilege to be able to offer services to help some children in great need follow their dreams. By creating and sponsoring several work-study positions, we have been able to develop a unique educational program which offers English lessons, Computer instruction, and tutoring to these children. At the same time we are providing students of Can Tho University with scholarships to support their own pursuit of education and valuable work-study experience that is relevant to their field of study.

As of December '07, we have seven part time student-workers involved with our project, and we have organized the following classes:



ENGLISH



-English for children (Under 12 years old) -- Two nights a week plus every other Saturday. (2 classes: 1 at Hoi Tu Thien, another at Buu Tri Pagoda)


-English for children (12 and over) -- Two nights a week plus every other Saturday. (2 classes: 1 at Hoi Tu Thien, another at Buu Tri Pagoda)


-English for adults (for volunteers and staff at both institutions, and for some of the older teachers)--Two nights a week (2 classes at Buu Tri Pagoda--beginner and intermediate levels).



COMPUTER LITERACY AND PRACTICE (Computers were donated by the Carrie Gordon Memorial Fund, and VietHope)



-Basic Computer and word processing skills--Eight separate groups, each meeting for one hour/week (four groups at Hoi Tu Thien and four groups at Buu Tri Pagoda)


-Computer practice --Eight supervised two hour practice sessions per week.


We have also worked with Nexus Australia to arrange vocational scholarships for area children in financial need.


This website is intended to document some of the work we have done at these institutions. For more information about our project or to find out what you can do to help please contact us at carriebrightvn@gmail.com.

News: Buu Tri Pagoda

News: 12/26/07: Some additional pictures of our classes and our team can be found at www.people.virginia.edu/~dw3xx

News: 11/22/07: This blog is undergoing a very long overdue update. New pictures, student profiles, and information will be posted soon, so check back often.

News: 04/19/07: We are very excited to announce that we will be cooperating with yet another fantastic institution in Can Tho to further our goal of providing educational resouces to some of the area's underprivileged youth. Buu Tri pagoda is the home to 39 abandoned children (including 9 children who arrived last year. Over the course of the last few weeks, I've been in contact with Su Co Tam Niem (the head nun at Buu Tri Pagoda) to discuss the possibility of replicating our program at Hoi Tu Thien at her institution. Su Co Tam Niem is very interested in our program and has given us full permission to administer an English and computer program at Buu Tri Pagoda.

Thursday, February 1, 2007

Child Profile: Quang


Dao Quang, 13 years old, comes from Co Do town, a small town in the country outside Can Tho where his parents and 7 brothers and sisters live and work as rice farmers. He has been living at Hoi Tu Thien for over two years and only sees his family once a year on the Tet holiday. Because his family is poor and cannot afford his school fee or to take care of him and all of his brothers and sisters, Quang has come to live and study at Hoi Tu Thien. Quang is now studying in the 7th grade and hopes one day that he can become a teacher (although he's not yet sure which subject he'd like to teach). His favorite subject is physical education, but he's also keen on English. In his free time he likes to watch films, especially Chinese Kung Fu films about the Monkey King.

I know Quang as an intelligent (although sometimes restless) student and a very sweet boy with a disarming smile and a penchant for complicated handshakes.

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