Can Tho Youth Empowerment Project

CTYEP Blog 2.0

2010-10-17T14:57:00.000-07:00

The CTYEP board of directors will be attempting to breathe some new life into this blog after a couple of years without an update. Stay posted!

Profile: Danh An

2007-12-22T21:03:00.000-08:00

Danh An is 14 years old and has lived at Hoi Tu Thien for a very long time. Like several other children at the institution, Danh An was left by his parents at a very young age. Although he has an older brother and a few relatives that he knows of in his Hoa Luu (his hometown), he doesn't have any contact with them. Hoi Tu Thien has enrolled him in a nearby secondary school where he's studying in the 6th grade. An's dream is to become a famous singer one day. He likes watching cartoons in his free time--especially Superman, which is his favorite.

Profile: Nguyen Thi Ngoan

2007-12-22T20:53:00.000-08:00

This young girl with an overwhelmingly pleasant smile is Nguyen Thi Ngoan, age 11. If she looks familiar it's because Nguyen Thi Ngoan is Nguyen Thi Loc's younger sister. Ngoan hopes to go to vocational school so that one day she can become a famous hairdresser. It's her dream to make a lot of money so that she may help her parents when they are older.

Profile: Nguyen Thi Loc

2007-12-22T20:20:00.000-08:00

Nguyen Thi Loc, age 12, is a bright young girl who comes from the town of Chau Doc, just east of the Cambodian border. Loc finished 2nd grade in Chau Doc, but was unable to continue studying due to her family's financial situation. Her mother and father recently moved to Ho Chi Minh City to seek work, and asked Hoi Tu Thien to help find a school for Loc in Can Tho and to care for her until they come into better times. Loc still talks with her parents every week over the telephone, but the 180km from Ho Chi Minh City to Can Tho may as well be a thousand, for it is very difficult for her to meet them. Nonetheless, Loc is adapting to her new life at Hoi Tu Thien. Loc is now back in school and dreams of becoming a doctor one day, and in the more immediate future, of having a bicycle to ride to school.

New Student Workers: Tuyen and Nhat

2007-11-22T20:03:00.000-08:00

Counterclockwise from right: Tuyen, Nhat, Phung, Loan, Mark, Wes.

New teachers Tuyen and Nhat are meeting with our veteran teachers (Phung and Loan) and PiA volunteers to discuss their new teaching responsibilities.

Profile: Danh Binh

2007-04-19T19:32:00.000-07:00

Danh Binh is one of the newest faces at Hoi Tu Thien in Can Tho. At 17 years old, he’s a little older than most of the newcomers. About a month ago he moved into Hoi Tu Thien from Vi Thanh district of Hau Giang province where he lived with his grandma, uncle, aunt and two siblings. He has come to Can Tho to find a better life. He’s now working as a ball boy at the local tennis court, but dreams of becoming a police officer and will try to study at the police academy in Can Tho after his 18th birthday. So far Binh has only studied to the 8th grade, but he believes he can continue to learn from the people around him. He especially likes to study literature because through literature he can learn a lot about people, things, and so on. In his free time he likes to listen to music, watch films and watch soccer on TV. Binh is a very polite, gentle, and thoughtful young man. He hasn’t begun studying in our English class yet, but he has begun to participate in some of our computer literacy classes.

Child Profile: Ly Dai

2007-03-18T22:56:00.000-07:00

Ly Dai is 12 years old and he's about to begin the 7th grade. He sits in the front of our under twelve English class where he takes the prize as one of our most active English students. He's also one of our most active computer students and usually attends multiple computer practice sessions each week. He studies hard and plays harder, and he's one of these people who seems to enjoy everything he does immensely. The other day on one of my visits to the orphanage Dai yelled "What do you like?" at me and then without waiting for a reply yelled "I like green!". It's good to see that some of the English we're teaching them is sinking in.

Dai's been at Hoi Tu Thien for 3 and a half years now. He's from the same town of Co Do in O Mon that many of the children come from. His father still lives there and works as a laborer, but his mother has passed away. Dai says that he hopes to be a doctor in the future, because as he says: "Doctors can help poor people." In his free time, I sometimes see Dai playing marbles with other kids his age in front of the orphanage or making impressive constructions out of "lego-esque" building blocks.

Child Profile: Thuy

2007-03-03T20:06:00.000-08:00

Meet Nguyen Thanh Thuy. She's 13 years old and also come from the town of Co Do, in Can Tho province. Her parents still live in Co Do with her younger brother, but they are very poor. Her father is able to eek out a living as a manual laborer in Co Do. She's been living at Hoi Tu Thien for more than three years now and only gets to go home 2 ro 3 times a year to see her family (although they are only a 30 minute motorbike ride from the orphanage). Thuy studies in the 8th grade. Her favorite subject is literature, because she "likes to read stories". When Thuy is older, she hopes to become a tailor. She's not sure why she wants to become a tailor, but she thinks it's a good job and she likes to sew.

Thuy studies in our English class and is also learning some basic computer skills in our program.

Child Profile: Quang

2007-02-01T00:41:00.000-08:00

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.

The New Blog

2006-12-18T02:54:00.000-08:00

I just set up this blog and it's going to take me a while to figure out some of the formatting issues. I'll try to keep this updated on a weekly basis, so check back often.