In yet another example of the charitable nature throughout Loscam’s staff in every region, between May and July 2019 Loscam Vietnam worked with charity fund TAM to build a small school of three classrooms in Chua Say village, Ha Giang province.
The community driven initiative was the brainchild of our Vietnam General Manager, LanAnh DoThi, who traveled to Ha Giang province in 2018. “It is one of the most beautiful yet poorest areas in Vietnam on the Chinese border”, says LanAnh. “Chua Say village is a mountainous town, located about 600km away from Hanoi, and nearly 100km deep in the zigzag mountainous pass, at the far north east of Ha Giang province. Here 96% of local people are H’Mong ethnic minority, living in very poor conditions.”
The life of local residents here depends mainly on the cultivation of maize and cassava, so poverty is common place. Chua Say school is the only place of study in the village, and cares for more than 100 students between two and ten years old. The old building is deteriorated, decayed and leaks rain. It is no place for school.
The new classrooms provide badly needed basic facilities, giving these children a chance to receive a better education and laying a foundation of longer term benefit to community.
A compelling call to action for better education
LanAnh explains the origins of the initiative: “I came across villages where I saw very young children surviving on their own, while their parents have no option but to work on the far away rice fields or by the border. There was a lack of schools and resources. Children who were not in school were roaming around aimlessly and it was dangerous.”
“We had heard about the charity fund TAM through one of our local authority contacts, and that they had previously done some charitable work in Ha Giang and we were subsequently introduced. TAM focusses on educational projects in remote areas of Vietnam, with strict finance parameters to ensure that 100% of donations to the foundation is used for core project realisation.”
In total the collaboration raised VND150mil for building the school, which allowed budget for a play yard, tables, chairs and book shelves. After three months hard, dedicated work, the new school was proudly handed over to the local authority on 11 Jul 2019. LanAnh continues, “We got strong support from the local authority in term of paperwork and other accommodation and transport arrangements during the construction period. However, infrastructure here is almost nil, and the network of roads is underdeveloped which made it very tough to commute to the village with materials. We had to travel through soil paths, crossing streamlines and mountains. All construction materials were transported to the project location by motorbikes!”
There were challenges and difficulties during the build, but with true spirit our whole team pulled together to navigate issues and deliver these children a real chance to receive a better education in a better school. Although the funding is not huge, longer term benefits to the disadvantaged children and the community are significant. As LanAnh perfectly summarises, “We help children in need so that one day they might have the opportunity to take their lives into their own hands.”
On the day of the handover, the Loscam team received a lot of appreciation from the villagers. One village representative said: “We are so thankful to Loscam and TAM for providing us new classrooms right at the start of the new school year. The students can’t wait to start and enjoy their newly built facility, playground and all the new books!”
The gratitude in the eyes of the children, their families and the teachers on completion of this education project was a great reward for us to receive for our work.
About TAM
The TAM Foundation charity fund was established in 2017 and has since undertaken 12 educational projects to date, including the construction and extension of many schools, as well as providing financial care to poor ethnic children in the remotest areas in Northern Provinces. TAM was founded by Phuong, a Vietnamese American woman.