Usual visit in Hoa Phuong

Last Sunday we went to the orphanage to check the violin lesson. It was great to see how much the girls can improve even within 1 month. The teacher is also proud of them and seems satisfied. However what is probably more important that they really enjoy learning music. Communication is not always easy when the English speaking lady is not there but the girls' enthusiasm was really noticeable.:)

After the violin lesson we also visited the handicapped children's house. It was feeding time so we could see how much help the mother needs from the older capable children. Hopefully we can help them soon with things which they need for basic nursing like diapers. On the other hand it would be very helpful if we could find a specialist who could give some advice relating to the care of the spastic children.

Our volunteers

Apart from our main sponsors (Joyce McHenry, George McHenry, Harbor View Hotel) there are 5 volunteers currently participating in this project.

Anna Yashiyeva (26) from Russia:
"I got my bachelor degree in Linguistics in Russia. I have been living in Haiphong (Vietnam) nearly two years, as I work for the Rep. office of Monobuoy as an office-manager. I was helping in Hoa Phuong Orphanage with other individual volunteers before I joined the Haiphong Charity. I think the best way to express your care is to help those who are the most in need. I like the idea of helping others less fortunate especially children. Just with a little bit of effort and each other's help you can change somebody's life and make the child dreams come true."


Camilla Lunde (28) from Norway:
"I got my bachelor degree in Hotel management. At the moment I live in Haiphong because I'm working in Harbor View Hotel as a trainee. I have been participating in a "children-home" project in Estonia since 2005 (http://www.gatebarna.no/). Since that project I know even more what the help can mean for a needy child. That is why I wanted to be useful and help something while I am in Haiphong."

Carol Huntley (48) from England:
"I have been living and working in Holland and now live in Haiphong with my husband. I got involved with the orphanage because I wanted to give something back to the community and spend my time working with a worthwhile project."

Sarah (28) from Norway:
"I live in Haiphong because I'm working in Harbor View Hotel as a trainee. I'm originally from Norway where I got my Hotel management degree. I got involved in this charity project through the hotel and I think it is a nice way to do something for the children in the orphanage. What I especially like in the Music Project is that it involves music and its aim to give the children more than their "basic needs" like food and shelter. This Music Project wants to give the children self confidence and skills that can give a positive effect on their self image. I like it.:)

Virag Toth (30) from Hungary:
"I graduated as a biologist but when I came to Vietnam - because of my fiancee's job - I couldn't continue my work that I had in Hungary. I have been in a few developing countries and I always had to face the fact of how big the difference is between the living standards of the Western and the developing countries. I believe it is good opportunity to help children who live in a poor conditions. In Hungary I could deal with needy children when I participated in a dog-therapy volunteer program with my dog. Those disabled children smiles made me really happy during that period and I hope those smiles meant a little change in their life. The orphans' needs might be different but I hope we can make a change in their life and make them smile even more."

Wedding Fashion Show at Harbour View Hotel

On Friday 25th and Saturday 26th of September, Harbour View Hotel, who is one of our sponsors, hosted a Wedding Fashion Show and activities were conducted to raise money for the Music project in Hoa Phuong Orphanage.

Some of the children from the orphanage attended and drew the raffles. It was really nice to see them there and it gave the project a face.

                                

Many people contributed and we recieved a lot of donations both in cash and auction items such as Spa packages from the beauty salon and golf lessons from Doson Seaside Golf Resort. It was raised aproxamatly 1000 USD! Now we have sufficiant funds to continue with the music lessons untill Christmas and to purchase more music instruments

Everbody had a throughout good time and some of us returned the next day as well.

On behalf of the children and Haiphong Charity, we would like to thank everyone who participated and contributed. Thank you to everyone who made it possible to continue this project.

                                  

                    One of the boys from the orphange who are learning to play the guitar

Hoa Phuong Orphanage - Music Project

Our first project is a Music Project taking place in Hoa Phuong Orphanage. Our purpose with this project is to stimulate and develop the children through music. We think that they can not only develop their music skills on these lessons but also it can give them the opportunity to perform at social occasions and help them to feel proud of their accomplishments.

Hoa Phuong Orphanage was opened by the government in 1992. The orphanage gives place to 60 children from the age of 4 months-18 years old. There are 8 "homes" with 1 mom in each and 6 "aunties" in total who take care of the children 24 hours per day. Altogether 26 people work there and there are no "fathers" in the homes.

Most of the children's parents are dead, 5 of the children have living parent(s) who are imprisoned, 20 children were abandoned after they were born in the hospital and some of them are street children whose parents couldn't be found. The budget for each child is 13.000 VND (less than 1 USD) per day that is 400.000 VND per month each.

The music lessons are conducted by 2 Vietnamese music teachers 2 times per week 2 hours each time. For the first 3 months the children are learning basic music theory twice a week for 1 hour each time. The second hour is dedicated to teaching the children to play their instrument of choice. At the moment we have 1 accoustic guitar and 2 violins in the project.

We would like to increase the number of the instruments and also provide different varieties of instruments for them.

Our current sponsors:

- Joyce and George McHenry

- Harbor View Hotel

We are looking for donations for this music project. If you would like to help and donate to this project or any future activity of our organization in the orphanage, please contact us on the following email address:

 haiphongcharity@gmail.com

If you prefer to donate an instrument to the orphanage directly, we can help you with the addresses of music shops and also the choice of the instruments.