The Peter Brock Memorial Child Sponsorship Program is critical.

As one of very few that give all donated funds to the designated children, we are looking for people who really want to make a difference, and who know that their dollars will do that to the maximum.

See the Your Way to Help page!

Picture at left: HRA Patron Dr Peter Stewart, HRA Director Chris O’Dempsey, and Australian trained specialist nurse, Susan.

NEW MEDICAL CLINIC
Tan Thach Primary School (Mekong Delta, Vietnam)

Phote: HRA Dir. Chris O’Dempsey; Mr Hue, School principal when Clinic was first proposed ; HRA Patron and Sponsor, Dr Peter Stewart.

The long awaited Medical Clinic in Tan Thach, Ben Tre, Vietnam, has completed it’s first full year in operation. With three local Vietnamese doctors, who with a trained pharmacist, run the Clinic full time, it has had a great impact on the area, especially the poor families, and children in the region. Based in the grounds of the Tan Thach Primary School, and built to the plans and specifications we had supplied, it was completed to Western standards. The Clinic was opened on November 1 2010.

The clinic is setting up a special “Health Care” card system for poor families. This system will allow sponsored children and their family’s free access both to medical care and pharmaceuticals. The Health Education programs are aimed at teaching mainly poorer families the way to minimize health risks, gain good nutrition on a low budget, women’s issues and general health care.

This Clinic is is also looking to develop a Medical Boat program, that can be used to do home visits in emergencies, or during floods. Many poor families live on canals and river tributaries, and cannot gain access to medical attention in the wet season.

Sponsors Needed.

We have 195 children listed for urgent assistance in the sponsorship program at the beginning of 2012.

135 are in Tan Thach (Mekong Delta), 25 in Quang Tri (the old border between North and South), 1 in Hanoi, 5 in Dong Nai (North of HCMC), 1 in a school for the blind in HCMC, and 28 awaiting support in various regions. All are from very poor families who meet the criteria set for sponsorship.

As at December 2011, half these children still need sponsors urgently! Heart Reach Australia provides children with temporary support, but it is very temporary. These children need your urgent help. The $25 a month is 100% given to the children’s family or guardians and we check on each child during the three field trips HRA undertakes per year. Administration is covered sponsors.

PLEASE SPONSOR A CHILD TODAY.!

SPONSORED CHILDREN

SOME OF THE FACTS

The value of sponsorship can be seen in the results of those who have been assisted over the past three years since the program began. Of all the children sponsored, only one has not done well at school. This unfortunate situation has largely arisen because both parents are bed ridden, and the child has to work, help in the home, sell things to get money, and go to school in between. At present we are looking for a “best way” to help in this sad situation long-term.

Of the other children, 850% have achieved marked grade improvements, and all others have done well. One in particular, Mai (see below), has become the top student in the Ben Tre Province, after maintaining that position through both Primary and Middle school. She has maintained that status into High School, despite having to study with limited lighting, in a home that was at best a shack. She is one of the poorest children, but PBMCSP sponsorship has allowed her family to ensure she can study fulltime. One wall of their humble shelter is covered in certificates and awards, and her future is bright due largely to the PBMCSP. Mai is also a gifted singer and athlete.

In the Quang Tri region, 14 yr old Quynh and her 18 year old sister look after their young mother, who has been increasingly bed-bound during the past 10 years. In 2010, we were able to give her a new wheelchair, and buy warm blankets for the family. When we visited the family on that occasion, the mother had a small charcoal fire burning under her bed to try to get warm! The blankets we brought changed their lives, and brought not just warmth, but safety! Such simple things… but then not simple if so poor as this.

In Dong Nai, the prospects of the seven children of a single Muslim lady have improved dramatically. Three of the girls who had eye operations to correct “turned” eyes are smiling and happy. At school, their grades have improved. One, who missed a full year at school because of her eye problem having complications, nevertheless is improving. They dress well and are always clean and happy despite their surroundings and their very basic housing. They are a special family and always a delight to visit. Sponsorship has given them a new life and a future to look forward to! However, this dedicated mother still world days at a time on the streets, selling things to bring money into the battered family dwelling. Her Blind and aged mother is another burden that adds to the daily needs.

These are just some of the stories; but many are not yet told as we seek sponsors to help them go to school, or get medical assistance. We need you to sponsor a child, and help them re write their future!

This is Mai. Her story is amazing.

14 year old Mai, who has continued to top her school , is part of the ‘Exceptional Student’ sponsorship of HRA in Vietnam. This sponsorship allows for education beyond high school.

Mai rides her bicycle to and from school six, and often seven days a week.

FOCUS ON SPECIAL PEOPLE

Cho Ray Hospital, Ho Chi Minh City.

The engineer at HCMC Medical University Hospital welcomed the defibrillator donated by Laser Sight Australia.

In February 2009 Dr Peter Stewart (Laser Sight Australia) travelled to Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam, for a week-long visit. During his visit he delivered lectures, examined patients, and discussed procedures and treatment with medical staff at Cho Ray Hospital, HCMC.

The humanitarian aid support of Dr Peter Stewart was repeated in late February 2010 when he returned to Vietnam’s Cho Ray hospital. During this visit Dr Stewart continued the training and assistance given to these top eye doctors in HCMC.

He observed, shared examination appointments, assisted in operations, and delivered lectures aimed specifically at the specialist ophthalmic issues he had observed during the examination and surgical sessions. His expertise is greatly appreciated by the Vietnamese surgeons, and his mentoring enables them to gain valuable insights into modern surgical techniques and knowledge.

It is planned to have other Medical Specialists also participate in these valuable programs.

SCHOLARSHIP:

As an ongoing assistance to the Vietnam’s developing surgical skills, Dr Stewart participates in a scholarship program, where Laser Sight Centres, and the Queensland Eye Institute combine to invite promising young eye surgeons here from Ho Chi Minh City for a months intensive training. This full, all inclusive scholarship brings gifted young developing eye surgeons to Queensland, where they study, observe and share all aspects of ophthalmology, alongside and under the care of Dr Stewart and top professors at the QEI.

Dr Peter Stewart advised surgeons on procedures, and observed their techniques, in the operating theatre at Cho Ray Hospital.

Dr Stewart delivered lectures to medical staff, surgeons and personnel.

Dr Stewart examined patients and discussed procedures and treatment with medical staff.

The private blind school in Ho Chi Minh City.

This privately set up facility boards 25 students, and trains, teaches and encourages them in many areas of life and life skills. Most of the children have come from poverty, and a number from orphanages.

Little Hau is one whom HRA was able to bring from the North to live here, through the sponsorship program.

This bright 11 year old sings like an angel, reads braille, learns music and the computer. She is a long way removed from the shy and withdrawn child we first saw in the orphanage in Giao Thuy.