September 9, 2008

Today I'm in TamKy and I've just received fabulous news! The Scottish couple I met in Hoian last month have agreed to fund our Education Program for a year! Hazel's Footprints is a non profit in Scotland that fundraises and donates to orphanages in India and to educational programs around the world. (For details, see: http://www.hazelsfootprints.org/). They recently agreed to be our exclusive sponsor for our Education Program in Danang and TuyHoa and I'm soooo excited to get this program rolling! More to come once we're up and running!

In the meantime there is always lots to tell: I've been to two new places on the weekends recently. First was Bach Ma about 90 minutes north of Danang. It's up in the mountains with lots of waterfalls - one was 300 yards tall. We hiked down 687 steps to get to the base (then back up of course). Last weekend I went to Dalat which is about a 6 hour drive from TuyHoa, our southern most placement. Viet and I took all the volunteers for the weekend and it was terrific. Wonderful views, a chill in the air (haven't felt that since April!!) and loads of good food!

On the work front - I've been very busy. I hosted a two day training seminar for our Placement Managers. We covered things like our newly created Staff Manual, Leadership, Caring for Volunteers and Fund Raising. It was a lot to cover but everyone did a great job and I'm visiting all the sites this month to continue the training. I love the opportunity of being an Operations Manager and a Coach. Additionally by traveling, I get to work at all the schools and see lots of kids and young adults who are benefitting from GVN. It's a great feeling to walk in to an orphanage after not being there for a month and having kids run up to me with a smile and a hug!

In addition to the structure and standard procedures that we're putting in place, all the volunteers are really pitching in and doing a lot. We've had some huge fund raising success stories and others have been working weekends, brainstorming, using their experience or education to help GVN grow. I believe the program is really taking off in the right direction.

I'm going back to the US for about 7 weeks from the end of Oct to early December. I need to see family and friends. (Especially Ambros!) While home, I'll keep tabs on what's going on here, keep the newsletter rolling and get some fund raising done. I should be in CT first then CA for my last couple of weeks. Planning on heading back to Vietnam out of L.A. around the early or middle of December.

Keep sending those emails. I love them! I'll write more often. I'll have to keep better notes if I ever want to write that book about my experiences to fund the rest of my retirement! ha ha ha!