BC Children's goodwill cards delivered to Shizukawa School, N.E. Japan:

Shizukawa Elemetary School Principle Mr Kai-ichi Kato and James Buttenheim - AMDA giving cards written by children of a school in B.C, Canada

 I hope this message finds you in good spirits and with weather much less humid than here in Japan. My name is James Buttenheim, and I am an American college student working as an intern for AMDA this summer. I had the honor and privilege to personally deliver the letters from Roy Stibbs elementary school to the principal of Shizukawa elementary school.

I want to thank you for this kind, simple gesture to the Minamisanriku community. Since the school has just recently begun operating normally again and is now trying to make up for lost time, the principal, staff, and students find themselves extremely busy each day. Therefore, we were not able to see the cards distributed to the students. However, the principal was pleased to accept them, and I know these letters will brighten the students’ day when they receive them.

Additionally, the sentiment will show the families of this community that the larger world community cares about and is with Japan during this trying time.

As you may or may not know, one of our upcoming events in August will be a week of soccer matches. Middle school soccer clubs from various towns in Tohoku will get the chance to meet their peers in Okayama and build new friendships. During this past week, among other things, we met with some of the middle school soccer clubs that will be joining us in Okayama.

After meeting Principal Kato, we traveled to Shizukawa middle school, and on Thursday we met the Otsuchi team. However, most of the week was dedicated to visiting various shelters and field hospitals and distributing medicine and new supplies.

On Tuesday, while we were in Minamisanriku, Ms. Tae Namba, Ms. Tomoko Ohmasa and I met with doctors at the Shizukawa hospital. On Wednesday, our team traveled to Daitokuin Temple and Otsuchi High School which are now doubling as shelters. At Otsuchi High School, we also met with a newly formed branch, AMDA’s Otsuchi club. High school students from this club will visit Okayama this month to meet AMDA’s Okayama club.

On Thursday morning, Ms. Ohmasa and I visited a nursing home in Otsuchi and several other shelters to deliver the remaining supplies.

Rose Charities Penang, Malaysia, upcoming events, programs and plans..

George Town, Penang, from Penang Hill

Grand Charity Concert:   On 12 sept.2011 , Rose will organise a grand charity concert under the theme " Mid Autumn Festival " celebrations at the State Auditorium. An organising committee chaired by Mr Lawrence Cheah (Hon Chair of Rose Charities Malaysia)  has been set up to plan and organise the big musical event. The Governor of Penang and his consort, the Chief minister of Penang and state VIPS will be among a capacity crowd of 1,200 invited guests at the 2 hour variety musical performance. The concert will feature cultural dances from various groups in penang, musical singing groups,ballet dances,a 120 strong chinese orchestra, etc...Proceeds from the concert will be donated to various needy organisations and the proposed setting up of an eye clinic under ROSE. The festival is organised by ROSE with the endorsement from the Penang state government , the penang arts council , and various cultural bodies in penang .

Rose Charities International Meeting: March 2012:   For the  2012 ROSE Conference here , an organising committee is being set up to plan and organise the 4-day international confeerence .from 15 to 18 March 2012 at the Paradise Sandy Resort Hotel . Proposed 4 day programme still on planning stage and will be submitted to the board for consideration and approval. .

Upcoming activities:  Among the up coming activities and projects will be..

•  3 day Bukit Mertajam Health EXPO from 22 to 24 July '; 
• one-day trip to Pulau Aman for ROSE members on 9th july' 
• 3 day trip to Orang Asli settlement in Cameron Highlands from 9 to 11 oct.2011...Participating groups from the lions clubs,health ministry ,family planning association, Senior citizens grouops and ROSE will  assist in organizing

Rose Charities Vietnam: Update: July 2011

A new home for a family with special needs

Rose Charities Vietnam: Update: July 2011  (from Ms Thuc - Rose Vietnam)

Rose Charities Vietnam: Update: July 2011 (from Ms Thuc - Rose Vietnam) 

Rose Vietnam is in the hands of a small team of extraordinarily dedicated volunteers, Mr. Nguyen Chi Phuoc and Ms. Hanh Thuc Thanh (Thuc). 

Currently Rose Vietnam is focusing efforts in Hue, where there is a great deal of poverty compounded by frequent typhoons and flooding. Projects in Hue include a school for blind adults, building ten houses for very poor blind people (4 completed to date, each house costs approximately $2000), education support and income-generating projects. 

Here is a summary of a case study recently completed in Vietnam 

“ Vietnam which has more than 3000 km of coastal line is received with many tropical storms from East Sea every year. Storms of destructive nature causing considerable damage, generally, strike the central part of Vietnam; namely three provinces, HaTinh, ThuaThienHue and QuangNam. Particularly, in Hue, since 1999, hundreds of people have lost their lives and the property damage comes amounts to thousands of billions Vietnam dong. 

Last month Thuc made a trip to Hue, with Mr. Phuc, and sent back the following report. We rely heavily on these reports from the field: this one is submitted (almost) verbatim to demonstrate the cultural challenges, difficult choices that have to be made when allocating scarce funds and the dedication of Mr. Phuc and Ms. Thuc. 

Day 1: Visited two finished houses. To date four houses have been built. 

Visited two families who may qualify for sponsorship from Rose Vietnam for a house for shelter. It was decided to accept one case and reject another one. Reason for rejection: The candidate is an old blind women who has 2 daughters. The younger daughter is mentally challenged and lives with the mother, the second daughter is married and lives in a house with her husband and in-laws. Her husband does not want the mother and younger daughter to live with them due to the daughter’s mental illness. The woman’s younger brother lives in the same neighbourhood in his own house. He doesn’t want his sister and his niece living with him because his house is a remembrance building for ancestors and women are not allow to sleep there. This nonsense tradition and the unequal treatment toward the old blind woman and her daughter with mental problem are the sources of the tragedy. We want to create pressure on the family and local society. Good traditions should be kept to inspire morality and ethics. Nonsense traditions should be eliminated. Thus, the family should make the arrangements for these two poor women and the local society should redefine the standard in evaluating children's duties and compliance toward previous generations. 

We visited one on-going building site: this house is being built with 20 million VND, which was donated by the Canadian Community in Ho Chi Minh City.   The house will provide a decent shelter for a very poor elderly lady and her daughter, who has a mental problem. The daughter collects plastic from trash everyday for a living. Their house is on the bank of a river. Since it is not permitted to have house in this area which is considered as high risk during the flooding period the local authority granted land for her. But she needs some money to build a house. A representative of a local government organization will give her an additional 10 million VND (Vietnam dong; about Cdn $468).

I have learnt that all the houses built by Rose Vietnam have received contributions not only from CanCham and PEB Steel but also from local authorities and neighbours. This is such a wonderful thing. Phong Dien Blind Associate have referred cases to us and we will select the most needy. Mr. Phuoc has done a great job in the effort of coordinating with Phong Dien Blind Associate. He has great understanding of the local mindset. My concern is that we normally give the money after the house is built; we do cash giving. I guess this is the best that we can do. 

Day 2: Thanh Tien village 

This is Mr. Phuoc’s hometown. Mr. Phuoc knows most everyone and has a deep connection with this place. This village is among the poorest villages in Hue. Thus, the villagers have a hard time maintaining a common place for ceremonies and public usage. Mr. Hoa (chief of the village) has sought help from Rose. So far, Rose Vietnam has supported repairs for the main house in the complex with a budget of 10 mil. VND. There are two rooms in the house. One is used to teach the villagers making paper flowers and another room is used as classroom. 

The key persons of the village would like Rose to consider 3 project proposals: 

1) Investing in a sewing programme to create jobs for young women in Thanh Tien. Many young people are leaving the village to move to the booming metropolis. Mr. Phuc feels the urge to build a strong economy in the village. He buys trash from clothing manufactures, which is separated into two groups, paper and small pieces of cloth. The paper is then sold to a recycling depot and the pieces of cloth are used to make rugs/bath mats. 

2) Supporting an encouraging education fund for the village. 

3) Supporting the effort to maintain a traditional art and income opportunity which is paper flower creation. Please visit this website to understand it: 

Mr. Hoa (the artist) is also the chief of Thanh Tien village. Although this art does get public interest it hasn't received sufficient financial support to survive. Each lotus flower is sold for 8,000 VND (37 cents). A tourist who wants to learn to make one is charged only 30,000 VND ($1.40). 

Recommendations: 

~While the recycling idea is a good one the sewing industry in Vietnam is very competitive. I told Mr. Hoa that I appreciate the thought of job creation for female villagers but I wish he would change his mind and focus in Thanh Tien’s competitive advantage. Working together in the paper flower business is an idea. Thanh Tien can become a tourist destination and promote traditional art. 

~Supporting an encouraging education fund: I think a sufficient fund for an excellent and strong minded student who comes from disadvantage family and tries hard to be the best at school is crucial. I recommend that four candidates submit papers including school record for a year and a certificate to prove that he/she belongs to a disadvantage family (Vietnamese government gives a certificate for disadvantage household so that they can collect social welfare; this amount is very little). A decision would be made based on these submissions. 

~Paper flower creation: I recommend Rose Vietnam grants Mr. Hoa 1.5 mil VND for the copyright registration fees. There is a need to furnish the making paper flower teaching room. Mr. Phuoc can advise us the cost. Something basic and organic feeling is a way to go; tourists come from the city and they love the simplicity of the countryside. I would like to see it turned to a real classroom and an exhibition place so that tourist can visit there. I asked Mr. Hoa about growing more plants and removing weeds to make it more attractive.