In 3 days from September 07 to September 09, Be Better Foundation organized the 3rd trip to give charity gifts in Gia Lai Province and Kon Tum Province.
During this trip, the foundation presented gifts to five schools, one in Gia Lai Province and four in Kon Tum Province. Besides, the group also surveyed 5 more schools in Kon Plong District, Kon Tum Province.
Details of gifts given to 5 schools as follow:
1. LE LOI SECONDARY SCHOOL, TAN SON COMMUNE, PLEIKU CITY, GIA LAI:
As called for the campaign “Please give children a dream” in early August, during this charity trip, Be Better Foundation presented books to build a book library for the school’s students with the total cost of new book purchase of VND 27.824.780 ($1.174).
The school had 10 classes and each class would have its own bookshelf. Previously, the teachers had to bring books from home to school for the students to read. However, there were only a few old books to such an extent that the students could memorize the whole contents of such books.
Be Better Foundation purchased new books as listed below, of which there were 10 books per genre so that each class would have one. In total, there were 67 new books presented on each bookshelf. At the same time, 02 more boxes of old books were supported by benefactors in the campaign “Please give children a dream”.
| No | Book title | Quantity |
| 1 | Mười vạn câu hỏi vì sao (10.000 questions why) – full set of 5 episodes | 5 |
| 2 | Bách Khoa Lịch Sử Thế Giới (World History Encyclopedia) | 1 |
| 3 | Bách khoa thư khoa học (science encyclopedia) | 1 |
| 4 | Chiến binh cầu vồng (Rainbow Warrior) | 1 |
| 5 | Tôi tài giỏi bạn cũng thế (I Am Gifted, So Are You!) | 1 |
| 6 | KID START-UP KHỞI NGHIỆP TỪ KHI LÊN 7 (Kid Startup starts from 7 years old) | 1 |
| 7 | Bộ sách kỹ năng sống thiết yếu cho trẻ – Joy berry (Essential life skills for children – Joy berry) | 10 |
| 8 | Hoàng tử bé (The Little Prince) | 1 |
| 9 | Combo 3 Cuốn Sách Kỹ Năng Vàng Cho Học Sinh Trung Học – Học Cách Hoàn Thiện Bản Thân + Học Kỹ Năng Nói + Học Kỹ Năng Để Thành Công (Combo 3 Golden Skill Books for High School Students – Learn to Improve Yourself + Learn Speaking Skills + Learn Skills for Success) | 3 |
| 10 | Ổ bọ chét – Helen Stephen (Flea nest – Helen Stephen) | 1 |
| 11 | Chuyến phiêu lưu kỳ diệu của Edward Tulane (The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo) | |
| 12 | Combo I Will Be Better – Những Câu Chuyện Truyền Cảm Hứng (Combo I Will Be Better – Inspirational Stories) | 3 |
| 13 | Combo 6 cuốn song ngữ Anh Việt: Kỹ năng nhận thức, quản lý bản thân dành cho trẻ 3-10 tuổi (Combo 6 English-Vietnamese bilingual books: Cognitive skills, self-management for children 3-10 years old) | 6 |
| 14 | Combo 20 cuốn Truyện Kể Tuổi Thần Tiên – Song Ngữ Anh Việt (Combo 20 books The Tale of Fairy Age – Bilingual English Vietnamese) | 20 |
| 15 | Combo 10 cuốn Truyện tranh ngụ ngôn dành cho thiếu nhi – Song ngữ Anh – Việt (Combo 10 fable comic books for children – Bilingual English – Vietnamese) | 10 |
| 16 | Từ Điển Oxford Anh – Anh – Việt (Oxford English – English – Vietnamese Dictionary) | 1 |
| 17 | Từ Điển Việt Anh New Edition (Tái Bản) – Nhà xuất bản: NXB Khoa Học Xã Hội (Vietnamese English Dictionary New Edition (Reprint) – Publisher: Social Science Publishing House) | 1 |
| Total | 67 |
In addition to the book donation program, the foundation also organized a talk to encourage students to continue their studies. Tony shared his own story of overcoming all difficulties with the desire to give the students a dream to keep moving forward. The path of learning and reaching our dreams was not only to become successful with a lot of money but also to become a good person who can share and help many people.
During the program, the foundation awarded 10 study promotion scholarships worth VND 500,000 ($21) each to orphans. The total scholarship amount was VND 5,000,000 ($211).
After his sharing, Tony asked some questions and awarded prizes to students who were brave to answer those questions with good ideas, and showed to have good qualities.
Questions were asked to inspire children about dreams and kindness, such as:
- “What kind of person is a good person?”
- “What do you think is the joy of teachers?”
- “What do software programmers do?”
- “What do lawyers do?”
- “Lessons learned after the talk”
The children were very excited to express their opinions, creating a really exciting atmosphere in the hall of more than 200 people.
To encourage them, 16 prizes worth VND 6,700,000 ($283) were awarded.
Therefore, the total funding for books and study promotion scholarships at Le Loi Secondary School was VND 39,524,780 ($1,667).
At the end of the visit to the school, the foundation continued to visit Nguyen Thi Ngoc Truc’s house to get to know her situation and consider putting her in the long-term support program “Take children to school”.
Truc’s family has 6 siblings, Truc is the 2nd daughter and a 9th grader at Le Loi Secondary School. She has an elder sister studying in 12th grade and 4 younger brothers. Unfortunately, her mother just passed away due to an electrical accident at the end of last year, leaving the father to raise 6 children. Her father is a drunkard, so these children have to take care of each other to go to school.
Truc’s family’s situation is difficult, but her father is still able to work and receives support from relatives. Thus, Be Better Foundation decided to support these children in their studies such as tuition support, insurance premiums payment, learning tools supply, and career orientation. When they go to university, the Foundation will consider funding university tuition.
2. MANG CANH ETHNIC MINORITY SEMI-BOARDING SECONDARY SCHOOL – KON PLONG DISTRICT, KON TUM PROVINCE
- Within the framework of the campaign “Meals for children”, the foundation gave 1 ton of rice and 100kg of dried fish to support meals for day-boarders at the school with total funding of VND 29,025,000 ($1,224)
- In addition, the group also organized a sharing session to encourage ethnic minority students to continue going to school.
- The group awarded scholarships to 13 orphans, of which 2 scholarships worth VND 400,000 ($17) each and 11 scholarships worth VND 200,000 ($8.5) each were given to 2 students who lost both parents and 11 students who lost father or mother respectively.
- In the quiz, 3 prizes worth VND 500,000 ($21) each were given to the students.
- In conclusion, the total funding for meals and study promotion scholarships at Mang Canh Ethnic Minority Semi-Boarding Secondary School was VND 33,525,000 ($1,414)
3. MANG CANH ETHNIC MINORITY SEMI-BOARDING PRIMARY SCHOOL – KON PLONG DISTRICT, KON TUM PROVINCE
- Within the framework of the campaign “Meals for children”, the charity group gave 1 ton of rice and 100kg of dried fish to support meals for day boarders at the school with total funding of VND 29,025,000 ($1,224).
- During the 2nd charity trip at the end of July, the foundation was unable to present the shoes to the students due to the wrong sizes. On this trip, the foundation gave shoes to 260 students with a total cost of VND 47,174,000. ($1,990)
- In the sharing session to encourage students to continue their studies:
- The foundation awarded scholarships worth VND 500,000 ($21) each to 16 orphans.
- 6 backpacks worth VND 268,920 ($11) each were given to students.
- In conclusion, the total funding for meals, study promotion scholarships, and gifts at Mang Canh Ethnic Minority Semi-Boarding Primary School was VND 85,812,520 ($3,620)
4. PO E SECONDARY SCHOOL – KON PLONG DISTRICT, KON TUM PROVINCE
- Within the framework of the campaign “Meals for children”, the charity group gave 1 ton of rice and 100kg of dried fish to support meals for day boarders at the school with total funding of VND 29,025,000 ($1,224).
- According to confidences of the principal, the students here did not have a chance to enjoy the Mid-Autumn Festival. For the above reason, the foundation decided to give them moon cakes and lanterns with a total cost of VND 12,523,000 ($528).
- In the sharing session to encourage students to continue their studies:
- The Group awarded scholarships worth VND 200,000 ($8.4) each to 17 orphans.
- 7 backpacks worth VND 268,920 ($11) each were given to students.
- 3 prizes worth VND 200,000 ($8.4) each were given to 3 students who answered questions confidently and enthusiastically.
- In conclusion, the total funding for meals, study promotion scholarships, and gifts at Po E Secondary School was VND 47,430,440 ($2,001).
5. MANG DEN TOWN ETHNIC MINORITY SEMI-BOARDING SECONDARY SCHOOL – KON PLONG DISTRICT, KON TUM PROVINCE
- Within the framework of the campaign “Meals for children”, the charity group gave 1 ton of rice and 100kg of dried fish to support meals for day-boarders at the school with total funding of VND 29,025,000 ($1,224).
- In the sharing session to encourage students to continue their studies:
- The Group awarded scholarships worth VND 200,000 ($8.4) each to 12 orphans.
- 7 backpacks worth VND 268,920 ($11) each were given to students.
- In conclusion, the total funding for meals, study promotion scholarships, and gifts at Mang Den Town Secondary School was VND 33,307,440 ($1,405).
Summary
During the last trip, the charity group presented the following meaningful gifts:
- 17 book titles with 670 books in the campaign “Please give children a dream”, which is worth VND 27,824,780 ($1,174).
- 4 tons of rice and 400kg of dried fish in the campaign “Meals for children”, which is worth VND 116,100,000 ($4,897).
- 260 pairs of shoes and socks in the campaign “School shoes for poor children”, which is worth VND 47,174,000 ($1,990)
- Scholarships and gifts awarded to orphans and students answering questions confidently respectively are worth VND 30,600,000 ($1,291) in total.
- 20 backpacks worth VND 5,378,400 ($227) were presented.
- 330 moon cakes and 200 lanterns worth VND 12,523,000 ($528) were given.
The total amount of funding was VND 239,600,180 ($10,o107).
A trip to survey 5 more schools in Kon Plong district, Kon Tum province
Within 2 days from September 08 to September 09, 2022, the charity group surveyed 5 more schools in Kon Plong District:
- Mang Den Town Ethnic Minority Semi-Boarding Primary School.
- Mang Den Town Kindergarten.
- Dak Tang Ethnic Minority Semi-Boarding Secondary School.
- Dak Tang Ethnic Minority Semi-Boarding Primary School.
- Dak Tang Kindergarten.
Regarding the Kindergartens, the schools are unable to organize day-boarding services because the children are still small. At the main school, there is only a class for the children living near the school. Meanwhile, other villages are 5-10km away from the main school, the farthest village is 20-25km away. Thus, the children study in their own villages. Each village has a class for children of ages 3-5 with a teacher in charge of the class. She not only teaches the children but also cooks lunch for them. It is a meager lunch with a bowl of instant noodles and a little bit of meat or fish presented by some charitable organizations.
The principal has struggled to look for funding to supply meals for students. If there is no lunch for these children to stay at school, their parents will let them drop out of school again.
Regarding Primary and Secondary Schools, students in remote areas stay in boarding schools (locally called semi-boarding schools) from Monday to Friday. On weekends, they will go home. After the government support program was cut because of the new rural policies, the schools no longer have money to pay for meals for the students to stay there.
The teachers encouraged parents to contribute rice and food for their children to go to school. However, the people here did not have enough to eat, they occasionally donate rice but not much and there is almost no food. In the rice bowls brought by the students near the school, there are only frogs, “nhong dat” (melonihidae), or mice caught by their parents around the house.
After 2 days of surveying, the charity group once again worried about these students’ studies and promised to continue supporting ethnic minority students in Kon Plong District, Kon Tum Province in the upcoming charity trips.
Be Better Foundation
