Reach Vietnam magazine: Clean Water edition

Could EMW’s ClEan WatEr prograM

bEnEfit by bEing turnEd froM

{ A N D B E Y O N D ! }

spring 2010

www.eastmeetswest.org

a traditional dEvElopMEnt

prograM into a truE soCial EntErprisE?

2 www.eastmeetswest.orgRE ACH VIETNA M S P R I N G 2 0 1 0

REACH VIETNAM MAgAzINE

Managing Editorrachelle galloway

EditorsJohn annerrachelle gallowaysylvia townsend

art dirECtion, dEsign & layoutrachelle galloway

CopyEditorsylvia townsend

CovEr photoKevin german

Contributing WritErsJohn annercao vu hoang chaurachelle gallowayvan lyminh chau nguyenPeter a. singersylvia townsend

donor infoJohn hieu nguyen

Contributing photographErsPatricK alleynKevin germantom lowstePhen mcgeehanh nguyennam nguyen

subsCribEall donors who give $100 or more Per year are mailed a coPy of reach Vietnam magazine. BacK issues can Be downloaded online at www.eastmeetswest.org.

Printed at georges + shaPiro litho in sacramento, ca

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Reach Vietnam magazine is published by the East Meets West Foundation, an international development organization working in Vietnam and Southeast Asia for the past 22 years.

EMW develops creative solutions to difficult challenges faced by the region’s most vulnerable populations, offering solutions in sectors such as clean water and sanitation, education for the most disadvantaged, people with disabilities, infant health and pediatric cardiology.

Find out more and get involved at www.eastmeetswest.org.

EAsT MEETs wEsT fouNdATIoN

boaRd of diRectoRs

ChairManPeter a. singer, M.D.

viCE ChairMan and sECrEtarystePhen gunther trEasurEreric hemel

board MEMbErshang le BourqueJerry falKvivian hogil KemP tom lowly-huong Pham

staff leadeRship

prEsidEntJohn anner

Country dirECtorminh chau nguyen

ChiEf finanCial offiCErann t. truong

prograM dEvElopMEnt dirECtornguyen thi minh thu

dEvElopMEnt dirECtor, viEtnaMJacK Bernard

emw offices

u.s.a .1611 telegraPh avenue suite 1420 oaKland, ca 94612 tel: 510-763-7045

ho Chi Minh City6/4 nguyen van thudistrict 1, daKao wardho chi minh city, vietnam tel: 84-8-6290-7374

da nang7th floor, english language instituteuniversity of da nang41 le duan streetda nang, vietnamtel: 84-511-3-829-110

hanoino. 1, lane 40 linh lang st. Ba dinh district hanoi, vietnam tel: 84-43-834-7790

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16journEys

Destination: Kon TumIn this rugged, remote central highlands province of Vietnam, two groups recently spent a trip of a lifetime visiting East Meets West programs.

fEaturE story

The Business of Clean WaterEMW clean water systems are designed for maximum community involvement and sustainability. But what if this already successful partnership model were to embrace yet another player - the private sector?

donor spotlight

Double DutyEMW Board Member Tom Low and his wife, EMW medical program advisor Dr. Priscilla Joe, follow their hearts—and lend their considerable expertise—supporting international development work in Asia.

partnErs

OneVietnamEMW’s new partner is a start-up philanthropic organization founded by a small group of young Vietnamese professionals to build and expand an online network {www.onevietnam.org}.

donors: CorporatE

Investing In CommunityA Japanese company in Vietnam is dedicated to giving back to the local community.

4 ChairMan’s MEssagE

6 snapshots: briEf updatEs froM EMW

9 doing thE nuMbErs: EMW prograM statistiCs

23 EMW donor list

issue ten • spring 2010

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I had the privilege of delivering remarks on behalf of EMW, which has had a major role in infrastructure development of the Hue Central Hospital for more than 10 years.

Our next stop was Da Nang, where EMW staff took us to visit the Scholarship Pro-gram to Enhance Literacy & Learning (SPELL), a rehabilitation hospital for chil-dren and adults with disabilities, Da Nang General Hospital, the Village of Hope, and one of EMW’s village clean water sys-tems—all in two days!

The three of us then made our way to

pital of Pediatrics (NHP), where BOL start-ed nearly five years ago. We toured the large neonatal unit there, accompanied by NHP’s director of neonatology. I personally was thrilled to see how much progress has been made just since my last visit a year ago. We also visited young kids with congenital heart disease awaiting surgery, and Rob was very moved by meeting these children when he realized what their lives would be like with-out our Operation Healthy Heart program.

We flew next to central Vietnam, where we were invited to attend the 125th Anniver-

what Happens When Donors Visit EMW Programs?**They Become Believers!

In the last issue of Reach Vietnam, we featured our Breath

of Life (BOL) pro-gram and the sig-nificant impact that

initiative has had on decreasing neonatal mortality in Vietnam since it was initi-ated in 2005. The overwhelming success of the program was the impetus to carry it outside Vietnam’s borders to areas of significant need, and so, during the past year, hospitals in Cambodia and Laos have begun to receive our neonatal equipment, such as CPAP (Continuous Positive Air Pressure) and LED phototherapy machines, and medical professionals in those coun-tries have received training in their use.

The initial expansion into Cambodia and Laos was funded by a generous three-year grant from the Lemelson Foundation, which is based in Portland, Oregon. Dr. Robert Lemelson is on the foundation’s Board and over the past year, my wife Margie (who sits on a board with Rob at a separate founda-tion he established) and I have been encour-aging him to travel to Southeast Asia with us to check out the work of East Meets West firsthand. Coordinating our schedules was a challenge, but finally, in December 2009, the three of us landed in Hanoi for seven packed days of visits to EMW programs.

Rob was given a detailed look at Breath of Life, including an in-depth presentation from Luciano Moccia, EMW’s Internation-al BOL Program Coordinator, and a visit to the manufacturing center in Hanoi where our BOL medical equipment is produced and quality tested. Of particular note—since the Lemelson Foundation’s focus is on invention and innovation—was Rob’s reaction when he commented: “You cer-tainly know how to innovate.”

In Hanoi we also visited the National Hos-

seeing is believing: Dr. rob lemelson (second from right) from the lemelson Foundation visited eMW’s programs in Vietnam and cambodia in December with my wife Margie (far right) and me. Here we are at the national Hospital in phnom penh with eMW’s luciano Moccia, narin phouv and a member of the hospital’s medical staff, where we reviewed the progress of our Breath of life program, which was funded in that hospital by the lemelson Foundation.

chairman’s message

sary Celebration of the founding of Hue Central Hospital, the largest hospital in central Vietnam. This was a major event for the hospital, and was attended by several hundred guests and officials, including the Health Minister of Vietnam, who was there on behalf of the President of Vietnam to designate Hue Central Hospital as one of the three top hospitals in the country. Co-inciding with the event was the dedication of the new Hue Central Hospital Training and Education Center, and the Hue Eye Hospital, which were both built by EMW with funding from Atlantic Philanthropies.

Phnom Penh, Cambodia to review the new Breath of Life programs at work in two hos-pitals there. We were gratified to see that our CPAP equipment is saving lives, but we are also aware that the Cambodia programs are only in the beginning phase, and have much to learn and replicate from our experience in Vietnam. I’m very optimistic, though, since we started from virtually nothing in Viet-nam just five years ago, and have witnessed a quantum leap in sophistication in neonatal care there, and anticipate the same for our programs in Cambodia and Laos.

This issue marks the tenth edition of Reach Vietnam!

It has been my privilege to work on every issue of this magazine and I can tell you that it has been just as meaningful for me to tell the story of our work in Vietnam and Southeast Asia as I hope it is for all of you reading about it.

The reason this magazine continues to exist is because of you. Your dedicated support has enabled us to sustain our mission in Southeast Asia to improve the lives of people who live in poverty.

I encourage you to get in touch with me if you have suggestions on how we can continue to improve the magazine, as I have really enjoyed hearing from readers over the years.

So, I hope you enjoy Issue Ten....and now that we are taking our programs beyond the borders of Vietnam, I am looking forward to seeing how many countries we will be “reaching” when Issue 20 comes around!

Best regards, Rachelle Galloway Editor, Reach Vietnam magazine

We spent a whirlwind week with Rob Lemel-son. Rob has extensive travel and research experience in Southeast Asia, and the Lemel-son Foundation funds about 100 programs worldwide, many of which he has visited, so we were very gratified when he told us that EMW is the most impressive and effective, and indeed innovative organization he has ever visited. He was amazed at our ability to leverage funds to have such significant impact. He had previously heard quite a bit about EMW from Margie and me, but said that he never could have imagined what we did without witnessing it. In his words, “see-ing is believing,” and he is now a believer.

So, what’s the bottom line here? Contact us, and we’ll take you on a trip you won’t believe, until you actually see it. Best wishes for the New Year of the Tiger!

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Peter A. Singer, M.D. Chairman EMW Board of Directors

cambodia potential: Here we are at the unveiling of a plaque at the national Hospital in phnom penh recognizing east Meets West and the lemelson Foundation’s initiatives in reducing infant mortality.

east meets west foundation news

INSIDE: 2005

EMW ANNUAL REPORT

An EMW donor returns to her birthplace of Danang and builds a school to honor her mother

Forming partnerships to build new classrooms


A Traveler’s Tale of Vietnam’s Halong Bay

Young Donors Think Globally, Act Locally

EMW’s Newborn Care Initiative to save the lives of premature infants

premiere issue!


Meet children from Village of Hope, EMW’s haven for displaced and disadvantaged children

An EMW supporter whose passion and dedication brought a mobile dental clinic to Vietnam

New dormitories for medical students at Thai Nguyen University

w h y v i e t n a m i s v u l n e r a b l e

P E AC E AT L A ST

YO U N G P H I L A N T H R O P I STS

B R E AT H O F L I F E

G R A S S R O O T S D E V E L O P M E N T I N V I E T N A M + C U LT U R E , T R AV E L & C O M M U N I T Y

a n d w h at E A S T M E E T S W E S T I S D O I N G A B O U T I T

G R A S S R O O T S D E V E L O P M E N T I N V I E T N A M + C U LT U R E , T R AV E L & C O M M U N I T Y

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HEALING MORE HEARTS

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THE WRIGHT STUFF

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REDUCING INFANT MORTALITY IN SOUTHEAST ASIA


Two new kindergartens built in Hue came with a training program in community self-reliance. The idea: getting communities directly involved yields sustainable results.

A new EMW program funded by the Ford Foundation will help disabled victims in Quang Ngai province

Meet an extraordinary teenager whose mission to raise money for EMW brought her a special friendship with the young girl whose life she helped save

5 www.eastmeetswest.org S P R I N G 2 0 1 0 RE ACH VIETNA M

Celebrating a Milestone


i n a n e w t wo -y e a r pa rtn e rs h i p with Vietnam Television (VTV), East Meets West has kicked off an international fundraising and social marketing campaign to raise awareness about issues that people with disabilities, including survivors of Agent Orange and dioxin contamination, face in Vietnam. This effort will raise funds

to support individuals using the models that have been proven to provide the best life opportunities for the disabled.

EMW and VTV co-hosted a press conference at the EMW office in Oakland, CA on December 9, 2009 to announce the new partnership and the launch of the campaign, en-titled “Life Is Beautiful” or “Cuoc Song Van Tuoi Dep.”

The campaign will feature frequent broadcasts on VTV, Vietnam’s state-owned television station that reaches millions of households in Vietnam as well as many expatriate communities in the US, Australia, and Europe. The goal of the tele-vision campaign is to inform this broad audience about the issues facing people with disabilities in educational and engaging ways.

As one of the first steps in the cam-paign, EMW, in consultation with policymakers, medical experts and representatives from the disabled community, has identified the top

ten “Best Practices” that are effectively supporting people with disabilities in Vietnam. These efforts will be highlighted in a series of regular broadcasts on VTV’s major chan-nels. In addition, celebrity “goodwill ambassadors” will host live televised variety shows, held in Vietnam and overseas, to draw attention to an issue that has too long received inadequate coverage. n cao vu hoang chau • photos by hanh nguyen

BRIEf uPdATEs from east meets wesT

pEoplE With disabilitiEs

Life Is Beautiful

a beautiful life: these children in

Quang ngai province receive education and

medical assistance from eMW’s Support

network for people with Disabilities, a program that will

benefit from the new joint eMW-VtV “life is

Beautiful” campaign.

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EMW dEntal prograM

MorE sMilEs for MaC dinh ChiVeterans of uS Marine Basic Class 6-67, led by long-time east Meets West supporter Jack Wells, continued their history of involvement with the students of Mac Dinh Chi School, located in Vietnam’s central coastal region. In august 2009, the group generously funded the overhead costs of a week-long eMW Dental Outreach Trip to the rural school, enabling over 500 students from Mac Dinh Chi and surrounding schools to receive free dental treatment. More than a dozen dental volunteers, all of whom paid their own way to Vietnam, provided exams, cleanings, treatments and extractions to children who in many cases were seeing a dentist for the first time in their lives.

The construction of Mac Dinh Chi was funded several years ago by the Marine veterans group, which later raised additional funds to build a library at the school. Many of the Marines were deployed here during the Vietnam War, and feel a special tie to the area and its people. “The grandparents of these students suffered greatly during the Vietnam War,“ says Jack Wells. The children treated will leave with bright smiles, healthy teeth and memories of the week in august when eMW Dental came to their school. n

traveling to southeast asia? we want your tips! visit the new travel section on emw’s website to share tips on our discussion boards at www.eastmeetswest.org.

sylvia townsend


disastEr rEliEf

bEyondtyphoonKEtsana

east Meets West supporters have

responded generously to aid victims of typhoon ketsana, a powerfully

destructive storm that hit Vietnam’s central coast

in late September 2009. eMW acted quickly with an online appeal, which

raised over $14,000 from individual supporters

to help provide relief to families and communities,

repairing homes and other buildings using materials

and methods designed to better withstand future storms. companies and

foundations followed suit, with Coca Cola and

AkzoNobel supporting repair efforts, while a portion of a $50,000

grant from the Arcanum Foundation has already

funded the construction of eight compassion homes

for people with disabilities.

Funds from the appeal have helped 69 families in eMW’s

Scholarship Program to Enhance Literacy &

Learning (SPELL) rebuild or repair their storm-

damaged houses, in many cases upgrading to more

wind-resistant tin roofs. the funds were also used to as-sist nearly 20 families sup-ported by eMW’s Support Network for People with

Disabilities (SN-PWD) who were deeply impacted by

the typhoon, as well as to repair a commune Health

center in Quang ngai. Other repair projects

include the rebuilding of a badly damaged elemen-tary school in Quang nam

province, and repairs to eMW’s Village of Hope

Orphanage as well as to other facilities in Da nang

that house vulnerable populations. sylvia townsend

eMW’s Dan Fitzpatrick gives a presentation on Breath of life at the Mekong Health conference in laos.

Dental Fundraiser:Photo at left: Verra French (right) with Mari lineberry; Above photo, l-r: eMW’s Sylvia townsend, eMW dental volunteer Mel potter and eMW’s laura Ward collins

emweventsFitzpatrick were in Vientiane, Laos to take part in the first Mekong Health Congress. Almost

1,000 participants attended the conference, which was organized by the Lao Ministry of Health and the University of Health Sciences with the goal of updating medical knowledge and practices, sharing lesson learned and promoting collaboration and links between the Mekong countries.

february 2010In a meeting of over 250 leading global social entrepreneurs, EMW was represented by John Anner and Luciano Moccia at the Ashoka-Lemelson Tech 4 Society Cele-bration in Hyderabad, India. The Lemelson Foundation, which sponsored the event, funded the expansion of EMW’s Breath of Life program in Laos and Cambodia. The meeting showcased technological solutions that are revolutionizing social change around the world, with partici-pants sharing best prac-tices, new innovations and forecasting trends, and developing part-nerships that provide technological solutions to global challenges. n

problem-solving retreat held October 17-20 in Ixtapa, Mexico. The event is a global gather-ing of nonprofit leaders, grantmakers, and social entrepreneurs focused on poverty alleviation.

december 2009 US Ambassador to Vietnam Michael Mi-chalak joined EMW, the Boeing Company and community mem-bers from Can Tho and An Giang Provinces to celebrate the comple-tion of two rural primary schools built by East Meets West. Funded by $125,000 from the aerospace company, the schools have modern sanitation facilities, are flood- and typhoon-resistant and have sufficient capacity to provide local stu-dents with full-day class sessions. “Education brings hope to individ-uals and capability to a country,” said Kevin Heise, Boeing’s sales director for Vietnam.

January 2010On Jan. 22, EMW Country Director Minh Chau Nguyen co-chaired the Partnership Steering Committee of the Vietnam Rural Wa-ter Supply and Sanita-tion Partnership. Held in Hanoi, the meeting was attended by gov-ernment officials and more than 20 partners, including the World Bank, AusAid and DANIDA. The objective of the meeting was to evaluate the success of the partnership during 2009 and plan for 2010.

On Jan. 25-28, EMW’s Breath of Life International Coordinator Luciano Moccia and EMW’s Laos Program Coordinator Dan

eMW Oakland Finance team (l-r) Veronica tubera, ann ngoc tuyet truong and theresa nidetz at the insider’s perspective evening

Q&A with co-director and Emmy-award win-ning cinematographer Stephen McGee and a special fine art photo exhibit on Vietnam and EMW programs by San Francisco-based pho-tographer Hanh Nguy-en was also displayed.

september 2009Dentist Michael French and his wife Verra, avid supporters of the EMW Dental Program, hosted a fundraising benefit for that pro-gram at the Dragon Rouge Restaurant in Alameda, CA. Col-leagues and friends of

organized dental out-reach trips.

october 2009EMW President John Anner was “energized and overwhelmed by the concentration of talent, accomplish-ment and innovation” he encountered as one of 270 delegates who attended Opportu-nity Collaboration, a four-day strategic and

august 2009Over 100 guests gath-ered at the San Fran-cisco War Memorial Veterans Building for “An Insider’s Per-spective,” an EMW-sponsored evening that featured a talk by EMW President John Anner on the current state of Vietnam, as well as the premiere of EMW’s documentary film, Transforming Live s: In Fact, You Can. The film was followed by a

the couple joined EMW representatives John Nguyen, Laura Ward Collins, and Sylvia Townsend to learn how the program provides free modern dental care to impoverished chil-dren in Vietnam. Guests sampled Vietnamese delicacies donated by the restaurant, bid on auction items, and listened to Dr. French recount his experiences as a dental volunteer in rural Vietnam on EMW


ChildrEn With hEart dEfECts

Heartwarming ProgressThe Trai Tim Cho Em/Operation Healthy Heart (TTCE/OHH) partnership among East Meets West, Vietnam Television (VTV) and Vietnam Military Telecommunications Corporation (Viettel) has posted impressive accomplishments since its launch in October 2008. In just over a year, the campaign has raised over $1.2 million from corporations and individuals both in Vietnam and overseas in support of its mission, which is to fund treatment and surgery for poor Vietnamese children with congenital heart defects and to improve the country’s cardiac care capacity. A third of the amount raised to date is likely to be matched in funds from local authorities and other organizations.

More than 400 children have already received lifesaving cardiac surgery and the goal is to give 700 more children lifesaving operations in 2010.

In addition to supporting individual cases, TTCE/OHH works to improve the capacity of hospitals and

doctors to perform more, and increasingly complex, pediatric heart operations. The fund has already allocated $150,000 to provide critical equipment and long-term staff trainings for three hospitals: HCMC’s Medical University Hospital, and Hanoi’s Viet Duc Hospital and Hanoi Heart Hospital. cao vu hoang chau

the hue ophthalmology and training center opened in December. eMW fully equipped the hospital with modern medical equipment in order to provide complete eye care services as well as training services for eye care professionals in the central Vietnam region.

thai nguyen university (tnU) is enjoying its new international center built by eMW. the center houses eight small flats built to accommodate visiting professors and academic staff from universities around the world. eMW is also building a new soccer field for tnU which is being constructed on old rice paddy fields—this major earthmoving project is now almost complete.

at the ongoing national hospital of pediatrics project in Hanoi, eMW is building facilities that will house the hospital’s laundry, kitchens and general wards, and provide overnight accommodation for parents with very ill children. eMW is also working on the concept of phase two of the nHp with hospital design experts from california who have joined the Hanoi-based team of architects.

construction corner

compiled and writ ten by rachelle galloway, nam nguyen and ron smith . photos by nam nguyen , kevin german and emw hanoi staff

eMW has now completed construction of the six-story, 6,000 square meter danang ophthalmology hospital, which will have its grand opening on March 29, 2010.

the eMW-built danang oncology and tropical medicine hospital was handed over for operation on February 2, 2010. the four-story hospital is central Vietnam’s main cancer treatment center and will spearhead all efforts in fighting diseases such as avian influenza, SarS, viral hepatitis and aiDS in Vietnam’s central region.

snapshots

a healthy heart: pham thi thu Huong received

heart surgery from funding raised through the trai tim cho em campaign.

Be part of East Meets West’s vital effort to reduce infant mortality in Southeast Asia. Thousands of premature babies die in the developing world every year because hospitals are not equipped with the medical devices and training to save their lives. EMW launched the Breath of Life program to fill the need for low-cost, locally manufactured, appropriately designed medical equipment to save babies’ lives. n Just $1,800 equips a hospital with a neonatal machine that can treat at least 50 babies per year, providing lifesaving support for the most vulnerable newborns. n Please help EMW save the lives of premature infants by supporting Breath of Life today.

Sign up today for free updates on news, programs, special events and more. Sign up at www.eastmeetswest.org.we respect your privacy and will never sell or trade email addresses.

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P R o g R A M AC T I V I T y I N T H E s E C o N d H A l f o f 2 0 0 9

compiled and written by sylvia townsend

Doing the Numbersactivitiesprogram what it costs

ClEAN wATER ANd sANITATIoN

$20 provides a household connection to clean piped water for the “Poorest of the Poor.”

sPEll PRogRAM

The SPELL team organized 52 scholarship delivery ceremonies. For the 2009-10 school year, 4,500 pri-mary and secondary students received in-kind schol-arships and over 200 high school students received cash scholarships. Detailed tutoring plans were devel-oped for 4,400 students. SPELL staff conducted field trips to 58 primary and secondary schools to evalu-ate their tutoring programs.

VIllAgE of HoPE

The center is at full capacity with 150 children, including 114 orphaned and 36 hearing- and speech- impaired. seven vocational training classes in tailoring, cook-ing, computer, carpentry, embroidery, greeting cards and painting were held three days each week during school session. seventeen graduates are studying at colleges or universities.

six new water proJects were completed, providing 3,197 new households with clean water. twelve new water systems are under construction. Free community water connections were provided to 1,059 “poorest of the poor” households. 1,296 hygienic latrines were built for rural families.

BREATH of lIfE

The program distributed approximately 105 neonatal machines to more than 15 hospitals in three countries—Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. The program trained eight doctors and nurses from six hospitals in east timor in basic newborn care at the National Hospital of Pediatrics in Hanoi.

$1,600provides a hospital with a phototherapy machine to treat babies with jaundice.

208 children with heart defects received lifesaving sur-gery and 62 children with critical heart problems were hospitalized in preparation for surgery. twenty-five cardiac specialists were trained in advanced surgical skills and four specialists were sent overseas for ad-vanced training.

oPERATIoN HEAlTHy

HEART

A total of 25,765 free dental services were provided to 5,821 children at the dental clinic, on three outreach trips and three mobile dental trailer trips. In-kind donations totaled over $21,537 and 67 international volunteers donated 3,628 hours of time, equivalent to $125,240 in services.

dENTAl PRogRAM

suPPoRT NETwoRk

foR PEoPlE wITH

dIsABIlITIEs

The program delivered the following services to the dis-abled: 1,200 individuals continued rehabilitation and physiotherapy; 259 people received corrective surgery; 315 beneficiaries received assistive devices; 16 individu-als received vocational training and job placement; 600 disabled children received educational support and 46 children received private tutoring; 114 health workers and 472 community volunteers were trained in capac-ity building in physiotherapy and rehabilitation and 20 senior medical staff were trained in strategic planning.

$10provides a child free modern dental care for one year.

$85provides one poor child with a year’s scholarship for primary school.

$600provides care for a year for one child living at the Village of Hope.

$2,000provides a critically ill child with lifesaving heart surgery.

$300provides one disabled person with corrective surgery and a prosthetic device.


feature

“There are alternative sources for energy. There are no alternative sources for water.” - Sustainable Development International, 2005

10 RE ACH VIETNA M S P R I N G 2 0 1 0

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Because it is a universal need, water is everybody’s business. That’s why EMW clean water systems are designed for maximum community involvement and sustainability. But what if this already successful partnership model were to embrace yet another player - the private sector?

In at least one innovative public-private partnership scenario envisioned by EMW, businesses would take on more of the risk,

while donor dollars would be stretched farther to provide safe,

accessible water to an even greater number of poor, rural families.

In a world of water that is complex and ever changing, a shift from traditional development practices to a social enterprise model may hold the key to a succesful and wide-scale replication of EMW’s water systems.

written by john anner and sylV ia townsend photos by keV in german


D elivering clean water to people in the developing world is an endeav-or that is fraught with challenges, but, when done right, yields results that pay back many times over in improved health for individuals and

communities. Over the past five years, EMW has made major innovations in its clean water program to address these challenges, providing people in over 125 rural vil-lages in Vietnam with a sustainable source of clean water and sanitation.

But to scale up the delivery of clean water in Viet-nam – to reach more of the millions of people who still lack a safe, accessible source of water – as well as to insure long-term sustainability, East Meets West is

looking to a social enterprise approach. This would mean the creation of public-private partnerships, combining private investment and management with EMW’s implementation expertise in the field, in the effort to stretch donor dollars to benefit a greater number of households, provide extra assistance to the very poorest families and support hygienic practices.

Understanding the benefits of the proposed approach begins with an under-standing of how complex the challenge of clean water delivery is. How one defines the “clean water” problem is crucial: finding a way to get adequate

water to a rural village is a completely different problem than serving a town of 10,000 people, or a small city of ten times that number. In fact, what those in the development business call “WATSAN” (water and sanitation) is actually a number of different problems rolled into one, and each problem requires a different solution.

First, there is the fundamental problem of water supply. International organizations frequently deliver micro-scale solutions like hand pumps, merry-go-round pumps, or other low-tech ways of getting water out of the ground and into the buckets of people who need it. For village-level systems, something bigger is required, usually an electric pump that delivers water to a catch basin, or directly to people’s homes,

Second, there is the problem of water quality. As EMW Country Director Minh Chau Nguyen notes, “When people think about the importance of clean water to human health, they sometimes forget that delivering water is not the same as deliver-ing safe water.” An untreated water supply can be contaminated with biologicals like parasites and bacteria, not to mention heavy metals like arsenic and sulfur. Dirty water is what makes people sick; by some estimates, half of all serious childhood illness in Vietnam is related to consuming unclean water. A pump is no guarantee of safe water, which generally needs some sort of treatment or filtration.

There are many ways to treat water, and in most cases multiple methods are needed. Settling removes sediment; aeration rids the water of sulfur odors; chlorine or UV lights kill the biologicals; reverse-osmosis clears the water of salts and metals; and charcoal removes other impurities. Most of the health benefits of delivering water come only after that water is treated.

Third, people have to use water in ways that promote health. This commonly falls into the “hygiene” category, and includes frequent hand washing and bathing, as well as safe water storage and disposal of waste water. An effective clean water program should include some sort of hygiene education, so that people are made

“When people think about the importance of clean water to human health, they sometimes forget that delivering water is not the same as delivering safe water.” Country Director Minh Chau Nguyen

feature


aware of how to use their water in appropriate ways to improve public health.

A fourth, and vital, com-ponent is sanitation. Western-style private bathrooms are an impossible luxury in many parts of the developing world, cities included. In many poor urban areas, there are virtually no private toilets, and public toilets are both alarmingly unsanitary and as scarce as one per every

1,000 residents. UNICEF reports that in Vietnam only 20 percent of the rural population has access to a latrine that meets minimum Ministry of Health standards. As a result, 44 percent of Vietnamese children have worms, a major contributor to the country’s very high levels of childhood malnutrition.

Last, but not least, is the persistent challenge of sustain-ability. On a micro level, a village

By some estimates, half of all serious childhood illness in Vietnam is related to consuming unclean water.

with 200 people can be served by a well, a hand pump, and any of several widely available and relatively inexpensive point-of-use filtration systems. Add some hygiene education, and you have a workable clean water and sani-tation set up.

But when the goal is to deliver clean water to a larger unit, say a village of 1,000 households, the problem becomes much more complicated. How do you

ensure that a village of that size has adequate clean water, plus all the other necessary require-ments for good public health? As is so often the case, the solution involves creative ways of dealing with money.

W ater, like light and heat, is a semi-public good. You can read

just fine and warm yourself

bringing water to schools: eMW provides clean water and sanitation at primary schools in Vietnam to help prevent common waterborne childhood illnesses.


sitting in the sun without paying a dime, but if you want to be warm and read this issue of Reach Vietnam at night you have to pay your electricity bill. The same is true for water: you can, as many people do in rural Vietnam, walk long distances to carry home a few buckets of muddy water from the river, but if you want clean water delivered to your home, you have to pay for it.

East Meets West rural water systems have built-in filtration; treat-ment to kill bacteria, worms and parasites; aeration; and settling for sediments. The systems draw from either rivers or wells, and the clean water is delivered through pipes to each household. The capital cost for such a system is about $30 per capita, or $140 for a typical family. To link to an EMW-built village water system, beneficiaries pay a one-time connection fee of $18 to $20 which includes simple indoor plumbing and a water meter outside the house. Villagers also contribute their labor by digging trenches and laying out the main distribution pipes.

Once the system is in place, households pay for every liter of water they use, with the typical family paying about $12-$15 per year. These fees cover the electricity, water managers’ salaries, repairs and other operating costs. Overall, in EMW clean water systems villagers pay about 25% of the total capital cost, and 100% of the operation and maintenance cost.

EMW envisions extending this model to a public-private partner-ship where private sector companies take over the investment, con-struction, operation and maintenance of the systems. EMW Country Director Minh Chau Nguyen, who is leading the effort, explains, “It would turn our already successful water program from an innova-tive, but basically traditional, development program into a true social

enterprise. There would still be a subsidy, but perhaps the ratio would be 25% subsidy to 75% paid by the villagers and private investors, instead of the other way around.”

EMW has already been moving in this direction. Over one-third of EMW clean water projects in central Vietnam are currently under private sector manage-ment, projects which could form the core of a true public/private partnership program. In southern Vietnam, discussions are ongoing with about 20 enterprises that will undertake investments in rural water systems in just this way. They will build, own and operate the water systems.

On the sanitation side, EMW is already following this model. The program provides incentives to villagers to build latrines by as-sisting them with access to credit for the construction, providing them with a good, tested design and finally, giving them a rebate

People have to use water in ways that promote health. an effective clean water program should include some sort of hygiene education.

The Government of Vietnam is very interested in this model.... This could become a clean water program that is both a successful social enterprise, as well as a solution that influences public policy.


of about 10% of the total cost. The rebate is given once it has been verified that the latrine is built correctly. Each latrine costs about $250, so the EMW rebate is only $25. But despite the modest size of the financial incentive, over 2,500 latrines have been built in the past three years, and another 3,000 are underway using this model.

Perhaps the most unusual aspect of the EMW WATSAN model is its overall financ-ing structure. Most of the money for the twenty or so projects EMW does every year comes from a World Bank administered program, the Global Partnership on Output-Based Aid (GPOBA). This is a subsidy program to pay for the capital costs of basic services targeting the poor. But there’s a catch – the GPOBA does not pay EMW for those costs until each connection is verified by an independent auditor. EMW has to raise the funds from other sources, spend the money on the water systems, and then wait until the GPOBA verifies the connections to be reimbursed for the capital costs.

So far, this arrangement has produced excellent results. But a public-private part-nership could free up those funds to be used in a different way, by transferring the risk to private companies that would pre-finance the construction, and be reim-bursed partially upon verification of results. In this way, donors’ resources could be leveraged to bring access to clean water to even more poor people.

Minh Chau Nguyen is optimistic about the possibilities: “We think this holds enormous potential for the future of the clean water program. The Government of Vietnam is very interested in this model to help direct the use of public funds in the sector, and EMW is now working with the government to help design the policy. This could become a clean water program that is both a successful social enterprise, as well as a solution that is built into public policy.”

EMW’s highly successful track record in clean water delivery was driven by just this type of innovative thinking. The Clean Water and Sanitation Program will continue to find ways —whether through new partnerships, creative financing or technical improvements—to address the multiple challenges of providing a clean and sustain-able source of water to rural Vietnamese populations. n


EMW’s nEW partnEr OnE ViEtnaM is a start-up philanthrOpic OrganizatiOn fOundEd

by a sMall grOup Of yOung ViEtnaMEsE prOfEssiOnals tO build and Expand an

OnlinE nEtWOrk {WWW.OnEViEtnaM.Org} fOr ViEtnaMEsE ExpatriatEs and nOnprOfits.

thEir gOal: iMprOVE thE liVEs Of thE 80 MilliOn pEOplE in ViEtnaM tOday by

inspiring pEOplE tO takE pOsitiVE actiOn.

interView and article by sylVia townsendI n a new partnership with the

start-up group OneVietnam,

East Meets West will serve as

the fledgling organization’s

fiscal sponsor, providing guidance and

support to the entrepreneurial group as

they launch their new online network.

That network will take advantage of

social media technology to provide

opportunities for expatriate Vietnamese

to connect with each other, learn about

Vietnam today, identify relevant non-

profits and ways to get involved with

them, and support causes through on-

line donations. While the site’s launch

is still several months away, current

indicators are overwhelmingly positive.

OneVietnam’s Facebook presence boasts

over 2,500 fans, while its news and

editorial website at talk.onevietnam.org

has published more than 100 articles by

a dozen contributing writers.

Recently, Reach Vietnam attended a

meeting of the group where some two

dozen Vietnamese men and women,

most in their 20s, gathered to discuss

updates and accomplishments. Among

these were the acquisition of a first ever

corporate partner, Animoto, to assist

with the production of videos, and the

establishment of a “Vietnam Fellows”

program that will enable Vietnamese

expatriates to return to Vietnam to

“implement and see the impact of”

a youth-empowering project of their

own design. The meeting was held in

the town of Milpitas, just down the

freeway from San Jose, the city home

to the largest Vietnamese population in

the United States. Afterwards, we talked

to OneVietnam’s leadership team—a

diverse group that includes both a first-

year law student and one of the original

developers of HotMail—to get a sense

of the individual passions and talents

that fuel the group.

partners


the current home page of www.onevietnam.org—the

new site is scheduled to launch in the spring of 2010

viet kieu 2.0: OneVietnam’s leadership team is a diverse group that includes a mechanical engineer, a first-year law student and one of

the original developers of HotMail.


wanted to leverage technology to bring people together, to make it easier for them to express their love for Vietnam and their

compassion for its people. Even if they don’t visit

Vietnam, they can connect with the global Vietnamese community.

Paul Pham, Tech-nology Director:

When I first met James and Uyen I

was taken aback by their youth. But I soon realized that they’re

the perfect age group to take this challenge on. They don’t have the mixed, sometimes painful memories of Vietnam of people like me, in their 40s and older. And they have the skills that a Western education can give you. They have the passion to bring people together, without bringing in history or politics.

So your target audience is Vietnamese expatriates all over the world?

Uyen: Yes, and we particularly want to get young Vietnamese

people connected. Some of them really know very

little about Vietnam, especially the coun-try as it is today.

James: I was giving a presen-tation recently

to the Union of Vietnamese Student

Associations and I was amazed that when I mentioned [the famous beach resort area] Nha

Trang, many of them had never heard of it.

Phong: Generally, our parents don’t like travel—they associate it with bad memories or forced relocations. So growing up, most of us never traveled much out-side of the US.

Phong: So many kids of our gen-eration have never been to Vietnam. They have no idea what a dynamic place it is, and how much poten-tial there is there.

What was the genesis of the idea for OneVietnam and how did the core group come together?

Neil Nguyen, Operations Director: Uyen and James came up with the original idea of creating an online network to bring the Vietnamese expatriate commu-nity together around philanthropic action to benefit Vietnam. They posted it on Facebook and it caught my interest, so I contacted them.

Uyen Nguyen, Marketing Direc-tor: After we met with Neil, our first task was to write a business plan, which involved a lot of research into who and where our potential audience is, and how best to reach them. We were fortunate that the CEO of the company where I work took an interest in the idea and had a connection to [EMW board member] Jerry Falk. That’s how we were introduced to John Anner and East Meets West.

Neil: At the same time, we were doing presentations to different commu-nity and student groups, reaching out to attract more members, and were able to bring on Paul and Phong.

How would you describe the group’s vision and goals?

James Bao, Executive Director: The Vietnamese community has been divided and dispersed throughout its history, the result of both out-side pressures and internal divi-sions. Now this is especially so. In fact, there are over 30 coun-tries in the world with pockets of 10,000 or more Vietnamese.

Phong Quan, Public Relations Director: Not only are Vietnam-ese expatriates separated geo-graphically, but there are huge differences between those who resettled voluntarily, those who fled as refugees and those who are economic immigrants.

Uyen: So, understanding that the community is very dispersed, we

can continue their educations.

Neil: As a mechanical engineer, I’m really focused on improving infrastructure. I’d like to see a safe and efficient transportation system in Vietnam. The traffic situation there is terrible; the number of people who die each year from traffic accidents is staggering.

Phong: As a law student, I’m really interested in

working on develop-ing the legal system in Vietnam, par-ticularly updating trade and business laws. For the last

two years I worked in Vietnam at a legal firm

that was working with the UN on doing just that. Most if not all or the trade

laws now in use were drafted in the last four years. It’s really im-portant for a developing economic system to have a sound legal basis.

Uyen: My real passion is to help Vietnamese

young people feel more empowered. That’s partly why I developed the “Leave a Mark” part of the Fellows

Program. I’d like to see our fellows create

programs—say, a speech and debate team—that inspire Vietnamese kids to

think for themselves, to give them what I feel the American education system gave me: the sense that I can be and do whatever I want if I work hard.

James: I really noticed that differ-ence in Vietnamese kids over there, for instance with my cousins. I was raised to feel I can achieve anything, but they feel their pros-pects are very limited.

Any last comments?

Neil: Please join us! Check us out on Facebook or Twitter. Volunteer, make a donation, or just find out more about the exciting work we’re doing. n

“Understanding that the community is very dispersed, we wanted to leverage technology to bring people together, to make it easier for them to express their love for Vietnam and their compassion for its people.”

- Uyen Nguyen, OneVietnam Marketing Director

What do you see as the advantages of a partnership with EMW?

James: We’re passionate about and committed to our mission, but we’re relatively inexperienced in the nonprofit world. We feel that EMW will help us tremendously in navigating the landscape of philanthropy.

Paul: I went to the EMW office in Da Nang and met [EMW Senior Advi-sor] Mark Conroy. I was blown away by what EMW has been able to ac-complish in Vietnam. The numbers are really impressive. The staff has accumulated such a wealth

of knowledge about how to implement programs and projects.

How do you plan to har-ness the cohesiveness your network will hope-fully foster in the Vietnamese com-munity?

James: We want to raise money for any project that will benefit Vietnam. To make it easy for people to help, and present them with a range of opportunities for giv-ing back in whatever area they’re interested in, be it educa-tion, health, clean water.

Do you as individuals have particular areas of interest in

development work in Vietnam?

Paul: I have a schol-arship program, really I should say a “micro” scholar-ship program, because it’s so small.

But I try to identify kids in Vietnam who

might have to drop out for financial reasons and provide support so they


KON TUM

DA NANG In this rugged, remote central highlands

province of Vietnam, two

groups recently spent a trip

of a lifetime volunteering at a boarding school for ethnic

minorities built by East

Meets West.

destination: kon tum

written by Van ly and sylVia townsend

journeys


T he rich cultural landscape and rug-ged terrain of Kon Tum Province in the central highlands of Vietnam are off the beaten track, even for

the most daring travelers. While there are travel agencies that offer treks and cycling trips in Kon Tum, only a few have programs that give back to the diverse communities of ethnic minority groups visited. EMW recently partnered with two socially responsible travel companies to create unique opportunities for breathtaking adventures combined with organized community service.

“i have been living in vietnam for eight years and had never heard of Kon Tum,” blogged Tae Hee after her 12th grade class from the International School of Ho Chi Minh City (ISHCMC) went to the province in September 2009. Tae Hee was one of 26 students from ISHCMC who participated in an “experiential learning” field trip to Kon Tum Province. Exotissimo Travel, a travel com-pany that has operated in Asia for 16 years, coordinated the school’s itinerary with East Meets West for the students’ five-day com-munity service trip.

“The goals of the trip,” said Fabien Mous-say, ISHCMC teacher and the lead organizer of the trip, “were to push students out of their comfort zone, challenge them to become innovative leaders in their community, and to learn by doing.” Among the highlights of the trip were treks to ethnic minority communi-ties and a visit to Kon Ray School, a boarding school built by East Meets West (with funding from USAID) for ethnic minority students of that region. ISHCMC students organized a variety of activities to benefit the Kon Ray students, including conversational English

and EMW staff. (Additionally, the Roadmonkey group raised over $8,000 through their own social networks for project expenses and repairs from Typhoon Ketsana, after the storm left the school without its water supply system.)

By the time they left, the Roadmonkey group had laid the foundation for a working organic farm, a sustainable social enterprise that supports and sustains the school and the broader community. Today, an average of 20 kilograms of vegetables are collected daily; a portion is used in meals for the students and the rest sold for income for the school. Teachers and students take turns ro-tating and cultivating the vegetables inside the greenhouse.

“Building a working farm and greenhouse at the Kon Ray School was, I can honestly say, among the most rewarding experiences I and the Roadmonkey crew have ever had,” reported Paul von Zielbauer.

“What made it extra special was being able to work with the students and teachers, to cooperate across language and cultural barriers, in a spirit of mutual respect, to solve problems and help the kids get a better education,” he added.

east meets west continues to work with the people of Kon Tum Province—EMW is now working on a program that will develop quality preschool education throughout Kon Tum. This program, also funded by USAID, aims to significantly improve the “readiness to learn” of children entering primary school in the province. n

If you are interested in partnering with EMW, contact us at [email protected].

school snapshots (below, from l-r): eMW program Manager Vo thi Hien inspects the organic vegetables growing in the kon ray School’s new greenhouse; students from the international School of Ho chi Minh city on their kon tum field trip; a member of the roadmonkey expedition wheels dirt for the organic garden built for the school; roadmonkey founder and expedition leader paul von Zielbauer with a kon ray student; the kon ray

community with roadmonkey members; a roadmonkey bike warrior in the central highlands of Vietnam riding towards kon tum province; view of the roadmonkey group working with eMW and kon ray locals on the organic garden planted as part of the roadmonkey volunteer expedition.

classes, a soccer match, and the school’s first game of dodgeball.

Moussay reports, “The Kon Ray students were shy at first, but by the end of the day, ISHCMC students pulled the leadership qualities I knew they had in them to motivate and engage the children in fun and creative ways.” Moussay hopes the friendships created from this first trip can continue and blos-som into a sister-school relationship where ISHCMC students can help close the gap in educational opportunities in Vietnam. In her blog, Tae summarized her experience on the field trip by noting, “In the end, I feel like I have grown up a little more and experienced something totally different.”

Just two months later, in November 2009, another volunteer group visited the Kon Ray students. The nine-person team ar-rived by bicycle, tired but exhilarated from a trip that included pedaling more than 300 miles through the Central Highlands, and fully prepared to deliver on its special brand of “adventure philanthropy.”

Their trip to Vietnam was the third of its kind organized by Roadmonkey, a socially responsible tour group founded and led by former New York Times reporter Paul von Zielbauer. Paul defines his company’s concept of adventure philanthropy as “a geographic and cultural experience that is physically challenging, intellectually stimulating and, by helping others, deeply gratifying.”

The expedition’s volunteer project was to build a 400-square meter organic farm for the Kon Ray School. In four packed days the group did just that—building a greenhouse, planting a variety of vegetables and getting to know the community of children, teachers


EMW Board Member Tom Low and his wife, EMW medical program

advisor Dr. Priscilla Joe, follow their hearts—and lend their considerable expertise—supporting international

development work in Asia.

donors

double dutywritten by sylVia townsend

“With their energy, talent and commitment, we’d be lucky to have either Tom or

Priscilla. To have both is just amazing.”-EMW President John Anner

M eet Tom Low and Priscilla Joe. Tom serves on EMW’s Board of Direc-tors and Priscilla, a pediatrician, is a

medical consultant for East Meets West’s Breath of Life program. They are also two of EMW’s most committed supporters, having traveled many times to Vietnam to contribute their skills and energy to EMW—whether providing medical strategy advice, board leadership, or just getting to know the children, families and staff that make up East Meets West. In addition to the consider-able amount of personal time they both invest, the couple are also generous financial support-ers of EMW, most recently to the Village of Hope orphanage in Da Nang.

While both are third-generation Chinese Americans, according to Tom the couple’s interest in Asia is a relatively recent development. As he notes, in a somewhat chagrined tone: “I didn’t even go to Asia until I was 40!” But even a passing glance at Tom and Priscilla’s personal and profes-sional achievements during those years suggests that there just may not have been enough time.

Once Tom and Priscilla turned their attention to Southeast Asia, they found EMW, which has been

visiting vietnam: above: tom low and priscilla Joe visiting students from eMW’s Scholarship program to enhance literacy and learning (Spell) in central Vietnam;

and at right, the couple on one of their frequent trips to Southeast asia.


the beneficiary of their skills, compassion and unflagging support ever since. Tom laughs, “When I came on as board mem-ber, EMW got Priscilla too. Two for the price of one.” President John Anner echoes that sentiment, “With their energy, talent and commitment, we’d be lucky to have either Tom or Priscilla. To have both is just amazing.”

Born and raised in Sac-ramento, the couple met as students at the Univer-sity of California Davis. Priscilla, who always knew she wanted to be a pediatrician, was pre-med. Well before the term “global warming” was coined, Tom graduated with a degree in Renew-able Natural Resources. (During an internship with the City of Davis, he helped write one of the city’s first solar energy ordinances.)

The couple pursued their postgraduate educations at UC Irvine, pausing to get married in 1983. Tom earned his MBA in Finance in 1985 and a year later Priscilla got her MD. She followed that with a residency in pediatrics at Children’s Hospital & Research Center Oakland (CHORI) and a fellowship in neonatalogy at the Uni-versity of California, San Francisco. Today she is Associate Director of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and Director of the Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation program at CHORI. Her specialty is treating critically ill ba-bies and improving care for infants with heart and lung failure.

As Priscilla developed

out in the field: From top: tom visiting a rural primary school in central Vietnam; priscilla training medical staff in infant care in Ho chi Minh city

historic Hoi An. Wherever they go, Tom enjoys the food and indulges in his passion for photography. “I take thousands of pho-tographs on each trip,” he notes. But like so much of what Tom and Priscilla do, there’s something in it for EMW as well. Several of his photos have made their way to EMW’s website and publications. n

“I just saw such a huge potential to make a difference in Vietnam.” - Dr. Priscilla Joe

President Steve Berman. In Vietnam she bought a copy of EMW founder Le Ly Hayslip’s memoir When Heaven and Earth Changed Places. She lent it to Tom, who read it on the plane trip home.

“I was reading this fascinating and very mov-ing book, and at the end I learn that the author start-ed a foundation, guess where, in Oakland! It just seemed providential,” Tom recalls. Back home, he did some research on EMW, and decided to get involved.

The term “people person” could have been coined to describe Tom Low. So it doesn’t seem surprising that he was not many degrees of separa-

tion from the person he needed to talk to. “I told my aunt about my trip to Vietnam. She told my cousin, and the next day he called and said I should meet his friend, John Anner, the executive di-rector of EMW. We met for lunch a few weeks later and next thing you know I was on the Board.”

Not one to do anything half way, Tom was soon not just on the Board, but chairing several com-mittees, hosting a house party, and introducing his seemingly endless circle of friends to EMW’s work. Tom and Priscilla even opened up their Oakland home—on three separate occasions they generously provided month-long housing for Vietnamese doctors (two

her medical expertise, Tom was working in business, becoming the founding Chief Financial Officer of Restoration Hardware, and later CFO of Ask Jeeves and Safe-way.com. He is currently a partner with the execu-tive search firm Bridges SF, LLC.

Somewhere along this busy road, Tom and Priscilla found time to start a family. They had two young children and challenging careers. In 2001, their interest in Asia began to blossom when they made a trip to China (Tom’s first to Asia) to adopt a baby girl from an orphanage there. They named her Charlotte, and brought the beautiful,

healthy little girl home to Oakland. When the couple hired a Laotian babysitter to help with childcare, they began learning more about the region’s culture.

fast forward f ive years . A family friend asked Priscilla to partici-pate in a medical mission to Vietnam, organized by the NGO Project Vietnam, and Tom accompanied her on the trip. Priscilla did clinical work and provid-ed training to Vietnamese medical professionals and Tom helped out wherever he could.

That trip ultimately brought Tom and Pris-cilla to East Meets West. Another spouse along on the trip was Elaine Berman, wife of Ameri-can Academy of Pediatrics

neonatologists and a car-diologist) in the US.

The couple began traveling to Vietnam twice a year. As Priscilla puts it, “I just saw such a huge potential to make a dif-ference in Vietnam.” As medical advisor to EMW’s Breath of Life program, Priscilla works to support the neonatal program, sometimes visiting ex-tremely remote regions to train neonatologists and evaluate the effectiveness of the equipment. She also consults regularly with the East Timor BOL medical personnel. A trip to Laos and Cambodia, where EMW expanded BOL more than a year ago, is on her list of things to do.

The past several years have taken the Tom and Priscilla all over Vietnam, and getting to know the country has been a joy. “We really appreciate the strengths we see in Vietnamese culture: the values, the warmth, the friendliness, the work ethic, the openness to EMW’s work.” Work ethic is something these two know a little about. Tom says of Priscilla, “She’s so dedicated, she makes me look like I never work.” But he’s quick to acknowledge the secret, “She’s one of those rare people who really loves her job.”

The couple knows how to have fun as well. On their last trip to Vietnam, they made time for a few “touring” hours in


zutani, General Director of INAX Vietnam.

In addition to providing monetary support, INAX gave their employees the opportunity to meet the children and families of Trai Tim Cho Em/Operation Healthy Heart. A series of visits was organized for INAX rep-resentatives to meet and get to know the patients as well as to celebrate their successful surger-ies and healthy futures.

An INAX employee who at-tended one of the events, Mr.

Nguyen Chien Thang, had an especially moving experience: “I have my own chil-dren, so when I entered the hospi-tal and saw these fragile children suffering from heart defects, I felt really touched. Nothing could

compare with our happiness when we saw many of them after their operations, fully recovered and with hopeful smiles again.”

INAX focuses their corporate social responsibility (CSR) pro-grams on the children and the future of the country, including

for every company—what-ever its size or industry—making meaningful contributions to the community it works in is criti-cal to success. This is one of the core beliefs of INAX, a leading Japanese multinational corpora-tion. INAX is funding Trai Tim Cho Em/Operation Healthy Heart (OHH), the campaign EMW is running in partnership with Vietnam Television (VTV) and Viettel that saves the lives of poor, critically ill children with congenital heart defects.

INAX has been in Vietnam for more than 10 years and is the country’s largest provider of tiles, building materials and sanitary fixtures. In October 2009, the company provided $55,000 to support lifesaving heart surger-ies for some 30 OHH children. “We chose Operation Healthy Heart because surgery to correct these heart defects will not only save these children’s lives, it will change their lives forever. We would like to bring a different and better future for these 30 children and their families, as well as the community where they live,” said Mr. Masataka Mi-

Investing in Community a JaPanese comPany in vietnam is dedicated to giving BacK

“Even though we are a Japanese company, we are a part of the Vietnamese community and we are responsible for the community’s development.”

donors

written by cao Vu hoang chau

a new life: Masataka Mitzutani, general Director of

inaX Vietnam, holds a baby whose life was saved through

a heart operation provided by funds raised from the trai tim cho/Operation Healthy

Heart campaign. inaX donated $55,000 to the campaign.

and we are responsible for the community’s development. We think that the success of every company is due to the commu-nity where it operates. We want to give back to our community by helping provide its most vul-nerable members with a better future,” said Mr. Mizutani. n

programs to educate children about water resources and schol-arship provision for university students.

“Even though we are a Japanese company, we are a part of the Vietnamese community

22 RE ACH VIETNA M S P R I N G 2 0 1 0


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roB gertlercharles gilreathlawrence and Judith glendinningmaureen and stePhen goldsmithroBert and glee greenwoodstePhen gunthergary and lilly gwilliamchucK hazenroslyn heeseric hemel and BarBara morgenBlaine hondadavid hotchKissmarK and alayna huBner Paul huddleston and dori Boudreauchelsey ingenito fields and ian fieldsdaniel KaPlan and Kay richmangil and BarBara KemPfredericK Khedouri and sarah glazerg. marcus and Pamela Knightdaniel Knoxluis and lee lainerstePhen lavineroB lemelsontom locKard and alix marduelthomas low and Priscilla Joecody mcfadyentom mcgillismargit meissner and ervin BognarJorge mestmangeorge miller and Janet mcKinleyPeter muradJoy and don nelson

donors to east meets west $500 and above • july 1 - dec. 31, 2009

INdIVIduAls

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Peter and suzanne nelsonJeffrey newman and mary montella Kim nguyenminh chau nguyen and Per lJungeriK and Jennifer niemann grace ParKlorraine Parmermelvin and susan Potter dan and Paula reingold carol and rollie ricecharles ricesamuel and sharon roBertsPeter ryder and natalie fox dana sachscolin schroederPeter singer and marJorie Kagawa-singergeoffrey and nancy stacKmarK and margaret stewartmindi thai and ryan doann truong and terry hall merna and don villareJothomas walczyKtownsend walKer and Beverly millsfranz and Pat wartenweilerJ. and BarBara waymanrichard wilKersonrichard and cecile willis miriam wosKwilliam young

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Reach Vietnam magazine: Clean Water edition

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Transcript of Reach Vietnam magazine: Clean Water edition