Tet Gifts for the Families for the Year of the Ox

Tet (also known Lunar New Year and Chinese New Year) is the first day of the Lunar Year. The Lunar Calender follows the phases of the moon which consists of 13 months and 28 days each year. Because of this the day it falls on the Gregorian Calendar is different each year. This time the year of the Ox fell on January 26th.

Tet is most important time of the year in Vietnam. It can be compared with Christmas and New Year's in Western cultures. Many people travel long distances to visit their families and their homelands. It's very important to start the new year with luck on your side. Homes are cleaned, bikes are washed, projects are complete and when ever possible debts are paid.

Thanks to the kindness of our generous sponsors our ALL of our families had a wonderful Tet surprise. Twenty families received a gift package from their sponsors. These gift packages included items such as schools supplies, special Tet treats, toys and even chickens.

The gifts were handed out at our monthly rice distributions. All of our sponsors received photos of their sponsored families receiving the gifts.

We were also able to raise enough funds to give lucky money to all of our families in our Rice Distribution Program. Each family that did not receive a Tet package from their sponsor received 50,000 vnd or about $3. While this isn't a lot of money, for many it is more than they will make in a full day working in their rice field. Receiving money at the start of the year is said to bring luck for an entire year. We hope our small gift will bring the luck needed in the coming year.

Thanks to all of those who supported this our families this year! We simply can't do our work without your support.

~The HSCV Team