Hanoi update 9-17 -11

Hi All,

Mai, the fourth resident of the GFH moved in last Thursday. I had discussed her situation in a previous update. She is 19, older than our 18 year old upper limit, but she is such a special young lady we made an exception in her case. You can see from her attached profile that her life has been filled with tragedy but she is still determined to do all she can to help others in need. We invited her to move into the house about a week ago. She confided to one of our staff that that was the happiest day of her life and she did not sleep that night. When I went to the GFH on Friday morning Mai was already on the computer helping Hien with her home work. She will be a wonderful addition to the GFH and I'm certain she will do many outstanding things in her life. We hope her relationship with HSCV will be a long one.

Friday was Lien's last day with HSCV prior to her leave of absence to travel to Florida to visit her fiancee to plan the rest of their lives together. She is scheduled to return about November 1st. She will be returning to HSCV in a senior management position. Fortunately, we were able to hire her replacement on Friday afternoon. Thu is a young lady of 25. A life long resident of Ha Noi and a graduate of Ha Noi University. In addition, she earned her Masters Degree in Developmental Studies in May from Lund University in Sweden. (Sound familiar, anyone.) She comes across as a dynamic, eager to learn young lady and we think she will be an excellent addition to the HSCV staff.

In addition, Trang, who had been serving as the temporary house mother has agreed to stay on with HSCV. She is 24 but was a wonderful house mother, worked very hard, is an excellent cook and the girls really like her. In addition, she has a degree in accounting. Her duties will be to act as the assistant house mother but we will also be assigning her HSCV administrative duties. HSCV will also be sending her to school to learn English which will make her an even more valuable addition to our strengthening staff.

Even though there are many challenges I am truly enjoying my return to Ha Noi. I sometimes eat lunch at the GFH but try to never miss diner. The food is excellent and the girls never seem to stop chattering or laughing. All in all an always joyous occasion. The girls set-up and set the dining table before dinner. After diner they collect the dishes, wash them and clean up the kitchen. I, in my best imitation of a Vietnamese male, go to the TV room and turn the set on to the Disney channel. (For those of you that don't know our landlord gave us a very much below market rental price on the house, left a big refrigerator, a big TV and TV room furniture. This must be the Ritz of foster homes in Vietnam.) After the kitchen is cleaned the two little girls, Thuy 10 and Hau 9, come and snuggle next to me to watch whatever is on Disney. (I had forgotten what a wonderful person Tinkerbell is.) This is really, really precious time for me. Makes me feel like everything HSCV is doing here is both important and very personally worthwhile.

More to come soon. Again, I thank everone for their interest in HSCV.

Chuck DeVet, President