Hanoi update 9-23 -2011

Hi All,

As usual, much going on with HSCV. First, you will find a profile and pictures of a beautiful little girl. She has a heart condition which needs surgery. As I write this message she is in surgery or has just come out. We are waiting for the telephone call. HSCV feels fortunate that this little girl's condition came to our attention as we had not had contact with her commune before. The surgery is expected to cost about $2000. A minimal amount by US standards for such a procedure but a fortune by most Vietnamese family's standards. A portion of the expense of this operation will probably be covered by governmental insurance. However, the Vietnamese insurance program requires that families pay the total expected costs up front and the insurance policies will reimburse them some percentage after the treatment is completed. An impossible obstacle for many families.

Therefore, HSCV has to deposit the hospital this morning to allow them to proceed with the operation. After the operation the hospital will reimburse us for whatever the insurance paid. This is a lot of up-front money for HSCV but fortunately we have some wonderful partners to help us. Both Seal Of Love Foundation and East Meets West Foundation have agreed to participate in covering these costs. Having supporters like these allows HSCV to be much more active in trying to locate children who need help than we could be if we operated solely on our own.

I have been asked on several occasions why there are so many children in Vietnam with heart conditions. As explained to me, it primarily results from in uterus malnutrition. To my knowledge every heart patient child we have assisted, and the total now is about 60, has come from very poor families. Where the mother does hard physical labor and the nutritional level of the family is limited. With a Vietnamese population of about 88 million, and increasing by about a million a year, I don't see this situation improving in the foreseeable future.

The drama for Mai Anh, the 15 year old we are trying to get admitted to the Girls Foster Home that I have written about before, continues to play out. Many, many, many governmental entities have to give their approval. And many of these have their own agendas. Mobility in Vietnam is very restricted. This is not all bad in that there are no "tar paper villages" here as in most other poor countries. But as in most countries economic opportunities are greater in the cities than in the country side. However, some governmental entity knows all about every family and individual in Vietnam and moving cannot happen without governmental approval. But Mai Anh's parents are now both dead, her aged grandmother is her only support, who must also provide for her brother, and the local community is going to tear down their house for a road improvement project. To me, it seems imperative that we get her to the GFH asap and we are pulling out all stops to do so and I think we will get it done. I fully expect that in my next update I will advise that Mai Anh is now resident number five of the GFH.

Stay tuned. These updates might get better.

Chuck DeVet, President