By Patrick O'Brien | Director
Dear Friends,
We have just returned from two months in Vietnam and we had an incredibly busy yet wonderful time getting to know our music students. Our music program in Cam Duc has grown! Currently there are 22 students receiving music instruction in either the violin or cello. We were able to rent a house to hold the music and art program and we were able to buy instruments for all of our new students. It was very inspiring to see what the young musicians had accomplished in their training since the last time we saw them and just as inspiring to watch the reaction of the new students as they opened up and started to play their very own and very new instruments.
Nhat is one of our newest students and when we first met him, he lit up the room. He seemed so thrilled to be with the group of fellow musicians learning to play the violin. His face was filled with excitement and joy; we would never had guessed what his home life was like. One Saturday we went to meet the families of some of our new students.
Walking past piles of broken down cardboard, bags of plastic bottles, and smashed t.v.s and computer screens, we entered into Nhat’s family’s home to meet his parents, siblings and grandmother. We quickly found out that the organized chaos outside his front door wasn’t delinquency, but the daily employment of both his parents. They collect the recyclables around town to turn in for income. His parents have shown an unbelievable amount of support and pride in their son, doing whatever they can to support him in his studies and interests and beam when we were speaking to them about him. Nhat is not only interested in music but he loves biology as well.
Our understanding of what a poor family has to go through in order to send their children to school in Vietnam made it clear to us: if parents will sacrifice even more to support their children in their desire to be trained as musicians than we want to help support those families in the most need with paying the yearly tuition for school and help buy school supplies for them.
We were able to start off small, and have paid the tuition for six of our poorest students and have been able to alleviate the extra stress of their parents and the stigma attached to being a poor student. Each of our students will be able to pay their tuition costs and buy their school supplies just like every other kid. It is a huge burden to be lifted off of the parents’ shoulders and the students’ minds.
Nhat’s family and the rest of the music program’s students and families are extremely thankful for the opportunity to learn to play music and to be in this group. Without your support none of this would be possible and we are extremely thankful that you have chosen to support our program.
We wish you good luck and good health in the months ahead,
The Rock-Paper-Scissors Children’s Fund Team
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