By Patrick O'Brien | Board Member
Good morning friends,
I hope this email finds you healthy and well. How fast time seems to be moving these days. As summer break comes to a close for students and their loved ones around the world and a new school year is right around the corner, it’s a great opportunity to share with you a little bit about our trip this year visiting Viet Nam.
In July, we held an art camp for the girls in the village of Son Tan. It was a designated time for just the girls to come be together for a day of art, music, and dancing. Small groups worked together to create one large project. The entire day was filled with silliness and laughter, and hopefully you can feel some of that through the pictures we’ll share with you all.
Additionally, the girls’ art class in Cam Tan continues to build on each previous week and during our time this summer we were able to spend time with the girls in the class as well as visit with them in some of their homes and meet the families these wonderful girls are being brought up by.
This was the first time in almost 5 years that I had the opportunity to take the summer trip that Sara and members of our volunteer team take annually. I was happy to see the programs thriving. The growth that was most impressive was that of the relationships with the students and their teachers.
The way the girls are responding, opening up, and really loving both our art teachers, Lien and Trang, is truly inspiring. From afar at times, it is easy to get disillusioned, to wonder out loud, “What are we doing? Are we making any impact on the lives of these kids?”
It didn’t take very long for me to find those answers while I was there. The kids keep showing up, each week, for themselves, for each other, for the teachers they love seeing. They work hard and are proud of what they create and look forward to sharing it with those around them. Sure, there are things you can do to measure for impact; there are surveys to create and data to collect, but I witnessed joy and laughter and a palpable levity when I was surrounded by the kids in our program. If we can give them anything, we can always give them a place to be a kid, a place to be safe, and a place they know they can come to for support.
We just want to thank you for your support which has continued to drive our art program forward!
Thank you so much.
Take care,
Patrick and the Rock-Paper-Scissors Team
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