Gender Equality Vietnam Project #13980

100 Bikes for 100 Girls

by Rock-Paper-Scissors Children's Fund

Project Report | Aug 3, 2019
Da Receives Her New Bike

By Giao | Vietnam Project Leader

Da and her sister

Dear Friends,

I wanted to share a story about one of the girls who I met recently who received a bike from you.

This is Da, she is 10 years old. She is the oldest sibling in her family and has a six-year old sister named Truc Ly and a four-year old little brother named Ngoc Tu. The three children were born into a very poor family. Their father who is 36 years old is a fisherman and their mother who is 35 is unfortunately unemployed. They live at the end of a very rough road in the little village of Tan Hai, where most of the men living there work as laborers for wealthier fishing boat owners. Working on these boats is a very hard life for the men, long hours and little pay and often away from their families for weeks.

After meeting Da I realized that in general, she is a very quiet little girl. When I went to talk to her family she remained silent most of the time and just smiled every time I asked about her hobbies or her dreams. Both her mother and her grandmother would answer for her whenever I asked a question. The one, and really only thing that she did say was that she was so happy to receive the new bike. Da’s grandmother said that Da had been waiting for the bike every moment since being selected and every time she woke up in the morning, she asked how many days left before the bike ceremony.

One of the sweetest things that I learned about Da while talking to her mom is that she asked her younger sister to wear one of her old school uniforms and come to the bike giving because “she can’t wait to share her happiness with her sister,” said the mom. Like most of the girls who receive bikes from Rock-Paper-Scissors Children’s Fund, this is the very first bike Da has ever received. I very much enjoyed meeting Da and her family at the bike giving and I hope that she can ride her new bike to secondary school and on to high school, I would love to see her become confident and successful in her life, as I wish for all the girls we meet.

So far this year 100 girls like Da have received new bicycles and over 100 more girls will be receiving bikes this year thanks to you, our donors.

Best Wishes to you all this summer,

Giao

Da and family

Her new bike!

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May 6, 2019
Bike Repair for the Girls

By Sara | RPS Founder

Dear Friends,

We want to thank all of you for your donations in March as part of the GlobalGiving Girl Fund Campaign; you helped us raise enough money to give 90 girls new bicycles and helmets this year. We are so grateful to all of you for helping us bring bicycles to girls in Vietnam, supporting them through their educational journey. With each bike giving, we are reminded of the difficult home lives that each one of the girls comes from and the importance of this seemingly simple form of generosity.

Last year in addition to giving bicycles, we received a grant from an organization based in Canada, called Give A Hand to implement our bike repair program. If you've ever gone to a school in rural Vietnam when it is in session, you'll see in the schoolyards, hundreds of bicycles. Knowing that the bikes we give the girls are going to eventually need maintenance and repairs, we decided to hire a local mechanic to go to the schools during the day and repair bikes, including those that we have given. This program has been a big success among our partners in Vietnam and the kids. In 2018, thanks to this grant, and our wonderful staff, volunteers, and mechanics, we were able to repair 365 bicycles. We replaced 866 parts (571 parts directly related to improving safety and 295 additional parts)

300 of the bikes received tune-ups and required replacement parts such as chains, tires, tubes, brakes, pedals, wheels, handlebars, and seats. These parts are especially important for safety.
65 bikes received a tune-up and new parts such as a back seat, school book basket, built-in bike lock, bells, fenders, kickstands.

We are looking for a sponsor for this program this year, so if you know a bike shop or company that might be interested please contact us!

We look forward to the year to come. Our bikes for girls program is thriving, and with your continued support, imagine how many more girls you have given the opportunity to continue to dream and have the chance to realize their potential. The importance of your gift is immeasurable and will have a lasting effect on the girls and the community around them. As they continue their education, their future is that much more bright and exciting. From the girls and all of us at Rock Paper Scissors Children’s Fund, thank you so much.

Sara

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Feb 5, 2019
Stories from the Field January 2019

By Sara | Founder

Yen at home

Dear Friends,

We want to thank all of you so much for your donations throughout December and January! We are so grateful to all of you for helping us bring bicycles to girls in Vietnam, supporting them with their journey to school. Today I would love to share another story of a girl who received a bike.

This is Yen, she is 17 years old and a senior in high school. She received her bike from us when she was in 9^th grade. Yen’s mom passed away when she was in 3rd grade, and when we first met her in 2016 she was living with her Aunt and Uncle and their children. Her father works far from home in a southern province of Vietnam and he sends back home 2,000,000vnd ($86USD) every month for Yen, her brother and her grandmother to live on. School is not free in Vietnam, so school fees come from this as well.

Once Yen got into high school she had to ride her bike 12 km one way to school, this was taking her about one hour each way. Because of the distance kids often share a room somewhere close to the school and then go home on the weekends. Yen started doing this, but now in her last year of high school her grandmother, who was living with a relative near Saigon, moved back to her home, and Yen must take care of her after school there.

The rural road that Yen rides her bike to school on is considered very dangerous for someone who is traveling alone. Girls particularly try to ride or travel in groups because of this. There are many young and middle-aged men out of work and drinking; alcoholism is rampant in these areas. One of Yen’s friends was harassed by a gang of boys on her way home from school in the middle of the day, so many of the girls, including Yen, are very fearful of this. It’s known that even boys can be harassed by these gangs as well.

Every day after school Yen must take care of her grandmother and their house. She cleans, does all of the chores and tries to keep up with her schoolwork. The villagers in this area do not have access to clean, drinkable water, because the groundwater has been contaminated in this area. Although they use it for washing, they receive drinking water from the local church.

Yen is deciding on whether to continue school after high school, and if she does, she says she will go to the vocational school in Nha Trang city, about 1.5 hours away from her home by bus. We have encouraged Yen to stay in school and we are so proud of her for completing High School and doing so well.

Thank you all for this wonderful gift to Yen and to all the other girls, even something as simple as a bicycle helps these girls get to school each day.

Sara

Receiving her bike

Yen's home

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