"You don't lose anything in supporting other people, you gain so much"

January 2017

75,000 people reside in Tien Phuoc. A mountainous region I have been visiting and supporting since 2013.
These 75,000 people are divided into 15 communes.
18,000 families in total live in Tien Phuoc and more than 2000 families here are deemed to be living in poverty. Even more so than the poverty already present here.

I ventured back to this district to visit two families missionnampossible has donated cows to in the past and is still supporting scholarships for the children to attend school.

Mr Nhan, with his three kids are looking well and Glenys the cow donated by Rotary Glenhaven is doing super well and onto her third baby! Mr Nhan looks much happier and the children look healthier. Glenys and her babies have supplemented his income. By us taking on the children's school expenses, (the biggest ticket item for him to pay yearly), has given him peace of mind and reduced his stress knowing the children's education is taken care of.

Mrs Sen: a group of my wonderful students purchased this cow a few years back also. The original cow actually got a bowel disease and so we had to replace it. She now has a new cow and it's looking good for her to try get pregnant soon. Fingers crossed!

Mrs Sen also looks better after adjusting to life when her husband tragically fell out of a tree at work and died, leaving her with four young children.

Her youngest little boy, who is so tiny and looks  like a 3 year old but is actually six years old, had been waiting for me for days! He was wearing a shirt I bought him last time I visited (which was huge for him back then!) and he wanted me to see him wearing it. Bless.
Missionnampossible supports Mrs Sen to pay for her children's school expenses also.

Five new cows had also been purchased this trip to support the poorest families in this district.

This brings our total cow donations to 12!!!!!
Huge achievement from everyone's donations. Missionnampossible thanks you a million times over.

Meet Mrs Ngan. Her husband 'ran away' and she has three young daughters to look after.
They live in a house with barely a roof over the kitchen.

The only room in the house she loves in, where they all sleep, study and live.

Her kitchen

#Donations from #rotarynorwest purchased this cow they named 'Sunshine' for her to be able to provide for her children. She currently goes into the jungle and picks wild vegetables to sell at the market in hope of feeding her children. The girls help her pick these vegetables before and after school as well. We hope 'Sunshine' helps her!!! Mrs Ngan was very shy and all she could utter was 'thank you' repeatedly.

We also gave her a huge food hamper and the girls clothes and toys- the first toys they have ever owned 💕 #missionnampossible #charity #rotary

Next stop we met a very charismatic Quyen who is 10 years old and her 8 year old sister Nha.

6 years ago, their father was at the local hangout playing cards and drinking. A fight broke out and he was killed. Exactly one year later, their mother went to pray at his tomb for his one year anniversary and on the way back was killed in a motorbike accident.

Meet Mrs Suu. Their only surviving grandparent.

She has been battling to keep these girls with her. The wooden structure below is their bed and all three sleep on it.

We walked through the mountainous district to get to them.

The girls have never owned toys and were quite excited at their 'frozen' dolls and other toys I bought them.

Quyen fell in love with Jason and he was ready to stay there with her or bring her back.

This was a very emotional meeting. So tragic. Yet was humbling to meet this stoic grandma.

'Choky' the cow will no doubt change her life and the way she can provide for her granddaughters. #donations to #missionnampossible made this #cow purchase possible.
Huge thank you to the Alam family for donating the funds for 'Choky' and everyone who donated towards the hampers, clothes, toys and books for them.

'Zarzar' was purchased by a generous donation from Emanuele, a member of Rotary Norwest.
Zarzar went to Mrs Phi.

Mrs Phi's husband died three years ago from lung cancer and heart disease. Eldest daughter is 20 years old and works as a waitress to support youngest three sisters to go to school.

She did very well in school and would have loved to go to university but she gave up her dreams of this and went to work instead in order to keep her three younger sisters in school. Their house is still unfinished with a stairway leading up to nowhere where the dad left it. They have no bathroom or kitchen. They literally have two rooms in the house. Upon enquiry, I learnt that for kitchen and bathroom use, they use the neighbours.

a stairway leading to nowhere.

where all 5 members of the family sleep

The 20 year old daughter took the morning off work was there to greet me and she was so emotional and crying a lot and hugging me.

She works from 6am until 10pm every single day, 7 days a work for around $150. The Mum was crying too. The younger girls were just so happy to have toys and couldn't wait to get a hold of them.
I would love to support these three girls in their educational needs to take the strain off the mum and older sister.

'Mary' the cow was donated to Mr Canh, his wife and 16 year old son.

The son was at school sitting an exam when I went so I didn't get to meet him that day but hopefully when I return, I shall meet him too.

Their kitchen

Mr Canh: he is an agent orange victim. He has a hunch and one eye. His wife is always sick and has a kidney disease. They can't afford medicines or to go to the hospital which is 8 hours away (for a main, decent hospital or 3 hours away for the smaller town hospital). She also has brittle bones and her wrists break all the time so she can't lift up anything heavy. They have one son who is in grade 11 and has bronchial infections a lot. The father tries to work in the fields to support his family. His agent Orange affected body doesn't quite cooperate some days and so it's hard on him. The cow will provide them an income to support their son in school and help feed them.

They have the right idea to allow him to finish high school. So many of these kids end up dropping out under duress from parents to go work in the fields because they just need an income.
Some days, the neighbours would give them a tablespoon of rice each to make up a bowl for them to eat. It's surreal what happens out here. Sometimes I pinch myself to see if I am actually witnessing these things.
Thank you, thank you, thank you, Gina and Bill for your donation of 'Mary' for this family.


Huge thank you to everyone who is supporting missionnampossible and making these Cow purchases a reality.

A teacher from the local primary school were some of these children attend. he thanked me for our support and presented me with pepper - locally grown in the District.

Vice Chairman of People's Committee of Tien Phuoc District presented me with an award to acknowledge all our donations in helping the poor.

I would love to be able to buy 2000 cows to help each of the poorer families in Tien Phuoc!!!
I guess we are 12 down..... only 1,988 cows to go.... or in dollar value... $1,491,000 to go!!!!