QUESTION: How do you alleviate entrenched poverty?

ANSWER: Help educate the women. They can help others.

IDEAL ANSWER: Educate an “army” of women to work in the poorest communities of their region, including their work with children with disabilities, to provide medical care and teach others.

The monastic order based in Huong Phuong already has an “army” of 130 women, many already working in the poorest communities across central Vietnam. All they need is your help to improve their effectiveness in medical and community development. We are now seeking more sponsors, for tertiary courses and medical and disability care internships at the orphanage and medical centre.

SCHOLARSHIP TYPES

Women’s tertiary scholarship: for tertiary studies focussed on medicine, teaching or disability care. The scholarship covers approximately half of the student’s room rent, uni fees, textbook allowance and food allowance.

Traineeship for people with disabilities - tailored to individual needs of people with disabilities at the Huong Phuong orphanage, depending on course requests.

Internship - for medical centre and orphanage staff (tertiary graduates).

Externally funded traineeship – for courses that do not qualify for a tertiary scholarship (theology or music). We do not fund these but may keep a record for coordination purposes.

WOMEN’S TERTIARY STUDY SCHOLARSHIPS.

We work in partnership with the monastic community of Huong Phuong village. Our sponsorship meets only half of the study costs. The other half is met by the monastic community and each woman’s family. Without our sponsorship, most of these women would not be able to pay for tertiary training.

Sponsorship provides the vital financial support for local tertiary study. It also provides vital encouragement to students and medical interns by email contact and visits from sponsors. Encouragement of close and supportive friendships is our special feature. We do not block visits between sponsors and students.

Women who come from economically poor rice farms cannot afford education. Sponsoring her university education provides a lifetime benefit for a woman to become a future community leader.

Many women in poor areas of Vietnam have the status of second class citizens: they do most of the hard work and have few chances for betterment by education. Helping a woman to obtain a university degree is one way of improving the status of women. Their only impediment is lack of financial support.

Each scholarship donation directly results in one additional woman from the monastic community becoming a much-needed disability therapist, teacher, nurse or doctor, working for the poorest rural communities of Vietnam. By sponsoring a woman to train at university, you are also helping the people of Vietnam. These women who apply for university entrance cannot study without external financial support.

There are 130 women in the monastic community: 40 at Hướng Phương village; 30 at Vinh City; and 60 being rotated through pastoral work in various communities, including the orphanage. Nine women from the Hướng Phương monastic community work at the orphanage.

Scholarships of $20 per fortnight, paid as $250 at the start of each semester (i.e. $1,000 over 2 years) will support these students.

THE WORK THAT YOUR DONATION WOULD DO:

HERE’S HOW IT WORKS:

As soon as we receive a scholarship donation we prepare a funding contract between Friends of Huong Phuong Orphanage Inc and our project partners, the monastic community of Huong Phuong. This agreement clearly sets out the responsibilities of both parties to the contract. Friends of Houng Phuong Orphanage Inc are to make payments on time to the student. The student must inform us if they  fail or leave the course. They must also provide receipts and an email each semester to confirm their course attendance. Download a typical scholarship funding contract here:

Scholarships cover approximately 50% of the study cost. The monastic community and family of the student then pay the other half of the cost. The Association sends $250 to Vietnam for each sponsored student at the start of the semester. When the student receives the payment they sign, scan and email a receipt to us and email a progress report to their sponsor.

Scholarship donors receive:

1. Certificate of appreciation, suitable for printing and framing.

2. Profile of your sponsored student.

3. Contact and visit information.

4. Regular progress reports from your sponsored student.

Donations are paid into the Association’s trust account held in Australia. For this not-for-profit charity account there are no commissions, admin costs or account keeping fees. Each year’s sponsorship funds are paid from the account at the start of each semester (Sept & Feb).

Each student prepares a personal profile and emails it to us to provide the sponsor with an introduction. You and your sponsored student are encouraged to communicate regularly, particularly if the student is studying English. All students learn English at school. But spoken English might be limited, so students often get their friends to help translate emails.

For a PDF example of the offers and receipts involved with this program, click here.

TYPICAL STUDENT ALLOWANCE

Typical minimum study costs for a poor woman from a rice farm who studies in a city are a basic student allowance for cheap digs, minimal food and university charges. It is not a lavish allowance and does not extend to items such as consumables, computer purchase or travel to visit parents. The breakdown is shown below:

CURRENT SCHOLARSHIPS