Vietnam Relief Effort is currently building schools in southern and central Vietnam. Our decision of where to build or renovate schools is based upon the region's needs. We look at, among other factors, the conditions of the current facility, classroom capacity, and student-to-classroom ratio.

Inclement weather and floods are common in certain parts of Vietnam. That's why we try to locate schools on sites that are away from flood basins and sheltered from heavy winds. Our goal is to build sturdy schools that will last for much longer than the 10-to-20-year life expectancy of existing structures.

In 2005, we completed construction of six classrooms in southern and central Vietnam.

In central Vietnam's Phuoc Dong Hamlet, which has a population of 725 people, VRE built a four-room satellite school to alleviate overcrowding and to allow the children to have a full school day. The classrooms serve about 98 kids grades one through five.

VRE-funded classrooms in the southern district of Tien Giang will accommodate 159 student in grades 1-5. In this region, only about 50% of kids make it through high school. Shrimp farming is one of the main occupations on the island and families will pull the boys out of school to help their fathers. Girls will sometimes be taken out of school to take over the housework while their mothers seek a living selling wares.

These photos were taken while Tien Giang was still under construction
These photos were taken after the construction was completed.

VRE is providing scholarships in both these regions to keep kids in school. In many cases, the scholarships pay for books and other school supplies, rice and other provisions. These supplies help to replace wages lost by the families when kids go to school instead of work.

In the first half of 2006, we continued building classrooms in Tien Giang province in southern Vietnam; two more will be completed by the start of the school year in the fall. We also started construction on two classrooms in the Tay Ninh province, about 110 km away from Ho Chi Minh City.

The Tay Ninh school will accommodate 79 children, ages 6 to 9. We will also be funding close to 100 scholarships for impoverished students in both these regions. This will encourage families to keep students in school and offset some of the mandatory school fees that are a burden for some of the poorest families.

Tay Ninh's population is over one million people, nearly one third of whom are under 15 years of age. The province, once a primarily agricultural region, is changing to a more industrialized one. As this happens, there have been some reports of young girls being trafficked from Vietnam to Cambodia.

Currently, 268 children attend school in five classrooms; 79 of these students have to travel 8 km or more to get to school. The two new classrooms will cut travel distance for these kids to at most 3 km. Since many of the families are too poor to afford bicycles, we are also looking into buying bicycles for these families.