Michael Russell-Mott and Viet Dao from FFV travelled 200km from Ho Chi Minh City to meet up with the widow of Pham Thanh Long, and her 2 children, Vui Thanh Pham and Loc Thanh Pham. As she had just lost her husband, her concern was not being able to pay for her children’s education and resulting in them leaving school. We agreed to take care of her children’s education and Viet Dao made another trip back to Long An and delivered the scholarships to the children. The breakdown are as follows:
Vui Thanh Pham (Older sister)
Official School fee: 360,000 VND
Tutorial Classes: 150,000 VND
Health Insurance : 200,000 VND
Medical Insurance: 289,800 VND
Loc Thanh Pham (Younger brother)
Day-boarding School Fee: 720,000 VND
Medical Insurance: 434,700 VND
School Meals: 286,000 VND
Accident Insurance: 100,000 VND
Fund for the parent support union: 150,000 VND
Additional cost
New Text Books: 600,000 VND
New Uniform: 300,000 VND
Other expenses
School Infrastructure Improvement: 300,000 VND
Hygiene Maintenance: 60,000 VND
Additional Courses: 1,200,000 VND
Fund for the student union: 100,000 VND
Total cost = 5,250,500 VND (approximately £152)
If you’ve been following our journey from the beginning, you would be aware of our transparency, from our projects to costs. For ‘other expenses’, we were fighting hard to avoid it but we were informed it couldn’t be bypassed and if we do, schools in general would find a way to ensure the family would pay. If we are wrong, please do contact us and let us know as we want to ensure we are using your donations effectively.
As always, a special thank you to Michael Russell-Mott and a massive thank you to Viet Dao for spearheading the project and ensuring the children are still in education and taking them a step closer away from poverty. Together there is hope.