In cooperation with Vietnamese officials and with the support of corporations and individuals around the world, the Vietnam Children’s Fund has been building schools for fifteen years. Working closely with each community, calling upon local artisans and using readily available materials, Vietnam Children’s Fund constructs schools that are sturdy, safe, and clean. Because a school may be the only well-built structure in a community, it serves as not only a gathering place for the community but often the only safe haven from the elements during a natural disaster.
Vietnam Children’s Fund accepts no Government funds. Their funding is all private and comes from individuals, foundation, corporations and the Combined Federal Campaign.
The Vietnam Children’s Fund was founded in 1993 by Kieu Chinh, an actress, lecturer, and philanthropist, Terry Anderson, journalist, and the late Lewis B. Puller. The Vietnam Children’s Fund was the dream of Lewis B.Puller, Jr. His personal experience led him to believe that in war no one goes unscathed and that children, the most vulnerable of all, suffer the greatest hardships.
In the year before his death, Lewis Puller returned to Vietnam seeking ideas for the living memorial he and several friends had decided to build to honor the Vietnamese men, women, and children who died in that country’s long wars. He decided that the most appropriate monument to the past and the greatest hope for the future would be schools for Vietnam’s children.
After more than 20 years and 51 elementary schools, the Vietnam Children’s Fund (VCF) is the trusted expert when it comes to building schools in the most difficult, remote and disparate locations in Vietnam.
The purpose of the Vietnam Children’s Fund is to remember the families and children lost in Vietnam’s many long wars. The goal of the Fund is to close the past and look to the future by building schools.
Vietnam Children’s Funds signature design is a modern two-story facility that serves 350 children (or as many as 700 attending in shifts) and provides eight classrooms, a library, electricity, and bathrooms. As the schools are often the newest and most structurally sound buildings in these communities they are also used for town gatherings, meetings, and celebrations. In areas prone to flooding, the Vietnam Children’s Funds school may be the only two-story building in a region where villagers can go to escape disaster. Quality control, accountability for funds, sound engineering, and sound design are keystones of Vietnam Childre’s Funds activity in Vietnam.
If you are interested in donating visit Vietnam Children’s Fund.
Children's Education in Vietnam 