Sunflower Mission: Serving Vietnamese Children with Love
Mona Foundation's March 2007 Newsletter (Page 10)

Mona Foundation has committed to build a school in Vietnam with a grant of $5,000 serving 200 children. This building will be named, “Duy-Loan Le” in recognition of life long services of Mrs. Duy-Loan Le, Texas Instrument Senior Fellow and a member of the board of directors of Mona Foundation.

Duy-Loan Le shares with us about her recent trip to Vietnam:

“On December 8, I left Houston to fly back and spend 3 days in Viet Nam. The main purpose is to attend the completion ceremony for the 3 schools in the vicinity of Kien Giang that Sunflower Mission has just finished: Binh Giang 2, Nam Thai and Co Khia.

“I have traveled the world and have seen poverty both in Viet Nam and in other countries such as India and China. But I was not ready for the emotional toll, especially at Nam Thai school. This particular school is located in the New Economic Development region with nothing around. The word ‘nothing’ here means exactly just that: NOTHING. Poverty is one thing but poverty in segregation is something else. One has to see it with one’s eyes to feel the destitute isolation. Words don’t do justice: Seeing it gives you pain, living it is something else!

“Seeing the faces of the children reaffirms what I have always believed and that is ‘often in life the difference between success and failure is simply OPPORTUNITY!’ The glee in their eyes, the smiling faces with missing tooth, the giggling laughs, the ques¬tions they asked all remind me how intelligent these kids are! Contrasting that with the ragged clothes they have on, the shoeless feet covered in mud, the tangled hair on their heads … and it is a heartfelt sadness knowing the environment these children of ours have to endure day in and day out. Regardless of which of the two sides one focuses attention on, education opportunity can and will make a difference for our children.

“Perhaps the presents we handed each and every one of these kids will make a tiny difference immediately in their daily lives: books they can use to write down what they learn, pens they can use to express their ideas, sleeping nets to protect them from constant mos¬quitoes at night, and backpacks to help ease the load they carry walking every day. In some cases, we handed out some cookies and toys… a luxury they have never seen before. All of this might be a drop in the bucket, a needle in the haystack, a drop of water in the ocean. Nevertheless, the ocean is indeed fuller because of that one drop.

“It took 46 hours to go from door to door on this trip and then the next 48 hours engaging with the schools and the kids. There is no doubt that it was a tiring trip for anybody young or old. But if one asked me ‘was it worth it?’. The answer is undeniably ‘YES’. ‘Thank you’ Sunflower Mission for the difference you are making in the lives of these children. ‘Thank you’ all of our supporters and members who made it possible for Sunflower Mission to do what it does.”

Duy-Loan Le and Kien Giang Student