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Family to Family Sponsorship Program

Adopt is recruiting families to participate in a Family to Family Sponsorship program to assist families in Vietnam with breaking the cycle of poverty and helping their children stay in school. On our recent trip we met with two families who had already applied to the program and were awaiting funding. The idea is that a family in the US can sponsor a particular family in the Ben Tre province with a micro-grant. The interviews and follow up visits are all conducted through the Department of Labor.

Family # 1 consisted of a grandmother, daughter, and five year old grandson. The grandmother adopted her daughter during the war because a friend who had committed to adopt her changed her mind at the last minute and planned to put the infant in a basket and send her down the river. The daughter is mentally ill, or developmentally disabled, and the grandmother supports them all as a manual laborer. When there is work the grandma is able to make about $17 a month. The family lives on a property that includes pineapple, banana, and jackfruit. Last year the grandmother was able to sell some of the extra fruits, however this year a storm ruined the crop. She shared that recently her daughter had an episode and chopped down all the remaining fruits. Hong and I witnessed the pile of fruits rotting, it was heart wrenching. The grandmother hopes to be given support to buy a female cow. She shared that in three years the cow could have calves and she hopes to be able to sell the babies to make money. As we were leaving the grandmother showed us her pot of cooked rice and roots that was near empty and her rice container that was completely bare.

Family #2 consisted of a mother and daughter who was in the seventh grade. The mother currently supports her family by occasionally working as a laborer in the local fields. She is sometimes able to catch fish in a nearby stream so that they are able to eat, but there is never enough to sell. The mother hopes to be given support to buy supplies to create a small store selling things like sugar, condensed milk, rice other local products. The family lives on a paved path with a lot of bike, motorcycle, and foot traffic so this seemed like a good plan. The mother told us that a few years ago a storm collapsed her home. The government gave her money to rebuild her one room house, however her roof still leaks when it rains. The mother was happy to report that her daughter gets great grades and the mother knows that education is important. The family also had a small kitten that looked like it was starving.

There are many more families like these who have applied to the local government to be a part of this sponsorship program. Please contact us if you are interested in sponsoring a family or providing an educational scholarship to a child. It is also possible to be teamed up with a sponsor in order to share the sponsorship responsibilities.

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