Updates from Vietnam

Dear Friends,

May this message find you well. I am deeply thankful to be writing this email to everyone. Life has been wild and fast, like everything is happening all at once, everywhere.

I feel incredibly lucky that in August, Faith and I, and five family members traveled to Vietnam. It felt brief and took forever to plan. We stayed with my siblings and their children. After many years of not seeing each other, we reminisced about the old times, and strengthened our family and community ties. So many bitter and sweet moments.

During our visit in Buon U1 village, we were able to purchase appliances, cookware and furniture for six households. We donated 5 new laptops, 3 new and 3 used cell phones to students. We are so happy to provide a laptop to a recent college graduate! For adults, we purchased two motorbikes to travel to the farm and for daily use. They were thrilled and grateful.

We also donated care packages with food and small amounts of household goods to 180 community members and helped to cover some of their medical costs. These are Montagnard villagers who are elders, who have limited abilities, and children without living parents. The Montagnard church and our family members in Vietnam helped us to organize and carry out this event.

Our Reunion in Saigon

The local church in the village welcomed us and thanked us for our donation of monetary gifts, a custom-made suit for the pastor, and a water filtration system to be utilized by the congregation.

We also hired two Montagnard photographers to help us document the trip. They were wonderful to be around and helped take us to several beautiful places!

Something else I witnessed from this recent journey is the undeniable disappearance of the sacred ecosystem of the rainforests, ancient trees, wildlife species and their habitats. This is happening at an alarming speed. It greatly impacts us humans as well. What used to be mostly Montagnard indigenous homes and farmland, is rapidly shifting towards an urban Vietnamese population.

We eventually had to say a tearful goodbye to our family, friends and the community members. The trip was a memorable and incredible experience.

For myself and my siblings, our ability to give comes from our experience of knowing true poverty. What such a small group of us have accomplished continues to show that we can make a difference in people's lives. The gift of giving is an essential part of existing and having compassion for humanity. We know that we are stronger in numbers.

I am deeply thankful for your open hearts and continued support. Sending everyone peace, love, and good health. Please, get in touch if you are interested in deepening your relationship with Across the Sea Foundation. There are many ways to show your support. I welcome your response, drop a line and let me know how you are doing, I’d love to get to know you better. Our members are important to us.

Thank You,