Vietnam

1. Books and other educational needs for ethnic minority school students: Church World Service (CWS) encourages ethnic minority students to study by providing ethnic primary boarding schools with supplies and equipment. CWS also helps develop libraries in these schools. The students who come to the ethnic minority boarding schools in the northern provinces come from poor families who cannot provide them with books, notebooks or pens. Nor is there enough money in the budget of the boarding schools to purchase cooking pots or eating utensils. Special financial gifts are requested by DOM/Global Ministries to help CWS cover these needs in the boarding schools for ethnic minority students in Vietnam.

2. Clean water for elementary schools and remote mountain villages: In most of the mountainous areas of Vietnam, access to clean water is a serious problem and people normally have to walk long distances to collect water from often-contaminated streams. To assist in meeting the tremendous need for clean water, Church World Service has two emphases:

 Provision of new water wells and sanitation facilities at ethnic minority boarding schools for elementary age students, where ethnic minority students from very poor, remote villages come to study. Clean water at the schools improves the health and living environments for these children, as well as for the teachers and staff working in these schools. DOM/Global Ministries seek gifts so that CWS can move forward on several water projects: a) a water system at Ha Tay Ethnic Minority Boarding School in Ba Vi, b) the completion of a water system at Mai Chau Ethnic Minority Boarding School in Hoa Binh Province, and c) the building of small water systems at four schools in Lai Chau Province.

  Implementation of water projects (wells and pumps) in villages where CWS works, especially in the Mai Chau and Da Bac districts of Hoa Binh Province. The lack of clean water in these remote northern mountain villages results in serious health problems. In addition, the time-consuming task of walking long distances to collect water causes many young girls to drop out of school because carrying water is considered "women's work." These water projects accompany other CWS educational and development efforts in these villages.

3. Scholarship assistance for rural women studying social work: There is great need in Vietnam for trained social workers to work with rural communities in areas of social development services. Church World Service provides scholarship aid to young women from rural areas to study social work, with the understanding that during their schooling and upon graduation they will return to their home provinces to work for a period of years. In Vietnam there is a lack of experience and expertise to address emerging social problems, especially those affecting women and children in remote ethnic minority communities - the most vulnerable members of society. Church World Service also works with the faculty of the College of Labor and Social Affairs (COLISA) in Hanoi, where the scholarship recipients are enrolled. Curriculum development, resources, and training enable them to give information and teach skills for better response to situations of exploitation and trafficing of children and young women, child labor abuse, prostitution, and domestic abuse.

4. Basic Health Care in Vietnam: Primary health care delivery is seriously deficient in the outlying rural areas of long An Province. Much of the of this Province is located in the "Plain of Reeds," a swampy grassland submerged in saltwater most of the year. This is a very difficult environment for communications and transportation, making health care delivery a challenge. Church World Service provides:

 professional training of medical doctors and health workers.

 essential medical equipment, including dental chairs for a children's dental hygiene program, and

 health education support for community use around HIV/AIDS, dengue fever prevention and sanitation.

5. Vietnam-Laos-Cambodia Forum: Economic reforms and political changes are transforming the countries of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, but new problems and challenges continue to emerge in these formerly war-torn countries. Rising unemployment, price hikes and falling standards of living are common in all three countries. The ecumenical movement around the world seeks to support the churches in Indochina in their efforts to develop leaders, goals and actions toward a responsible participation in the geo-political, social, and development issues facing Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia today. Gifts are requested by DOM/Global Ministries to bring Indochinese local churches together through events such as people-to-people exchanges and short training courses in ecumenical formation and leadership development.