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ABOUT YEN TIEN AND CATDANG VILLAGE
One must be able to envision a better future in order to find it. Education is the path that leads to change and enables parents to pursue their dreams for their children
  Jeremy and Charlie’s connections with Catdang Village stretch back 15 years. In February 2006 they traveled together to identify the needs and complete preparations for TCI’s first Catdang PROJECTS, PROGRAMS, and PLANS that are now well established. We have designated Lien Phuong, a university teacher based in Hanoi, as TCI’s in-country Director, and have established working partnerships with effective local individuals and organizations, including the People’s Committee and the highly influential Buddhist Monk.
 Catdang
Catdang is one of 19 villages comprising the Yen Tien commune, located approximately 60 miles south of Hanoi. Nestled between the sea and the jagged mountains to the west, it has traditionally relied on the “iron rice bowl”, but its verdant fields, still tilled by water buffalo and wooden ploughs, can no longer sustain the community. Nor can the village’s unique basket trade offer any real hope for economic self-sufficiency. Although Vietnam is one of the world’s fastest growing economies, social liberalization has brought prosperity only to a few, and much of the communist safety net has disappeared. The country remains fundamentally poor with an average annual income of $750 for an entire family, with villages like Catdang bypassed by any benefits of globalization. Here, the average annual family income languishes at a mere $500.
- Average weight of 15 year olds: 62 pounds
- 100% of Children have worms
- Average Annual Family Income in Catdang: $500
- 30% of Children unable to attend high school due to poverty
- Cost of Annual Physical per Student: $1.35
- Cost of Vaccinations per student: $1.20
- Monthly Teacher Salary: $40.00
- Cost of new school building: $8,000-$10,000
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 Signs of the village’s meager resources are everywhere, especially in the school facilities which were ravaged by a typhoon in 2005. Dilapidated and primitive, classrooms are so overcrowded that students attend schools in shifts six days a week, and basic supplies are in short order. The environmental conditions are bad. The table water is polluted from the over-production of bamboo; and health and hygiene are poor. Shockingly, over one hundred adults in the district still suffer debilitating effects from exposure to Agent Orange, and seventeen young children carry birth defects directly related to the “American War”. The children are malnourished, with the average 15 year-old weighing only 62 pounds, small even by Vietnamese standards. The diets of most mothers are inadequate to produce breast milk sufficiently nutritious for proper development, resulting in poor immune systems. All 890 students have worms. The needs are many.But there are encouraging signs in Catdang, and The Children’s Initiative has served as the catalyst for dramatic and sustainable improvements, as you can see in PROJECTS, PROGRAMS and PLANS. Much can be done with relatively few dollars, and Buddhist traditions form the underpinnings of a rich culture that welcomes our involvement. We have established productive relationships with capable and dedicated members of the local community who share the mission and are in a position to make things happen. Most importantly, we have witnessed first-hand the eagerness of the children to work hard, learn, and reach their full potential. Our efforts matter here.
*** Help us take the INITIATIVE to help children ***
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