Currently, the program operates a drop-in center that provides not only shelter and remedial literacy classes, but also food and basic medical services. VNHELP is currently working with the Can Tho Charitable Institute to expand the program to include vocation training for these at-risk children. VNHELP is planning a "Sponsor-A-Child" drive to begin the vocational training in the 1997 fiscal year.
This project is really worth sponsoring and continuing not because the street children are poor financially, but because they desperately need a place to come for love, nutrition, and safety.
The SCP Coordinator in Viet Nam, Tran Bach Yen, is energetic and passionate about her job. She has informed us about a variety of issues, ranging from the children's family background to each child's needs.
VNHELP has collaborated with the Can Tho Charitable Institute to start the Can Tho Street Children Program and provide intervention services to homeless and semi-homeless children between the ages of 6 and 15. These children were forced to live on city streets in order to provide supplemental income for their families. Many of the street children come from a poor fishing village on an island right across the river from the Can Tho's main market. The street children sell lottery tickets or candies, scavenge for recyclables, and sometimes engage in petty crimes, such as purse snatching and pickpocketing.
Ms. Le Thu Trang shared with us the following information:
"With VNHELP's support in the past few months, the SCP has helped over 40 children by providing nutritional meals and teaching them how to read and write. The program now provides a safe and nurturing place in which the children on the street can have a homelike environment."
