Achievements

Here is a summary of some of our achievements.

To view the photos in full click on the thumb nail.

Rebuilding and refurbishing

When we first visited the school it was in very poor condition. Over the next five years, with combined funding from Haiphong City, the EU, DfID (Department for International Development) and Japanese NGOs, we were able to provide new buildings, a rebuild the workshop and support the farm work project.

Integrating students into mainstream education

We have now seen over 40 pupils integrated into mainstream secondary education, which previously people had said was impractical. We've even seen five of our brightest pupils secure places at Haiphong University including one woman. They are the first ever visually impaired, completely state educated, university students in northern Vietnam. One has graduated and is employed teaching IT at the Blind School.

Drop-out rates

More than 50% of those who graduate from the Haiphong School for the Visually Impaired go on to mainstream secondary education. Once in the secondary school system there are very few drop outs. So far just two pupils have had to abandon their studies. The first was Minh, a very bright and hard working girl. In addition to her mainstream schooling she was also studying music at the Arts and Crafts School. Unfortunately she became very ill. Vietnamese health workers believed her illness was caused by Agent Orange toxicity, passed down from her father. The second student to drop out was also very gifted, but became distressed by the move to a much larger secondary school class. Unfortunately he dropped out before we were able to arrange individual support.

Braille textbooks

Braille textbooks are expensive and don't last long. Thanks to a very generous Quaker donation we were able to fund a specially equipped resource room with a large computerised Braille embosser. This means the school is able to provide free textbooks, which are absolutely vital to secondary and high school pupils, those at university, and to a lesser extent primary school pupil. None of these textbooks are as yet supplied by the State.

Creative talents

We have supported three very talented musicians. Two of them have now graduated from the Arts and Crafts School and are teaching music. The third is still studying.

Greenfingers

With the help of the Housemothers and teachers, the Children had developed a very successful farm project. It had become productive, yielding fresh food to supplement the school diet, but it has been decimated by precautions due to the threat of avian 'flu.

Hmong students

In 2002 two Hmong boys from Cao Bang, near the Chinese border, began at the Haiphong School for the Visually Impaired. This is the first time the school has had any ethnic minority students. Despite language problems (the boys speak Vietnamese only as a second language) the new students have settled in quite well. However one visiting sponsor noticed them standing apart and arranged to pay for them to have extra clothing, presents and tickets home for the New Year Tet festival in their hill country village.

On your bike

Strange as it may first appear, one of our achievements has been to pay for a number of bicycles each year. This enables parents to get their child with their heavy textbooks to school, which can be kilometres from home. Some thought this a mad idea, but it got the pupils there and saved hours of work otherwise lost by subsistence farming parents.

Housemothers

Initially there was just one housemother looking after 40 or more boarding boys and girls aged from six to 16. We provided funding for a second. Initially they were paid a low wage, which we supplemented. We are glad that they have now been upgraded and are paid at the same special rate as teachers in the school.