Thank You!

Our expedition is over - most of us are home now and going through some culture shock and of course dealing with jet lag. For such a huge group, we were an amazing team that worked hard with an exhausting schedule in just 8 short days. We want to thank all those that have followed our blogs, donated money, toys, stickers, hats, t-shirts and everything else. Your generosity is amazing and so much appreciated.

Here are our final numbers
over $53,000 raised and priceless in-kind donations

350 children & 40 chaperones went to camp (including transportation, lodging, meals & clothes) to see the ocean and have fun! (they traveled by bus up to 14 hours to get to camp!)

250 bikes given to every child in our scholarship program in 5 different towns

10 kg. of rice, 10 kg. of dried beans, 5 kg. of sugar, 1 box of instant noodles and some candy :) to 280 families (that's enough to feed a family of 4-6 people for a month!)

700+ "fun bags" given to school children in 5 different villages - the fun bags were 100% made with donations of toys, clothes, stickers and drawings (mostly from school children in the U.S.)

350 "fun bags" given to all the children that attended camp.

2 new houses started in Rach Gia (Kien Giang)
2 houses renovated in Tan Hoi Trung (Dong Thap)
1 new house started in Tan Hoi Trung
1 house renovated in My Hiep (Dong Thap)
1 new house started in My Hiep
2 houses renovated in Sa Dec (Dong Thap)
....all in 5 days
*we also funded the construction of 2 new houses (1 in My Hiep and 1 in Sa Dec)

for medical check ups, dental exams & fluoride treatments:
in Rach Gia (Kien Giang - day 1 - 82, day 2 - 275, day 3 - 182, total= 539
47% were treated for parasites, 100% of the patients work and live in the garbage dump
in Tan Hoi Trung (Dong Thap) day 4 - 277 total (192 under age 18, 2 needed follow up)
in My Hiep (Dong Thap) day 5 - 313 (203 under age 18, 5 needed follow up)
in Sa Dec (Dong Thap) day 6 - 231 and 7 kids at our orphanage
in Saigon - District 7 day 7 - 91 girls
...a grand total of 1458 patients in 7 days
with your continued support we are convinced that we are at a place where we can continue to develop plans for more preventinve health care, and sustainable health care.

$1600 in scholarships given to 21 winners from the "My Vietnam" Art Contest, 9 honorable mentions received special prizes

after flying thousands of miles to get to vietnam we then traveled:
120 miles via plane to Rach Gia (Kien Giang)
70 miles from Rach Gia to Cao Lanh (Dong Thap) by bus and two ferries - 6 hours
10 miles from Cao Lanh to Tan Hoi Trung (Dong Thap) by bus and tuk tuk - 1 hour
15 miles from Cao Lanh to My Hiep (Dong Thap) by bus - 45 minutes
25 miles from Cao Lanh to Sa Dec (Dong Thap) by bus and one ferry - 1 hour
85 miles from Sa Dec to Saigon/HCMC by bus - 4 hours
15 miles from edge of Saigon to our hotel by bus - 1 hour
75 miles from Saigon to Long Hai (for camp) by bus - 3 hours
80 miles from Long Hai back to Saigon by bus - 3 1/2 hours
*our bike team traveled 100 miles from Cao Lanh to Saigon in 12 hours and survived!

30 prints from the winning entries of the Little Red Fairy "My Vietnam" Art Contest auctioned off during our last day for a total of $6,670 to fund a boys scholarship program starting this fall...

We're already looking forward to the next expedition (i think!)...thanks again for all your support! More pictures will be posted soon!

THANK YOU for being the Catalyst for positive change for the children of Vietnam!

Day 8 - Camp Evening Activities

Our evening activities/entertainment was also quite fun! We announced the winners from the 2008 My Vietnam Art Contest...really amazing art this year. The theme this year was scenes from tradtional folk tales - our girls spent time reading or listening to stories during their practice sessions and were so proud of their work and of course fror some, so excited to win!

Our 2008 best of show is this one...Our 16 year old winner received a scholarship prize of 3,000,000 VND ($200) and the first thing she did was tell me that half would go to her teacher who taught her how to read 2 years ago and the other half she wanted to send her sister to school.

The rest of the show was filled with talent from all the groups - dancing, fashion show, skits - even our team got into it! We laughed, danced and had a really great time. It was a wonderful end to our work week and the kids were bouncing off the walls by the time they got to the huge campfire on the beach. It will be an early start for our girls in the morning - they would all leave by 5:00 a.m. to get back home. We never "officially" said good bye to them but we knew we would see them again soon!

Day 8 - Camp at Long Hai!

The end of our aid expedition is almost here - over 300 children have come from Kien Giang (14 hour by bus), Dong Thap (11 hour by bus) and Saigon (4 hour bus ride) to Long Hai to ..... PLAY!!!

Three of our five group of children has been to camp before - the Little Rose Girls, and the children from My Hiep and Tan Hoi Trung villages (of Dong Thap). They were definitely excited to return. The other children had NEVER been on such a long bus ride let alone away from home before. Our girls and their brothers from Kien Giang's garbage dump had some really amazing "aha!" moments....a shower, flushable toilet, a real bed, and unlimited food during meal times.

After dinner on Saturday night we went upstairs to greet them all again - we were now familiar faces so we had many say "hello!", wave and even run up to us with a hug. We gave them their "fun bags" - a bag full of drawings, stickers, new clothes, toiletries, toys and even some candy. As soon as we handed them out the kids were starting to trade. Well went to bed early to get up early for a day on the beach.

The next day for the start of camp - our team had 10 activity stations - arts & crafts, poloaroid pictures, friendship bracelets, drawings, jenga, twister, volleyball, soccer, relay races, sand castle building....all fun stuff! The kids came to us in groups of 20 and would stay in each station for about 20 minutes and then switch. It worked great and was very organized ...for about an hour! and then the kids got tired and wanted to stay longer, do more stuff, etc....and it went back to being what camp was all about - running around and doing the stuff you wanted to or just kicking back in under the cabana.

By 10:30 a.m. the kids wanted lunch and many of the kids - especially the kids that never have been in a hotel before just wanted to go back to their rooms and take another shower! One of the Kien Giang girls was convinced that the best part of camp was that we gave her a room with a shower and she could take one whenever she wanted to!

After the early lunch we took a huge group picture - which will have to be pasted together because we are one huge group - over 400 strong! and then we had a "controlled" swin time....there were jelly fish to avoid...it was really a lot of fun until about 2:00 and then the we all went back to our hotel to rest and shower up. For our team it meant jumping in the pool for a good hour! Stay tuned for a posting of our "synchronized swimming" show from our boys and men!

Day 7 - One day in Saigon - Tan Hung District

The medical & distribution team had one last day on site in district 7. We had 100 children to see who got their medical exams and bikes, and food. The girls here are our oldest girls, and their family has been pushed to the outer limits of the city to live in squalor as the downtown tourist areas grow and prosper. They were our healthiest
kids, of the over 1100 we've seen, but were happy to see that a new bike would help them get to school faster. It was all done in just a few hours and we celebrated by having pizza delivered from Chez Guido! Hard to believe, but it was quite good! We were all back on the bus by 1:00 and went another 3 hours to Long Hai Province - to get ready for camp. Overall we are all completely exhausted and emotionally and physically - but we're all getting excited to be on the beach with all of our kids to just have some fun!

Day 6 - Last day in Dong Thap

While 7 of our crazy and brave team members decided to ride 100 miles
to Saigon, the rest of us finished our day in Dong Thap Province in
the town of Sa Dec. It was another hot day (but we won't complain:)).

The medical team saw an additional 300 people today - that's over 1100
patients in just a few short days. They go in to a site and turn it
over to a "clinic" quite quick and then start moving the hundreds of
people through their stations. We had one short moment of panic when
our lead doctor (Jenn) got lost going to the site on a "xe
om" (scooter taxi), but she was never worried after all we're a pretty
big group that stand out everywhere we go. Our team of doctors also
stopped in at one of our orphanages and checked on a few children
ranging from 10 months to 15 years old.

The home team on their last work day did 2 home renovations - putting
up some tin sheeting for a roof and thatched or wooden planks for
walls. Their team was a bit smaller for the day but they worked well
and was relieved when they realized that they had finished the work
week without major injuries!

At the distribution site it was our craziest day - when the team
arrived they were mobbed by hundreds of kids so curious to find out
why we were there. There was no sense of personal space and all the
"catalyst kids" were overwhelmed. Once we got it under control we had
about 200 waiting to play while another 500 looking on. The fun thing
we added today was a birthday party - one of the catalyst staff was
surprised with a 3 tier cake, song and presents - we served cake to
300 in about 20 minutes - it didn't matter if they had a plate or not!
We were done giving out food and bikes to 30 of our scholarship
program children by noon and got on the bus to go to Saigon.

All of us would make it to Saigon at various times during the evening.
We checked into our nicest hotel of the week for a quick "nap" before
leaving the next morning early for our last work day.

Notes from the Construction Team

notes from our hard working, home construction teen member, AJ...

March 23 2008
After lunch instead of going to the school and help with the "donation sort", the home team found out they had to go to the home sites. We didn’t know where we were going or what we were going to be doing. Thirteen of the twenty one of us stayed at the first house and built a foundation for the house to be. The other eight of us went to another house that is being built on the river side for a mother and five children. It was a house in a really skinny alley. I never expected so many house in such a little space. The first thing that I did was break tiles that were in the ground into smaller pieces so I could use them to help level out the place where the cement slabs are going. That’s what four out of the eight were doing while I did that. After smashing tile into smaller pieces I had to hall buckets of sand to level out the ground. Once I got the ground all leveled me and alex and to move five concrete pieces three feet by three feet out of the way so we could level out the back of the house.

After moving all of the pieces we found that the ground was still unlevel so we had to hall some more sand to make it level. We were finally done with all the house stuff we could do for the day. So we went and look to see what the other four were doing. They were still working on the slabs that were going to be put on the level ground that me and alex just did. We helped with that for a little bit. Todays high was really hot it felt like it was over 120 degrees.

March 24 2008
Today we started to build a house for a mom and five children. When we first got to the site their was a ground and cement pillars sticking out of the ground. We found out what we were going to do we had to break the tiles that were in the ground into smaller pieces and spread them to make the ground even, after breaking the tiles and making it as even as we could we decided to haul in sand and try to level it out some more. Once we leveled the ground out we had lunch at 12 and ate till 1. Lunch was done at when we came back to the house we found out to make mortar so we can start laying brick for the walls and haul them all to the place where the walls were going to placed. This house was across a river and down into an alley where there was a whole lot of houses made of aluminum, brick, and a whole lot of things you would imagine. Also the back of the house was above the river by like three feet. We learned how to lay brick and once we did that we went off on laying bricks and we did that for about six hours until it was time to leave for dinner.

March 25 2008
Today we went to the same places and did some more work on that same house. Once we got there we found out that we would have to make a ceiling made out of tin and rafters that were going to be put on the cement pillars that were made the day before. We also would have to lay more brick on the second and third wall. Also we would have to move three by seven feet of cement slabs that we were carrying to the part of the house that was over the river. The first thing that we did that morning was had two to three people switch in and out on laying brick. While the second part of the crew was putting together the tin ceiling for the top of the cement pillars. The wall building crew probably got three fourths of the way done on one wall and a fourth of the way done on the other wall before lunch. After lunch the people that were laying bricks went back to laying bricks and we went to put the ceiling on the house. So all three of us and two more people that were helping us build the house helped us move the cement slabs to the back of the house. It was time to go and we were really sad to leave the surroundings and how we did not get as far as we planned on getting. Thankfully at the end we got to get a picture in the house that we did all the work on with the family that will be living in the house. So that made my day.


March 26 2008
Today we split into three smaller groups, and two of the three groups were going to be doing house renovations on two different houses and the third group was going to be laying more brick. The group that I was on going to do renovations because we were sick of laying brick. We got to the site and looked at our surroundings we were out in the middle of nowhere any shad at all and there were four standing walls. We found out our renovations were going to be putting wood up on three of the four walls. On the fourth wall there was going to be aluminum. We had a power saw for half of the day. So we had to use a hand saw for four more hours. We got done with the house around 2:30.After that we found out we were going to be going to the first house where they were laying brick because the second renovation team only had to put one more wood piece and they were done. There were twenty-three people at the first site and only seven trowels for twenty-three people. So both renovations teams got to go back to the hotel and rest, while the first crew finished up as much as they could.

March 27, 2008
Today we divided our groups up into three groups again the same as yesterday. One brick laying crew and two renovations crews. The second renovation crew got to their site and noticed that the house that they got to was all weird and didn’t have enough done to do the work they were told they were going to be doing. So they decided they would go and help out the brick laying crew lay brick. The first renovation crew had gotten to their site and found out they again had to put up stuff on the walls of the building. One of the four walls we were putting up aluminum on a wall. The other two walls we were putting up corn leaves on the wall that were dried up and flipped out. The last wall we had to put up chain-linked fence on the upper ¾ of the wall and on the other ¼ of the wall we put aluminum. We finished the house around 11:45 and ate lunch. After lunch we had to go back again and help the brick laying crew. Yes the same as day four not enough trowels for twenty-four people. So the renovation crews got to go home and relax while they finished it up.


March 28 2008
Today was our last day working (for our team) we went to breakfast at 6 and left the hotel around 7:30 to head out to our work sites. But before we could leave we had to load the bus for the entire luggage from everybody. We were only going to two sites today and it was pretty easy work. We just had to put tin up on the side of the house instead of brick or wood for both houses. We were done with both the houses by twelve. So we went out to lunch before we had a two hour bus ride to dinner with 16 people on a coach bus and a lot of luggage. After eating dinner it took us two and a half hours even though it was only thirty miles. That’s how busy the roads are here in Vietnam.


March 29 2008
Today was a really really easy day we had the day off. A lot of us went shopping and went to look around Saigon. We got up for breakfast at 6:30 and said goodbye to the distribution and medical team because they had to work today. Our bus didn’t leave till 8:30 to go see the markets and a lot of other things. And then our bus left for beach at 1:00 it was a two and a half hour bus ride. We got to the beach/hotel around 4:00 and checked in and got our room assignments. Most of the home and distribution team went swimming before they had to get ready for the bus that was leaving at 5:15 for dinner.

Notes from the Distribution Team

posted by Mimi, one of our fabulous teens on the team....

So we’re officially done with distribution of food today (3/29). The basic layout of the days we had were playing with the kids in the morning, with arts and crafts, soccer and some other games like duck duck goose, red-light green-light etc., and in the afternoon distribution of the food and bikes. At the beginning we had trouble explaining the games to the Vietnamese students, especially since many of our Vietnamese-English translators didn’t know the games either. But as the week went on, things became much easier. With the arts and crafts, both the American and Vietnamese kids loved drawing with crayons and stickers, and when they were finished, we collected the Vietnamese drawings to give back to students in the U.S., who’s drawings were put in the goody bags. The soccer games went great, and everyone understood, especially since most of the children from both groups already knew how to play. All together, during "animation" (i.e. recreation time), we played with 1900 different students, but didn’t give food and bikes to all of those kids. Bikes and foods were given to all the students in our scholarship program which was almost 275.

After a daily snack of Girl Scout cookies and a box lunch of chicken, spinach and rice, all of the American kids were assembled in different stations for the five different kinds of beans, peanuts, rice and noodles. The Vietnamese kids receiving the food would take a plastic bag, and the American kids would put the different bags of beans, rice and peanuts into their bag. Then, the Vietnamese children would put their bags onto their bikes, along with 10 kg’s of rice and a box of noodles, candy, a goody bag, and in some locations a hat. This was a great experience for everyone; for the American kids, to see how much enjoyment the Vietnamese kids get out of the food and candy. With the Vietnamese kids, they were very excited to get all the food, and especially the bikes. The most kids we gave food and bikes to in one location was 100 in Saigon, but in most places, the average was around 40.

Once the distribution was over, the whole group of 23 kids and 10 adults (including the 2 teenagers), and the tourist agency staff and translators would go back to the hotel and rest. If there was extra time after that, we would go to a park, where the kids would play soccer, blow up balloons, play Frisbee etc.

Overall, it was a good experience for everyone, and although it was a lot of work, everyone had a great time, and an experience that they would remember for a long time.

Day 6 - Last Day in Dong Thap - Bike Tour

Ho Chi Minh City Rush hour can kill you! Day six was another day of work for the three Catalyst teams with the exception of those who elected to make a 100 mile bike ride from Dong Thap to Ho Chi Minh City. Seven courages souls embarked on a 12 hour journey through the heat, traffic, and smog that is Vietnam.

There were seven riders and six bikes. A van followed with food, medical care, and most importantly, WATER! The convoy left Dong Thap at 5:20 am and made its way through to the country side. The bikers carried several bottles of water each and by noon, more than 100 bottles had already been consumed by the bikers! Catherine, was the team nurse and had made sure all were well hydrated!

As the team approached Ho Chi Minh City and the heat index surged past 100 F the traffic started to build. Soon, it was obvious, things had gone to a level not expected. With wall to wall scooters, the bike team was finding it increasingly difficult to find each other in the crowd. But, more pressing, was the lead bike was now taken over by Tuon. He is from Ho Chi Minh. He is accustom to the speed of life. The rest of us, where not. With sudden direction changes, our team followed Tuon by cutting accross lanes of traffic 25 scooters deep. When you turn you just pray the people who need to stop.. STOP!! After 16 miles of the team finally reached the Catalyst office to meet the van. WE MADE IT! The biking team decided the experience could only be compared to nude skydiving! What an experience~

Day 5 - Second Day in Dong Thap

We're not sure what day it is anymore - we're all tired and have lots of dirty laundry. But our hearts are full and definitely our cameras full of pictures of these great people of Dong Thap. The distribution team went on to the village of My Hiep today and went to a high school to play soccer, do drawings and play duck, duck goose again. It all sounds so simple but after just a few minutes we're all running around having fun. The medical team saw over 300 people, we truly have amazing translators and they are really doing an awesome job. And our home team worked hard again on 1 new house and 1 renovation. They are getting quite good at their masonry skills!

I would highly recommend reading the other blogs from other aid expedition volunteers. They have a lot more detail from many different perspectives.

Day 4 - First Day in Dong Thap

The first thing people noticed about Dong Thap was that it was "not as poor". The big adventure of Dong Thap has been the Tuk-tuks. These are little motorcycle/trucks that the teams used to truck out to the work sites. It was a ride through skinny roads and paths past rice fields, duck farms, and Vietnamese country living. The home team split into three and one group got to use their carpentry skills and completely finish a house! The other group continued their finely honed bricklaying and latrine-digging talents. The children at the home sites enjoyed practicing their English on us and helping us with the bricks.

One of the great treats when working on a house is looking up to see a girl ride by on her brand new Catalyst bicycle. She's always sitting up tall and proud! We all yell--"Catalyst bike!" so everyone working will stop and take a look! As far as the distribution team goes--our kids had a great time riding the tuk-tuks and have become a well oiled machine when distributing bikes, rice, sugar, noodles, and beans.

The medical team continues to methodically labor away--they're studs! Their big excitement was when a group of nearby homebuilders fell through the roof of the home they were building. Caroline just about had a heart attack when she heard--thought it was our group. But it wasn't us--and the medical team triaged the guys, stitched them up and sent them on their way. Mission accomplished!

The evening of Day 4 ended with an official dinner. Lots of courses-- curried rabbit, lotus seeds, lotus flower salad with beef, clam soup, fresh mango and grapefruit. Bruce Whittaker was the toast of the evening. He sat at the official table with the local government officials where there was much toasting and congratulating and
celebrating. We had to carry him back to the bus--(just kidding :) ).

Day 3 - Finish in Kien Giang

We spent most of day 3 much like day 2 - besides being hot - we continued our medical and home building. The distribution team and "catalyst kids" had the day off and spent it going to the beach in Ha Tien.

Our medical team was little overwhelmed upon arrival - we had open up the last day in Kien Giang to any community members that wanted to come, by 8:00 we had over 300 lined up. This would have probably been fine but they were very eager to be seen and got quite pushy and anxious about being missed. After raising our voices a few times we had to finally just lock the doors at 10:00 and finish seeing as many patients as we could by noon. We saw 275 people total, and then packed up our things to start a new day in new province tomorrow.

Our home team did an amazing job with the two houses we had left -the cement foundation has been completed and columns poured. the brick walls were going up quickly and almost straight ..you can see in the pictures which one our team worked on and which one the locals did :). One of our teams got a little spoiled by a house with some Buddhist nuns - not only giving them a bathroom to use but sharing meals and promising to be pen pals :). The girls that will receive these houses were so excited and even showed off their new bikes that they received the day before!

Our team packed up and left Kien Giang for a 4 hour drive to Dong Thap Province. the road was quite bumpy and we crossed the Mekong River on a ferry boat. We got in a little to late for most - since we had to be up just as early for a 7 a.m. start the next day!

Day 2 - Full day in Kien Giang

If any of you saw our schedule the first thought has always been, "Are you crazy?!" For us that are here and "living" the schedule, I can guarantee you that we're still thinking that! The team has to be up by 5 a.m., on the bus to go to breakfast by 6:15 a.m. and at the work site by 7:30 a.m. But motivation is high (as long as we provide the proper amount of cafe sua den (black coffee with sweetened condensed milk!). So here's another recap of our very long hard working day - and it was 38'C today - that's about 100'F....no rain relief, 200% humidity!

1. Medical team saw about 275 people today - all living at the garbage dump in Rach Gia. As you can imagine they have many health problems that include parasites, skin infections, and we've found a lot of cases of "female" problems. Each patient checks in at registration - our Catalyst staff has already informed these people to come so they were on our list. After check in they go to stations - height, weight, eyes, dental. Our dentist has been very surprised to see that the adults have had a lot of dental work already - crowns & fillings. The children need a lot but mostly extractions - which we are not allowed to do in Kien Giang because they are afraid of infection and pain for the children after we leave. After their stations they then go on to the next room filled with nurses and doctors. We have a questionaire that not only gives us some basic health information but we are also trying to collect data to write (and win) some grants for safe water - obviously not possible if you live in a garbage dump. Our patients have walked up to 2 hours today today in the hot sun to come see our medical team so we are tyring to give them all the attention that they deserve.

2. Distribution Team - The 24 "Catalyst Kids" are on this great team along with 8 adults and 2 amazing teens. The morning was spent with about 100 kids from the garbage dump that came to the school/library to play. We had group activities organized so that all of the kids could play together. There was a big twister game, an even larger soccer game and a big drawing/art area. Our goal was to just have fun. We tried to get all the kids to wash their hands (with soap which they had probably never used before!) and then each child got a Polaroid picture! We shared some watermelon and grapefruit then the Catalyst Kids gave each child some beanie babies....the kids couldn't get enough and were trying to stuff them down their pants and shirt so that they could get another one! This would be cute for a kid but their parents were trying to get in on it too.

After a 2 hour break and some down time the Distribution team came back to distribute 5 kg of beans (much needed protein), sugar, 10 kg of rice....and a BIKE! The children came in dressed in their best clothes, hair combed neatly back and standing tall as if they knew that these gifts would be the gift of a lifetime. Our Catalyst Kids had the honor of giving each of the 75 children what they needed and tehn the bigger "kids" on the team had to help them move it. It's quite heavy when you're so little. Of course we got some great pictures and we were all so happy that even if the bike was too big the kids really appreciated it. Every child in our scholarship program and going to our school got a bike!


3. Home Constrcution team has renamed themselves the "weight reduction team"...their jobs are the most labor intensive in the worst conditions. Our initial goal was to FINISH the construction of two new houses. The revised goal was that we would give it a really great start. The first house is about 6 feet wide by 11 feet long with the back 3 feet over the river. They have prepared the ground to lay a cement foundation, prepared the columns and started the brick walls. They are working side by side with the local contractors as well as the new homeowners including the 8 year old girl who was raped a couple of years ago by a neighbor boy. Getting there is 1/2 the battle for our volunteers as well as our supplies! The "alleys" are no wider than shoulder width and the bridges are tiny.

At our second home it's about twice the size and it will be for a single mom with five kids - one who was raped when she was 9 years old. This cheerful mom has been working alongside our volunteers carrying bricks, sand and whatever else it takes to be a part of the team. Here also the team has prepared the ground for the foundation, and will be working on the brick walls. They have a very busy day tomorrow to see how much they can all get done by 2:00.

Our team is really great - but what's even greater is the disposition of the people we are here to serve, they always have a smile and are so grateful. Poverty and this extreme is heartbreaking and sometimes infuriating - but the little steps we are doing - sending the child to a real school, providing rice for a couple of months, giving them shelter from all the elements - is life changing. The Aid Expedition is an extension of our work - things we could never afford to do otherwise.

Remember to check out the pictures we're posting hundreds of them today....

Pictures

Pictures from our journey will be posted here. Check back often as we will post a lot everyday.

Day 1 - We're Here!

The entire team is together for the first time today - some a little more jet lagged than others. We got off our bus and straight into work. First we sorted the 2 truck loads of donations - amazing generosity from so many people! We had so much medicine and supplies, toys and over 500 "fun bags" (bags of toys, clothes, drawing from U.S. school children, toothbrush, toothpaste, stickers) and a ton of activities for camp. Thank you so much for everyone that sent stuff and collected them for our volunteers!

After a big lunch we went into our respective teams - medical, home and distribution and worked extremely hard until dinner. Medical team saw 100 children from the garbage dump that had a variety of treatable ailments. Home team started the construction on two new homes for girls that had been raped (ages 9 & 12). And distribution team sorted and prepared for tomorrow's event.

The team is doing awesome and we are so proud and honored to have them here with us. We'll post a bunch of pictures soon because the pictures will tell it all!

Teams

Around the country there is a buzz....from the volunteers going on the Aid Expedition! Some of us are busy trying to pack the never ending list of things we need (such as plastic zip lock bags & deet) to the enormous amounts of donations we've received. Since the airlines are much stricter now with weight limits we're all being very organized. Some of us are continuing to fundraise (yeah!)

On this trip we have three teams - with three goals in each of the three provinces:

1. Medical - to see about 500 people per day - 2000 people total - giving them basic primary care. There will be 7 nurses, 3 doctors, 1 dentist, 1 pharmacist and a whole bunch of "crowd control" people. We hope to ask questions and treat immediate pain teach oral/basic hygiene and establish a "starting point" for a safe water program.

2. Home Building - some the girls in our scholarship program live in the garbage dump with just some plastic and four poles, others live in shanties that are propped up by neighbors trees, while others live in homes that are so run down, the street may be a better option. Our goal is to build 6 new houses in 4 days in 3 different villages. We
have some experts on the team, and the rest of us is just going to have to be shown the ropes. Our biggest challenge is not having access to more "modern" tools and of course not enough time.

3. Food & Bike Distribution - the 25 some children on our team will be organizing and distributing bags of food to 500 families during the week. We have bought enough rice, salt, sugar, beans, to sort in each province and then have an "organized" distribution of it for the families of the children in our program - it's enough food to feed them for 2 months! We're also raising enough money to distribute 250 new bikes to the students in the program as well as those that have applied for our scholarships but are not in program. These children live far from school and are usually the main caregivers in their family at the average age of 10. New bikes will be of immense help! Our young ambassadors will also be visiting local schools to exchange drawings and gift school supplies.

We're all getting excited - even if there's talk about fried mice, bed bugs and dengue fever!

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An international team of 90 volunteers from diverse backgrounds, talents and skills to provide medical, educational, vocational and emotional support to a large group of disadvantaged children in Southern Vietnam (Kien Giang & Dong Thap Province and Saigon).

Four years ago Catalyst Foundation became concerned with the alarming increase of young girls that are enslaved in sex houses because their parents "sold" them to a trafficker that promised to find them "good jobs” and families living in extreme misery that girls will often leave their homes to prostitute so that she can earn less than $1 a day to feed them. Caroline Ticarro-Parker, Co-Founder & Executive Director of Catalyst Foundation, says, “Our greatest fear is that there is an entire generation of children, and specifically girls in rural villages of Vietnam that will grow up without any chance - without any hope - without any safe choices - without an education.”

Dong Thap is located in the Mekong Delta, bordered on the north by Cambodia, located about 100 miles south west of Saigon. Due to the common 33 mile border with Cambodia, people cross the border easily (and illegally), a fact that is hard to control. There are over 40,000 families in Dong Thap Province, mostly hired laborers living in extreme poverty (less than $370 in annual income). The poor families support some 80,000 children of which 11,000 are poorly fed, nearly 2500 have to work to feed themselves or live off the streets. Children from these poor families do not have sufficient means to go to school, and if they do, may drop out at any time to earn income for their family. Of the number of illiterate children in the villages we work in, nearly 60% of them are girls. They are potential victims of child trafficking.

Catalyst learned about the garbage dump village of Kien Giang just over a year ago from a Vietnamese official. Families have lived in the squalor of the dump for four generations. Residents of the dump, which is about the size of three football fields, build make-shift homes from materials they find in the dump and dig for their daily food and clothing buried in the spoiling refuse. The Vietnamese government doesn’t consider these families citizens, because they lack birth certificates or other paperwork. No paperwork means no school for the children. They work among the garbage, gathering recyclables, which they sell for less than 15 cents a day. They pay rent to be allowed to live in the dump. And their cycle of poverty and illiteracy continues from one generation to the next. But that’s not the worst thing. They learned that girls as young as 4 or 5 living in the dump are often kidnapped or purchased by traffickers in the sex trade. “These girls in Kien Giang are especially at risk because Kien Giang is so close to Cambodia,” Caroline explains.

90 U.S. volunteers - ages 7 to 70 - will travel to Vietnam this March and working to improve the living situations for these children, as well as promoting education and good health. The team will be repairing homes, distributing a month’s worth of rice to the 200 of the poorest families in each location, giving 250 new bikes to the children living farthest away from school, providing free medical exams to 2000 people, and visiting 4 primary schools to give gifts from children in the U.S. The week will end by bringing 250 children to Vung Tau see the ocean for the first time for a few days of simple playtime. Each child will receive two outfits, sandals, and basic toiletries. Three nourishing meals a day will be served, room and boarding will be made available for every child. Over 40 additional Vietnamese social workers, volunteers and staff will be with the children at camp.

At camp the 8th Annual "My Vietnam" Art Contest will be celebrated. The kids have always amazed us each year with their creativity and we can't wait to see the new entries! The winners are provided with scholarships so that they can attend and finish school. Most of these children have never known the feeling of a full stomach or believed that anyone would travel across the world just to spend time with them. It’s a heartwarming two weeks where friendships - and memories - are made.

The Catalyst Foundation Vietnam Aid Expedition is a coordinated way to positively impact a large amount of children in a short period of time. Caroline sums up the trip quite simply, “Our goal is to give each child a few days of deserving playful memories that will show them that they are loved and not forgotten by society”.

For more information about Catalyst Foundation visit the website at www.catalystfoundation.org.

Meet Our Amazing Team

Here's a quick look at our team (in no particular order) the biggest ever at 90 people - WOW!

The breakdown:
25 kids (youngest is 7 - oldest is 16)
4 college students
24 alumni (including kids)
8 fluent in Vietnamese
1 canadian


Caroline, Scott, Natalie & Cassidie and Anthony - MN
That's me and my family. Natalie and Cassidie will be 10 years old for their 5th Aid Expedition. On this trip we're excited to bring our godson, Anthony who is 16.

Dana - MN
He's one of the very first supporter of Catalyst - and known us since college days! We're so excited he'll be coming to Vietnam for the first time with us!

Audrey & David and daughter Thuy - NJ
Their first AE, but veterans of the Vietnam Culture Camp on the East Coast. Thuy will be 9 years old soon.

Gina - CT
Mom to two great daughters from Vietnam and already fundraising!

David - CA
College student at DeAnza College going to vietnam for the first time!

Sandy & Patty and their kids Noah & Jesse - CT
Noah & Jesse were born in Vietnam and will be ages 9 & 8 for their first trip back with their parents.

Dorothy & David and their children Liam & Maia (ages 9 & 7) - PA
The family have attended Vietnam Culture Camp (and Cambodia Culture Camp for Maia). Liam was born in Kien Giang where we'll start our Aid Expedition.

Jack & nephew Alex - CA
Jack is a professional Aid Expedition member! This will be his 4th one! Alex is brave enough to travel with him and will be almost 14 for the trip.

Dave & Kathy and daugther Clare (age 10) - MN
This adventurous family are also alumnus to the AE - this will be their 3rd one and we're always glad to have them!

Aileen & Blake and sons Josh & Tri (ages 9) - TX
Aileen went on AE 2004 and sang her entire way through Vietnam. Now we expect her boys to teach us new songs!

Brian, Maria and son Robert - MN
Robert just turned 10 and this will be his first trip back to Vietnam since he was adopted!

Amy - PA
Amy is a practicing attorney and will be going on this volunteer vacation without her husband and 3 children!

Mike & Jo and daughters Miriam & Naomi - NY
Mike & Jo have been taking Vietnamese lessons for some time now so maybe they can help all of you newbies! Miriam will be 14 and Naomi 10 when they travel. This will be Mike & Miriam's first trip to Vietnam ever and Jo & Naomi's first time back sine Naomi was adopted.

Henry - NY
An avid international traveler but this will be his first visit to Vietnam.

Judy & Kai (age 9) - MN
Judy is our trusted dentist and this is her 3rd AE, and Kai's 2nd one! We're happy to have them back with us!

Kate & Matt - MN
Kate first came to AE when she was just a "teenager" - now we're thrilled to have her back with her friend Matt.

Laura & Harriet and their son David - MN
David is 9 years old and excited to return to Vietnam with his parents - it's everyone's first aid expedition!

Don - MN
Don's volunteered for us in Vietnam for a month last year and then an additional week on the August aid expedition.

Pete - NC
Talked into this crazy trip by the crazy family in Texas we're very excited to have a professional carpenter on our team!

Anna - MN
Anna is a long time Catalyst volunteer and just went to Vietnam on a much smaller Aid Expedition in August 2007 - she had to come back for more! (or just enjoys missing some more time away from her pharmaceutical studies).

Sue, her sister Delores & niece, Cynthia (age 13) - CA
This is Sue's 3rd Aid Expedition - and she's not tired of me yet :)! This trip she's bringing her sister and niece to join the fun!

Barb - ME
Barb will be joining her daughter (Dr. Jenn) and give us all the inside info during her first Expedition with us.

Krysty and son Benjamin - IA
Krystine went on the 2006 expedition and now bringing her 16 year old son to help carry all the medical and orphanage donations :).

Huong - MD
Huong is a traveling nurse and one of the fluent Vietnamese speaker on the team. We'll make sure we sign her up for some karaoke!

Jennifer - ME
This will be Dr. Jenn's 2nd AE and she joined Scott on the 2006 bike ride from HCMC to Dong Thap.

Catherine & Emily (age 9 ) - NJ
I always assume that Catherine will join us - this will be her fourth AE and Em's 2nd time.

Stacy & daughter Alicia - CT
Alicia is a college student at Southern Conneticut State. They're good friends of Gina Bonfietti and she talked them into this adventure!

Mary & Charlene and their children Sophie, Samuel (ages 9) and Noah (age 7) - MN
All three children are adopted from Vietnam and excited to go back with their parents!

Sue & daughter Brianna - WI
Brianna is 9 years old and also from Kien Giang. This will be their first time back since she was adopted.

Charlene - CA
Charlene grew up in Vietnam and now living in the Bay Area. We're excited to have her join the expedition!

Deb & daughter Lan - NE
Lan will be 11 years old when she travels back to Vietnam with her mom since her adoption.

Brenda & son Zachary (age 8) - PA
Brenda & her family have been to many Culture Camps. It will be great to have them see Vietnam again!

Leslie & daughter Leah (age 10) - OH
This will be their second Aid Expedition and whirlwind shopping trip!

Elizabeth - ME
Liz works with Dr. Jenn and couldn't pass up this opportunity to help us! This will be her first trip to Vietnam.

Kathy - PA
Kathy and her husband have adopted 3 children from Vietnam. But they all stay home when she travels with us!

Chris - NJ
Chris has traveled the world - and now Vietnam for the first time!

Christine - MA
This will be Christine's 2nd Aid Expedition and we didn't scare her off - yet!

Carolyn - Canada
Carolyn emigrated to Canada when she was 10 years old, she continues to be fluent in the language and only back once before.

Michael - CA
Michael is fluent in Vietnamese joined us on the August Aid Expedition and made sure that we worked efficiently (and quickly!)

Kayla - SC
Kayla is a hard working nurse who found us by chance. We're lucky to have her join us!

Bruce - NJ
Bruce and his family have attended all of our Vietnam Culture Camps on the East Coast. His daughter has already raised over $1000 for bikes for the kids in Vietnam.

Sue - OH
Sue's twin boys are from Kien Giang. She's been waiting to go on expedition since she read our blog in 2006!

Kathleen - CA
Kathleen has been waiting for the "perfect time" to join us and we're excited tha it's right now!

Martha and daughter Maya - CT
Maya is 9 years old and excited to join the expedition with other good friends from CT!