PROJECTS
"IF YOU DON'T LIKE THE NEWS, GO OUT AND MAKE SOME OF YOUR OWN"
You don´t like the news? Make your own news with 1to1 donations by A Kiss for Children e. V.
Education and foreign aid are at the core of our strategy. We invest in supporting the development of small, local shelters and in delivering reliable tools to those who need them most. Discover more about our projects below and get in touch to stay up to date regarding our latest efforts.
CLEAN WATER FOR THE GIRLS OF DAK TO, VIETNAM
Clean water is essential. It is a fundamental human need. Polluted water isn’t just dirty - it’s deadly. About 1.8 million people die every year of diarrheal diseases like cholera. The United Nations considers universal access to clean water a basic human right, and an essential step towards improving living standards worldwide. Education suffers when sick children miss school.
In early 2018 A Kiss for Children e.V. collaborated with Priest Tuyen from DAK TO Shelter, KON TUM Province, Central Highlands, Vietnam. The small shelter, founded 2012 by the Vietnamese Priest Nguyen Huu Tuyen, is home of 30 girls of different Ethnic Minorities tribes. As the girls initially just spoke Sedang and Ro Ngao, ethnic languages of their tribes, they had to study Vietnamese at the local school - a big improvement. Their living conditions however remained very poor and unsafe, mainly to dirty water.
A Kiss for Children e. V. decided to fundraise to provide safe water for the girls of Dak To. A few weeks later were able to start drilling the well. Within a few more days a new water pump was installed. Having access to clean water has improved the girls life and education significantly.
SAVING THE SCHOOL @ LAI THIEU CENTRE, HCMC, VIETNAM
The Lai Thieu Center is one of the main projects of A Kiss for Children e.V.
We have been collaborating with this small institution & Sister Marie Huu for more than 12 years. The “Educational Centre Lai Thieu for Ethnic Minority Children” is a private
institution, located nearby Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Home of 170 children, it is run by nuns under the management of Sister Marie-Huu - a Vietnamese nun that has dedicated her life to the education of Ethnic Minorities.
What does "Ethnic Minorities" mean?
Mostly living along the border to Cambodia, Laos or China, those children legally don't belong to any country. Ethnic Minorities make up to 8% of the total population of Vietnam - that is around 9 million people. Without papers and any legal rights, these families have no access to public schools. The children normally arrive at the Center at the age of 6 to 16, without any reading or writing abilities. The impact of educating children - especially from traditional tribes - becomes obivous when thinking further: Children of Ethnic Minorities often get married at the age of 15 or 16. If the parents aren´t able to read or write, they will not be able to educate their children.
In 2017 an existential problem concerning the school building occurred. The school building was sinking due to unstable ground. Together with Sister Marie-Huu, a local architect and an engineer we were ablte to stabilize the ground and to save the school of the children of Lai Thieu.
A SCHOOL FOR THE CHILDREN OF KOK CHOR
In 2015 the first A Kiss for Children school was built in Kok Chor, a little village located about 60 km from Battambang, Cambodia. Before starting the construction, the whole site had to be de-mined as with every rainy season, new landmines come up to the surface.
Kok Chor is home of around 500 people, among them 192 school children. It is just one among many small remote villages in Cambodia – a country where rural poverty is a huge problem. Inhabitants in rural poverty are isolated, living in villages far from health services and roads and with limited access to education, health care & employment.
Aiming to provide education to the children, lessons were taking part outside. As this was only possible during dry season, the children went “to school” only 6 months a year. A Kiss for Children decided to make some big news here and built a school with 2 spacious classrooms.