One Week Until We Leave!!!

During our first trip to Vietnam with The Catalyst Foundation we had 3 teams which built and rehabbed houses, provided medical and dental exams and distributed food and bicycles to local families.
This year we again will have 3 teams, but they will be the housing and medical teams along with a 3rd group which will have all of the children working on painting the school and creating a market. The local community will be given vouchers and then they will be able to "shop" in the market for items that The Catalyst Foundation has either purchased or receivedas donations.

I haven't heard the specific details on the housing team's goals, but this year I'll be on the medical team and we are expecting to see close to 2,000 people from the local area to provide dental exams, fluoride treatments for the children, vision and hearing tests as needed, and some Hepatitis vaccines.

I've seen first hand how the funds and supplies are used in Vietnam, and I cannot speak highly enough about The Catalyst Foundation and Caroline Nguyen Ticarro-Parker, the founder.

The Catalyst Foundation works with Razoo, a fund raising facility. From time to time throughout the year we are notified of special fund raisers that have some sort of additional incentive. This time it's March Madness!

Razoo has named The Catalyst Foundation as one of its 30 most "unique" donors. From now until March 30th, we are competing for the most donors who donate a minimum of $10.00. If Catalyst Foundation wins our "region" we advance to the "Final Four" and compete for $10,000! Basketball is fun, but this is a good cause!

Please consider making a donation to what I know to be a worthy cause. Kien Giang, the province we will again be visiting, is where Brianna was born!

The site for donations is
http://www.razoo.com/story/Mg2010-Midwest-Catalyst-Foundation

When you go to the site, click on Donate, enter your donation amount, check the box to Add a Designation and type "Oelke AE2010" in the box. Our account will be credited for the fund raiser!
In 2008 we raised over $53,000 raised and priceless in-kind donations!
*250 bikes were given out - 1 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.)
*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 - -
*in Kien Giang - we treated 539 people, 47% were treated for parasites, 100% of the patients work and live in the garbage dump
*in Tan Hoi Trung we treated 277 people (192 under age 18, 2 needed follow up)
*in My Hiep we treated 313 people (203 under age 18, 5 needed follow up)
*in Sa Dec we treated 231 people and 7 kids at our orphanage...
A grand total of 1367 patients in 6 days!
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

I am exhausted just reading about what we did, but I can't wait to do it all again!

Please help us make it to the next round in the fund raising competition! If you know of anybody else who may be interested in donating, please give them this info! Every little bit helps!

And don't forget to check out the blog from time to time during our trip!