Author Archives: Heifer Vietnam

An Amazing Woman

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Following the small concrete path, we were surprisedat a lively painted thatched house peacefully surrounded by green paddyfield, pig pen, henhouse and garden of flowers. Mrs. Nguyen Thi Lien, the houseowner, welcomed us with her warm smile. Aged 41, Lien is one of 20 self-helpgroup members of the project “Improving the disadvantageous farm households’ capacity in Tra Vinh Province through VBHCD.” She was married to Mr. Nguyen Van Nhut, aged 39. They have oneson named Nguyen Minh Du who is in grade 9. After marriage, the couple wasgiven a 2,000 square meter paddy field from their parents. Working hard on rice farmingand selling their labor in their spare time for several years, the couple afforded an additional 10,000 square meter paddy field by their savings.


Receiving one heifer, therevolving fund and trainings from Heifer Vietnam, Lien was enlightened. She learned how to takecare of her family in a better way and successfully applied modern production techniques. Raising a large swine heard, she built a concrete pig pen and set up awater system to bathe the pigs for more convenience. She also created a recordbook to keep track of every pig’s health. She learned how to make nutritioncake and to store straw for the cow. Furthermore, she grows grass and green vegetables around thehouse for a stable food source for the animals in order for low expense andanimal food security. In addition, she finds that making an action plan plays akey role in the goal of ending poverty. Thanks to applying new techniques inanimal production, her pigs are very healthy and make a good profit for herfamily despite the plague in her neighborhood.


Through the 12 Cornerstonestraining, her family learned many useful things such as improved nutrition offamily meals, sharing and caring among members in the family, children’seducation focus, and full participation in every group activity. With theactiveness and enthusiasm in group activities, she was voted as the leader ofher self-help group. by leading her family with the guide of the 12 Cornerstones,her family is full of warmth, caring and happiness. The family business hasmade a good progress thanks to a well-organized production plan. The relationshipbetween her family and neighbors is stronger by the spirit of caring and sharingwhich is demonstrated by a practical action of sharing some fish after everycatch she has.


Since taking part in the project, there have been some goodchanges in her family. She spends the increasing income on family expenses like meals, daily consumption and her son’s education. She also invests on newcrops and keeps the saving for house repairs. The family atmosphere is cozy. Thecouple discusses and supports each other in farming, house chores and business,while the son helps his parents tend the cow and collect grassand vegetables for the pigs. Nhut supports and motivates Lien to join groupactivities. As a result, she has gained self-confidence and activeness tospeak out in front of the crowd and raise her own ideas of every issue. “Iwould like to express my sincere gratitude to the donors for giving us bothphysical and spiritual strength in order for us to achieve a better life today.Heifer has helped improve our source of income and enabled us to make plans forour goals, to envision for our future, and more importantly, I am a person ofself-confidence and hopefulness.” said Lien.

Editor’s note: This post is part of a series that follows the progress of specific families, starting at the beginning of their work with Heifer. Initially, this series will focus on our programs in Asia/South Pacific, where our colleagues have chosen one family in each region in the countries where we work and will bring us quarterly updates.

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In Vietnam, There’s Strong Belief For a Bright Future

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In December 2011, we paid a visit toa family in Heifer project in Binh Thanh village, Thanh Phu district, Ben Treprovince. In front of the clean leaf-thatched house, the wife, Nguyen Thi Diem,warmly welcomed us. Her husband, Tran Van Tuan, was recycling the pond for newshrimp. The couple has three children; two daughters and one son. Theschool-aged eldest daughter dropped out of school and worked in another city tosupport the family. The middle is in grade 6 and the youngest son is at nurseryschool.


Tran told us about the hardshipthat his family endured several years ago. They started the family life withempty hands because their parents were too poor to support them. The couple hadto stay on the land borrowed from a neighbor. After five years working as hiredlaborers, their savings was enough for them to buy a 5,000 square meter paddy field. Itwas not easy for five people living on the income from such a small piece of cultivated land. The couple continued working as hired laborers. Tran also wentfishing and worked as a mason for extra income.

In 2010, the couple joined Heiferproject. The project supported them with a heifer, 1,000 post larvae shrimp and thefunding for a cowshed and income-generating activities. Diem used therevolving fund for duck and chicken production that benefited them with income andeggs for their daily meals. Every day, the husband keeps fishing and working asa mason. He wants to be a skillful mason so that he could build a house by hisown for his family.

Tran attended many technical trainings held by Heifer inwhich he learned how to tend the cow and raise shrimp. “Now I know how to feedthe cow and take care of the cow in breeding season. I also know some symptomsof the heat period and cow’s diseases. My cow is in a good state of heath. She isgoing to give birth next month. The post larvae are growing well. I hope we will gain high profit,” Tran says.

His wife was also eager to join othertrainings of Heifer such as Cornerstones, gender equity, environmentprotection and climate change. “After attending the training onenvironment protection, we decided to build a toilet to keep the surroundingenvironment clean,” Nguyen says. She happily shared with us about the changes of her family afterjoining the project. “My husband is friendlier and more opened to other people.At home, he also helps me with housework. The children also help us cut grass to feed the cow and do some house chores. We are very happy whensharing everything together.”

The couple proudly showed us the meritcertificate of good study records of the middle daughter. In the spirit of sharingand caring, the couple is willing to help other people when needed. They evengave up their round to other fellow group members who need the loan most fromthe group savings fund.


The couple hopes that their animalproduction could give them high profit so that they could realize their dreamof a concrete house and support their children to school. Tran sincerelyexpressed his gratefulness to Heifer for helping his family, “Thanks Heifer somuch for giving us a chance to get rid of poverty. I believe that with Heifer’ssupport, my family will have a big and valuable asset after passing on. Accordingly,I hope that Heifer will thrive and continue to assist more needy farmers whohave the same background like my family.”


Editor’s note: This post is part of a new series that follows the progress of specific families, starting at the beginning of their work with Heifer. Initially, this series will focus on our programs in Asia/South Pacific, where our colleagues have chosen one family in each region in the countries where we work and will bring us quarterly updates.

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