Blog Archives

News: Happy Easter

3/25/2016

Savoring the freshness of life and the buds of spring, discover what's blooming this season at TFISH.

Happy Easter!

As we celebrate this spring holiday associated with new life, we're excited to share about these new projects with you.

New Bridge in Vietnam Completed: Safer passage transforms community life for villagers.
New Brick Homes in Progress: Architectural model improves for more durable and cooler houses. Get a transparent look at construction underway.
New Journey into Burma: Follow a TFish volunteer during his field visit for the Backpack Medic project.
New Volunteer Opportunity: Join our LRS staff in Gansu for a week-long summer camp, serving our children after surgery.

Mid-Year Grant Report: Taiwan Labor Concern

3/24/2016

Caring for Migrant Workers

Throughout the island of Taiwan, there are 5 detention centers with approximately 200 migrant workers housed in each one. Many of the workers are victims of exploitation and various kinds of abuse by brokerage agencies and employers. As a result, they willfully leave contracted jobs and find work elsewhere. Sooner or later, they get caught and are transferred to detention centers. They stay there for about 4 months while waiting for their legal documents to be recovered, and then they return to their home countries.

The Christian and Missionary Alliance goes into the detention centers to evangelize, counsel, and care for the migrant workers' basic needs. As the laborers stay at the shelter and wait for offers on new jobs, they have no source of income. The grant we have given to the Taiwan Labor Concern program enables the migrant workers to have sandals, soap bars, toothbrushes, toothpaste, towels, coffee, tea, snacks, weekly meals, telephone cards, and ferry and subway tickets. As care is shown to them in practical ways, these hurting workers have responded in attending weekly activities and church meetings.

Capacity Building Through Networks

3/24/2016

"Tapping into existing networks of nonprofits allows organizations to continuously build capacity and grow steadily stronger."

In the Stanford Social Innovation Review, Jennifer Chandler & Kristen Scott Kennedy discuss the effectiveness of “Building Capacity Through Networks.” They conclude that “nonprofits that are part of a network can leverage resources and knowledge to build capacity more effectively than nonprofits that ‘go it alone.’” This concept is foundational to how we strategically develop our capacity building network for nonprofits.

Sahaya College Student Thank You Letters

3/24/2016

We've helped college students in Vietnam get the education they need to succeed in life and fulfill their dreams. During the New Year holiday, they took the opportunity to express their gratitude for our support. Here's what they're saying:

"I would like to sincerely thank the great benefactors who have helped me to continually build my dream. Those of us who have received your help are very happy and feel deeply grateful to all of you. I promise to study well and to be a helpful person for my family and society to repay your kindness."
Đoàn Thi Thanh Hiền, 2nd year Accounting student
"We always wish for our dreams to come true and to be helpful people for our families and our society. Great benefactors are the kind ones that help us get closer to our dreams. We love you so much and feel deeply grateful to you."
Phan Thu Thủy, final year Business Administration student
"On behalf of my friends and the children who have received your kind help, I express our best wishes to you. We wish you a peaceful, happy, and joyful Tet Nguyen Dan (Chinese New Year) 2016. Wishing all of you success in work and daily life always."
Nguyen Thi Kim Phuong, 1st year Business Administration student
"On behalf of my friends and the children in Vietnam who have received your kind help, we wish all of you and your family a New Year of security and good health, prosperity, joy, happiness, success in your life, and in cultivating your path.
Nguyen Le Ngoc Dieu, 1st year Nursing student

Grant Report 2016: Kachin Medic Teams in Burma

3/22/2016

Since 1998, Burma Humanitarian Mission has supported the ethnic minorities of Burma with Backpack medics. In the past few years, BHM’s support has grown to 14 teams – ranging from eastern through northern Burma.

In 2015, BHM provided over 1.1 million doses of medicine and supported a population of 32,000 people. With the Burma army’s violation of the ceasefire with the Kachin people in 2011, BHM increased its support with 4 new teams for the Kachin and Palaung people.

The following reports came straight from the field. The medics from 2 of those teams shared their stories and photos from 2015.

Yunnan Leprosy Village: Solar-Powered Shower Room

3/17/2016

Lepers in Shuigou Village

Shuigou village is 170 kilometers away from Kunming and home to about 30 lepers. The village is in an area with higher elevation. The weather is cooler, and winters are longer. There is a large temperature difference between morning and afternoon.

The eldest leper is over 70 and the youngest is over 50. Drinking water used to be a problem, but now the village has running water, so that situation has greatly improved. However, there still isn’t water to take a shower. When one of the lepers Lao Wang went to Yangquangou village and saw the solar-powered shower room that TFish helped build there in 2014, the Shuigou villagers applied to for their own solar-powered shower room. After assessments, TFish approved their application and decided to build a solar shower room for them. Thanks to a generous donor, the $2,650 USD needed to fund the shower room was provided.

Volunteers Needed: LRS Summer Camp 2016 in Gansu

3/16/2016

Do you have a heart to serve underprivileged Chinese children? We're looking for 2 volunteers to help with our LRS Summer Camp 2016 in Gansu.

Volunteers will:

Teach music (the recorder), English, and arts and crafts
Serve the 20 post-surgery children whom we invite to attend the camp
Need to speak and write fluently in Chinese
Fundraise around $2,000 for the trip

Field Report Q1 2016: Gansu Microloans in Lucha Village Follow Up

3/16/2016

A pilot project in partnership with Qinyuan in Gansu

Field Visit Dates: January 13–15, 2016
Location: Caizi community in Lucha village, which is in Huining County of Gansu Province
Representatives and Report Authors: TFish Staff Chang Aiju, Guan Yin, and Wang Li
Follow-Up Visit Objectives:

To carry out the half-year project evaluation of the Microloans for Women.
To study the implementation of the three projects (i.e. home lavatories, women's health, and the village cooperatives) sponsored by the NGOs Qinyuan and OXFAM.

Project Milestones:

November 2014— field assessment by TFish staff Yunyun and Guan Yin
March 2015—co-sponsorship agreement by TFish and Qinyuan
May 2015—microloans disbursement by Qinyuan
June 2015—one-month evaluations by TFish staff Chang Aiju and Guan Yin
January 2016—half-year evaluations by TFish staff

A local woman makes shoes for her family members.

Microloans for Women

The Microloans for Women was a pilot project launched on May 12, 2015, when twenty families were selected for loans of 2000 yuan (about $320 USD) each. Their investments were in livestock of their own choice. The project is co-sponsored by Transparent Fish Fund and Qinyuan Rural Development in Gansu. TFish contributes the loan capital, while Qinyuan manages the local affairs.

Longwan Home: Night of Village Stories

3/15/2016

Longwan Caring Home is located in Dahua County, which was listed as one of the poorest counties in Guangxi Province. Longwan Caring Home is a big family consisting of orphans, single parents, and abandoned children. The normal expense of the Home is sustained by plantation, breeding, and small business.

We have been carrying out reading activity long ago. Picture books have been included in daily curriculum of preschool. The children could also read books during daytime. Apart from half hour reading time before bed time, we arranged video time on each Friday and morning outside reading on Saturday. We also have themed performance and night of village stories. We want to enrich the extra-curriculum time of the children living in Longwan.

Bedtime story became routine. We use half hour to read picture books to the children which would brought them to a sweet dream.

Our children live in Longwan 24 hours a day, which is a good opportunity for us to carry out night of village stories. The children in primary school also love picture books. Some elder children learned to read stories to the younger ones. Lan Yunfeng and Lu Sansan are the youngest children in Longwan. They had been attracted deeply by the pictures of the book. Teacher Peach had been trained to read books. Teach Peach could also read stories vividly. The children love her.

Teacher Peach shared stories in pictures books with the teachers from other kindergartens. She suggested they could use the stories to the daily life of the children. The teacher of Longwan repeated the same things day by day. Now the children could plan and organize their own performances.

Original article written by Ban Aihua, translated by Maggie Li, edited by Yanyan Zhang

Nayong Loving: Lunch Check

3/15/2016

mpassion Nayong Public Welfare is based on Nayong, a poverty-stricken area in Guizhou Province. Taking the network as the platform, it carries out various public welfare activities to aid education.

September 30, 2015 Visiting person: Huasheng

There are 92 students of preschool in Mage Primary School of Yangchang township. 5 children did not come to school. 2 of them were sick and 3 did not know why on the day I visit. They ate rice, fried chicken, fried potatoes and bean soup for lunch. The students can eat full. They had not eaten spoiled food. They took back their bowls after they had used. They did not wash their hands before lunch. They like the lunch at school. The workers in kitchen had health certificates. Materials and tools are meet the requirements of snatiation standards.

Original article written by Husheng, translated by Maggie Li and edited by Yanyan Zhang