HOW - Transparent Fish Fund

2024 Lao Friends Hospital for Children Update

In 2024, Lao Friends Hospital for Children (LFHC) has over 21,000 patient visits from January to June alone. The introduction of ANCEF for preoperative antibiotic prophylaxis and the expansion of renal care services through the nephrology clinic have further enhanced the care for growing patient population.

Dr. Robert Winokur

In March 2024, LFHC appointed Dr. Robert Winokur as its new Hospital Director. With over 30 years of pediatric emergency medicine experience and key positions on various boards, brings extensive leadership to this role.

Growing Essential Medical Care

LFCH has significantly improved renal care with the opening of a nephrology clinic, enhancing follow-up for over 60 children and advancing diagnostics with new medications like cyclophosphamide and cyclosporine for tailored treatments.

LFHC Training Center

Eleven third-year anesthesiology residents from the University of Health Sciences in Vientiane participated in the Regional
Anesthesia training on July 28th and 29th, 2024

Projects: EB Wound Care Treatment & Cow Pay It Forward

Mission: HOW is committed to providing hope, health and security to abused, abandoned and neglected people living in deprived areas of the world.

Results: To date 89 children have received wound care, supplies and nutritional support. 29 children have had hospital visits and home health care visits. 425 doctors and nurses have been trained in EB wound care. HOW has 4 cows, and 8 family’s who will be working as a team to utilize the training and continue to help others by paying it forward.

Region:
Vietnam

Leader:
Hillary Brown

Cause:
Medical

Description: EB (Epidermolysis Bullosa) is a rare genetic disease that causes the skin to be so fragile that even the slightest touch will separate and tear the layers of the skin. Often in Vietnam, these children are forced to fend for themselves, but HOW strives to meet these children's dire needs so that they could pursue less painful lives.

Our hope is to provide livestock (cows) to women of impoverished families, to help train these families to become “livestock farmers” and primarily to provide them with the tools they need to have a sustainable means of income. They in turn, will “pay it forward” and pass their training and some of their livestock’s offspring to the next family in need. In this way, the families have the opportunity to become self-sufficient and HOW will have the opportunity to introduce sustainable development to this area of Vietnam. All of our training is directed to the women of the household to deliver education and bring empowerment

Partner: HOW
Year Founded: 2007
TFish Member Since: 2012

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Donation Impact

EB Wound Care Box for Children

Duy Phuoc is a 3-year-old little boy with EB. Because of the painful sores on his body, he has never been able to wear clothes. Treatment involves protecting the skin, preventing infections, and mitigating pain. HOW packages wound care boxes in California and ships them directly to the children's home where on-the-ground staff teach the families how to properly treat this disease. It costs $200 to create a wound care box.
Goal: $200 can save a child's life

Cow for Poor Women

A cow typically costs $525 and can provide hope to a family to start a business and help the next family.

2015 Field Updates

We successfully established a great working relationship with The Quang Tri Women's Union in order to run this program. We successfully delivered 4 cows to 4 families, and we also hired 2 Heifer International Vietnam coaches (Heifer International Vietnam has worked on similar projects in Vietnam since 1987 with great success) to train 28 Women and educate them in caring for the cows, working as a team and building sustainable community. HOW was able to deliver a computer for further training and to assist in tracking this new program. Currently two of the cows are pregnant which makes us all very happy and the other two are healthy and ready for insemination. We are currently in process of building a working business plan to involve additional families in the community.

We have had so many ups and downs and all arounds but this is our new baby! Thanks to The Transparent Fish Fund, HOW was able to start our new sustaining program to get communities working together, to empower women, help victims of Agent Orange, victims of war and severely impoverished people who just need some direction and be given an opportunity to help themselves, boost their self-esteem, help their families and help others to do the same. Thanks to TFISH we were able to get started with research, training and to start with the first 3 cows. Thanks to TFF and their donors we were able to add an extra cow! We now have 4 cows, and 8 family’s who will be working as a team to utilize the training and continue to help others by Paying it Forward.

The first family sweet family is very happy with their donation of a cow, chickens and mulching machine. Thank you to Helping Orphans Worldwide (HOW) donors and volunteers and big love to The Quang Tri Women's Union!

Second family to receive a cow, and now a calf has been born which will be "Paid Forward" to another family in need smile emoticon Thank you to these lovely women from The Quang Tri Women's Union and Helping Orphans Worldwide, HOW donors!

Third sweet family, and any day this pregnant cow will be brining a calf into the world for Helping Orphans Worldwide (HOW)'s "Pay It Forward Cow Program" they also received chickens, mulching machine for food and income. Thank you to HOW's donors and The Quang Tri Women's Union

Baby Calf! HOW's "Pay It Forward Cow Program" is a new sweet program that is growing nice and easy and is Just Love!

2014 Field Updates

HOW has received more life changing wound care donations from America and Australia this year. We are blessed to have so many generous supporters of our work with EB.

Our wonderful volunteer nurse Milly Mazzei from Melbourne, has created these EB training dolls. They have become an invaluable tool in training medical staff and family members about the different EB wounds and how to treat and dress them.

2013 Field Updates

Thi, pictured above, was able to receive 6 months worth of supplies from HOW this year. Thi now has a better opportunity for a future with less pain and hopefully, while so many are looking for a cure, she can live an easier life.

Helping Orphans Worldwide has zero monetarily paid staff. It is run entirely by volunteers. This year, local volunteers helped HOW staff travel hours to remote areas and joined together to deliver much needed milk, rice, meat, fish, and fruit.

HOW EB Wound Skin Care Program received $340 in donations so far this year, which is currently waiting to be disbursed as medicine and other necessities for children with EB in Vietnam.

Children with EB are in desperate need of wound care materials, but they cost more than the average monthly paycheck in Vietnam. HOW is able to send children wound care, an informative DVD and nutritional supplements to children like Khoi.

2012 Field Updates

Huy is a delightful 13-year-old boy who, as a result of E.B., is missing the genes needed to attach his skin to his flesh. It is as painful as it sounds, and he needs constant, specific, and expensive medical care. Add this to the heat and poverty, and you can only begin to imagine what Huy has to deal with on a daily basis.

In late October, TFish President Nancy got to visit Vietnam and finally meet in person Huy and HOW's founder Hillary Brown. Despite his condition, Huy was incredibly vibrant, articulate, and intelligent.

Khoi is another one of several unfortunate children that HOW works to aid. He suffers from a severe case of EB, which requires 3 to 5 hours for his 20-year-old mother to daily provide wound care treatment. With no electricity, clean water, or even a place to buy nutritious milk, his situation is dire, but that is why HOW's work is so crucial.

In 2012, TFish Fund sponsored 20 wound care kits, 250 instruction DVD manuals, and administrative costs for HOW. Please keep up the amazing work that you do, Hillary and dedicated volunteers of HOW!