This week Mr. Hans Julius Hansen and Mrs. Dang Van-Khanh are in HCMC to brush up on the previous Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) curriculum for our Trainers.

SEL consists of materials that teaches children about emotions and social skills (e.g. sharing and patience). Most importantly, it teaches a non-violent approach to conflict resolution and are particularly beneficial for children from vulnerable backgrounds and their care-takers.

Our group of SEL teachers are social workers and teachers who hold work-shops for their network and thereby spread the awareness of children's rights to self-expression to adults and caretakers across South Vietnam.

Our SEL workshops are state-of-the-art and produced in cooperation with the Danish Institute of Social Pedagogy. 
To book a workshop for your network - or even better to sponsor one for teachers in rural communities - contact us here.

I have been thinking a lot of how much I know about the single girl at the shelter. My idea is that if I know and feel the personal story of the children I would be a better fundraiser and be more motivated. On the other hand, the risk is that one might feel a too strong commitment that goes beyond the professional project manager work, that I need to do. I have limited resources in terms of time and money. I experienced last week, that Mr. Michael from the Northern-Vietnam NGO Blue Dragon personally knew about all the children they were helping.

I have read all the cases of the children at Little Rose Warm Shelter. Mrs. Thien writes it in the report every 3rd month. But one thing is to read their stories, another is to hear the stories from the girls themselves.
I experienced this yesterday.

A new girl arrived a month ago, and I asked Mrs Thien about her. What circumstances brought her here? Her background is not as dramatic as some of the other children - nevertheless it made me feel very sad because I could relate to her story.

H.'s father had died few years ago, and she was left alone with the mother. Unfortunately her mother was an alcoholic and brought home many new men, and much of the time H. was not taken care of.

Being from a family myself where one of the adults was an alcoholic made it easy for me to relate. Our family didn't suffer from any material shortcomings, and every day food was served. Nevertheless a child experiences the missing care and attention from an adult that is an abuser. 

So this short incident made me think more thoroughly about whether to involve myself more personally or keep a professional distance. I would like to relate more on a personally level, but I am afraid that it puts me in a difficult situation where I want to help more than I actually can, and I haven't found the answer of the balance between personal relation and professional distance to the children yet.

Of course I cannot show a picture of this particular girl so I attach one a photo were we trained people from the Youth Union in April 2011.

- Ole Riis