CONGRATULATIONS Hieu from all of the Lifestart Foundation team, we are very proud of your achievements.
Hieu has recently completed year 12 and has been accepted into the University Of Foreign Languages in Hue majoring in Japanese. As with all of our scholarship students, despite enormous odds stacked against them they continue to inspire us with their accomplishments.

During his last three consecutive years at High School, Hieu achieved the title of an excellent student.

There are 4 people in Hieu's family. His father sadly has suffered from mental health issues for the past 15 years and is unable to work leaving his mum, a rice farmer the sole breadwinner for the family.

Read previous stories about Hieu here:
www.facebook.com/TheLifestartFoundation/photos/a.485561648156026/886667401378780/?type=3&theater

www.facebook.com/TheLifestartFoundation/photos/a.485561648156026/682561571789365/?type=3&theater

Lifestart Foundations investment in the disadvantaged youth of Central Vietnam to date is in excess of 16 Billion vnd (approx $1,000,000.00 aud).

We are committed to breaking the poverty cycle of Central Vietnam's brightest scholars via education.

Lifestart Foundation Education Scholarship Project - provides fully comprehensive scholarships through Secondary and High school and onto University.

Scholarships cover all tuition fees, books, uniforms, and the all-important extra classes. Our Year 12 Central Vietnam students need to leave home to attend University for between 4 - 6 years depending on their chosen degree, so funding for accommodation and food needs to be provided too.

Scholarships are awarded to academically gifted students from very poor families.

If you like and support what Lifestart Foundation is doing across so many projects please consider a donation, joining our Monthly Members Club or running a fundraising event for us www.lifestartfoundation.org.au

#Philanthropy #Vietnam #HoiAn #Charity #Education #Scholarships #Donation ... See MoreSee Less

2 weeks ago

Lifestart Foundation Education Scholarship student Long recently received an
e-bike from Penguin District school in Tasmania, Australia.

Long is currently studying in year 12 at Le Thanh Tong High school for gifted students.
His dream is to become a doctor in the future and at the end of Year 12 he will complete the university entrance exam which we hope will begin his journey to make his dream come true. Long is attending additional extra classes in the core subjects to prepare for the university exam. These classes are a long way from his house and they are also held in the evening so this donation of an electric bike will help a lot with his commute.

#thankyou to Penguin District School for raising funds and making this fabulous donation possible during your trip to Vietnam.

If you like and support what Lifestart Foundation is doing across so many projects please consider a donation, joining our Monthly Members Club or running a fundraising event for us www.lifestartfoundation.org.au

#philanthropy #vietnam #hoian #charity #education #scholarships #donation ... See MoreSee Less

2 weeks ago

#THANKYOU for helping Lifestart Foundation to reach 4,000 likes and thank you to all of our amazing supporters, donors and volunteers who make all of our important projects possible.

Our next goal is 4,100 likes so please help us raise awareness by liking and sharing our posts. It is an easy and simple way to help us.

If you like and support what Lifestart Foundation is doing across so many projects please consider a donation, joining our Monthly Members Club or running a fundraising event for us.

There are lots of ideas on our website or contact us to have a talk about it.

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2 weeks ago

Lifestart Foundation recently awarded 15 scholarships to Master of Nursing students to help them to complete their studies. The nursing profession in Viet Nam is not held in as high esteem as it should be and we hope that by capacity building nurses to attain their Masters will have a ripple effect of a more highly trained nursing team of professionals throughout Viet Nam.

It was our pleasure and honor to support these wonderful dedicated health care professionals.
The Masters' students travel to Thailand to complete their 2 year International Level Master of Nursing degree. All of the students awarded a scholarship have a profound desire to help and work in their communities in Viet Nam and to improve the standard of the nursing profession.
Below is a thank you letter from one of the students who received a scholarship from Lifestart Foundation.
After reading it, I hope you will agree with me what a worthy recipient Lien is. She was awarded a special Memorial scholarship which we named in honor of her classmate Dinh Nguyen Minh Trang who tragically passed away during her Master of Nursing studies.

Lien's thank you letter:
Dear everyone at Lifestart Foundation,

My name is Duong Thi Hong Lien, and I am a nursing student studying the Master’s course at Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy, connected to the Khon Kaen University of Thailand. I was selected to receive a scholarship from Lifestart Foundation in October 2019.

I knew that Lifestart Foundation was linked to the Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy to support the disadvantaged general medical students. And now the nursing students are also honored to receive support and care from you. This generosity gives us the motivation to study hard as well as continuing to take care of our patients. We really appreciate your support and interest in our work.

When I was in high school I had a dream that I would be a doctor, which is a fulfilling job that brings health and happiness to everyone. But it was not easy at all and I failed the exam, so I chose to take up nursing. After my nursing graduation, I started work but I continued to pursue the dream of becoming a doctor. I took another university entrance exam but again I failed. At that time I was very sad, but then I changed my thinking. In spite of the hard work, and the tiredness, and realizing that no one fully appreciates the true value of nursing, I found I was so excited when a patient’s heart beat again after an emergency, and so happy when my patients smiled again after being in pain. At those moments I found that my job was really meaningful. So I changed my attitude. I tried to study constantly so that I would have more knowledge and greater skills to take care of my patients. In particular, I want to contribute to people’s overall health.

I was born and raised in Quang Binh Province, a central area to the south of Hue. After my intermediate nursing graduation from Da Nang Medical of Technology School, I came to Hue to work at the hospital of Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy. At that time, I tried both to work and to save money for further studies, and I also achieved a Bachelor’s qualification in English. After that, I had opportunities to study and take part in overseas workshops in places such as America, Korea, and Thailand. Then I could come back to help my patients and share my experiences with my colleagues.

I now have 20 years of work experience - 15 years as head of the nursing department, and 3 years as a nursing leader of the hospital. Currently, I am attending a Master’s course in nursing in Thailand, which gives me the chance to accumulate more knowledge and gain experience to share with young nurses and nursing students. This means I can help to train the team who are directly taking care of the patients, and contribute to building a stronger nursing system in Viet Nam, as well as developing the role of nurses.

Regarding my job, it is a very difficult one which does not draw a high salary and is not as appreciated in society as it should be. Therefore, although most nurses feel secure in their jobs, they don’t want to try and study more because they think that it will cost a lot of money and time, and their salary level won’t reflect their efforts of higher education.

But I have different thoughts; I want to study to gain more knowledge, to help my patients and my staff. Although I have 2 young children, (one boy in year 7 and another one in year 5,) and my husband also works at the hospital, my income is only enough for the daily expenses of my family. I can only save 2 million VND per month for my children’s future studies, and I still want to follow the nursing master’s course. I had to put a lot of serious consideration into the decision to give up a lot of money in order to do this course, instead of saving for my children’s future.

So what will I gain? Will I get a higher salary? No. Will I get a higher position? No. The role of a nursing leader of the hospital is the highest position in Viet Nam, but I still decided to choose this study path, and not stop there! I still dream of continuing my studies for a nursing PhD. I am dedicated to my job as well as to society.

When I had my scholarship interview in Hoi An, I thought that I would not be chosen because I had a higher position than other candidates, and my situation seemed a little better too. But the result was completely the opposite; I was one of two students in the Master’s course who were awarded the highest scholarship, under the name of “Dinh Nguyen Minh Trang Memorial Scholarship for Master of Nursing Studies”. It was my pleasure and I was very grateful to Ms. Karen, - the president and founder of Lifestart Foundation and to the sponsors who appreciated and respected our jobs. This is the biggest source of encouragement for me as well as for other nurses and helps us to continue to do our best in our work and in our studies. In particular, my family was also very excited about having funding for my studies. Besides that, I also feel proud that I will be an example for my children to follow.

Once again, I would like to send my sincere thanks to Ms. Karen, Ms. Nhung, Ms. Phuong and all of the sponsors of Lifestart Foundation. I wish you all good health.

Best regards,
Duong Thi Hong Lien

If you like and support what Lifestart Foundation is doing across so many projects please consider a donation, joining our Monthly Members Club or running a fundraising event for us www.lifestartfoundation.org.au

#Philanthropy #Vietnam #HoiAn #Charity #Education #Scholarships #Donation ... See MoreSee Less

3 weeks ago