Mennonite Central Committee works exclusively with local development partners in Vietnam, rather than working alone.  The theory behind this, and I believe it to be a good one, is that it’s better to build sustainable development capacity in a country than to move in, give money to particularly needy individuals, and move on.

But there is a very popular model in the charity world that involves sponsoring individual children.  Doing it this way provides something tangible to donors: letters, pictures, report cards.  Things you can put on your fridge.

MCC generally believes group assistance to be better than individual assistance for a number of reasons outlined here.  The challenge, then, is to convince donors to support these projects, and provide them with something tangible in return.

Which is why I had to wake up at 5:00 a.m. last Monday morning.

Together with Vinh, a Rural Community Development program staff worker with MCC Vietnam, and Rachel, I travelled to the province of Phu Tho with my camera in tow.  Rachel is doing a writeup for donors to MCC’s Global Family program to stick on their refrigerators.  I was the designated photographer.

On the way, we stopped to watch a drama team educate high school students about HIV/AIDS, part of another program supported by MCC.

Close Quarters

Students watch a presentation about HIV/AIDS.
View full album: MCC Projects

After the presentation, we visited three preschools in the Hien Quan district of Phu Tho, where MCC subsidizes nutritious lunches for 3 — 5 year old students.

Lunch Time #2

Two preschool students eat a lunch subsidized by MCC’s Global Family program
View full album: MCC Projects

If this picture doesn’t inspire you to click here and donate, I fear for your soul.

[Note: MCC does not believe in using guilt to extract money from donors.]

Last Friday, my camera was called into service once again, this time by Anna. Anna spends a good deal of her time working with Just Massage, a massage centre in Hanoi with a mission to train and employ visually impaired youth. It was jointly founded by Action for the City, a partner organization of MCC in Hanoi.

Head Massage

Our Italian model receives a therapeutic Shiatsu massage
View full album: MCC Projects

Take some time to browse through the full album.

Having taken nearly 2,500 pictures since the start of February, I am wondering how soon I can justify buying really, really expensive lenses for my new camera.