International Friendship Fund

Spring 2021

Dear Friends,

I am pleased to send you this report on our Mother Pig Project. We conducted this project during the past few months to uplift the sustainability and quality of life in Duy Thành Commune, our remote sister village in Viet Nam about 40 km from Da Nang. Your love and generosity have made this project very successful and impactful and have changed people's lives, values, and understanding for the better.

I am very happy to share that we raised $7,000 for this project — all in small donations of love ranging from a few to a few hundred dollars. And you all gave out of love, concern, and compassion without the benefit of a tax deduction. Giving purely without needing anything back is the highest form of charity.

We offered two rounds of gifting. We donated a dozen mother pigs in April and a second dozen on May Day to honor Viet Nam's April 30 Liberation Day. The commune officials chose the most needy of the entire region to receive our gifts. Please remember: the cost of these mother pigs is unobtainable to ordinary peasants with tiny annual incomes. But the gift of a mother pig enables a family to lift itself out of poverty and begin a home husbandry business that can feed and support the family. Your generosity has lifted two dozen families out of poverty and changed the entire village's relationship to the U.S. and our shared history.

Attached are photos from the gifting ceremony. Below are two reports sent by our brother-friend-guide Tran Dinh Song after the giftings.

REPORT I:

Following are the names of the women who received the pigs on May Day. The list was made and signed by Ms. Lê Thị Hương, President of the Women Association of Duy Thành Commune:

1. Quán, born 1965, Vân Quật hamlet, single mother, very poor.

2. Lanh, born 1963 Vân Quật hamlet, single mother, breast cancer.

3. Hí, born 1953, Vân Quật hamlet, her pig livestock was killed by the pandemic last year.

4. Thảo, born 1965, Thi Thại hamlet, single mother, very poor.

5. Dũng, born 1975, Thi Thại hamlet, her husband died left her four children, very poor.

6. Trí, born 1979, An Lạc hamlet, single mother, her baby is only a month old, very difficult living situation.

7. Sinh, born 1982, An Lạc hamlet, her husband is very ill, two children, very poor.

8. Sáu, born 1981, An Lạc hamlet, her husband is mentally ill, stomach cancer.

9. Chạy, born 1956, Nhơn Bồi hamlet, her husband is deaf and dumb, very difficult living situation.

10. Bình, born 1985, Nhơn Bồi hamlet, her pig livestock was killed by the pandemic last year, very poor.

11. Vịnh, born 1964, Thi Thại hamlet, her pig livestock was all killed by the pandemic last year, very poor.

REPORT II:

I do not have enough words to tell you how much the gifting has touched the hearts of the following people:

• Eleven women who live in a very difficult economic situation, some of them are single mothers bringing up the children all by themselves, some of them have ill and disabled husbands so they are the main economic pole of the family, some of them are the victims of the pandemic in 2020 killing all of their livestock, and the most difficult cases are two women who are fighting cancer!

• Ms. Hương, the president of the Women Association, was born after the war and has been told many terrible stories about Americans. This is the first time she sees the support, care, and passion from the Americans.

• My cousin whose father was killed when the American tanks crushed the cave in which he was hidden. The dead body of his father was never found so my cousin built a windy tomb for the soul of his father. I remember having told you this story. What you all did, 46 years after the war, has healed the wound in his memory. It is a wonderful reconciliation for my cousin and for the local inhabitants who know what happened to my uncle in 1967.

• My granddaughter is seven years of age. This is the first lesson for her about passion, love, and philanthropy. She asked me a thousand questions about the Americans, yourselves, the relationship between people to people, and about the Pig Project. I believe what she saw at our gifting ceremony will stay with her when she grows up and help her to recognize the responsibility of helping people other than herself and her family.

June 15, 2021