REPORT OF COMMISION ON CHARITY
AND SOCIAL ACTION - CARITAS VIETNAM
Dear friends,
Commission on Charity and Social Action (CCSA) - Caritas Vietnam sends our warm greetings to Bishop Kike Figaredo, Chairman of Caritas Cambodia, Bishop Yvon Ambroise, President of Caritas Asia; Mr. Kim Rattana, Executive Director of Caritas Cambodia, the organizing staff of the Caritas Asia CBR Forum Woskshop and all the participants. We wish you all peace, strength and fullness of the loving grace of our Lord to serve effectively the disabled people in imitation of Jesus Christ.
Due to the situation we could not participate in the conference, however, we send you this brief report in order to be in communion with you all in the Caritas system to serve the disabled people in Asia.
1. THE SITUATIONS OF THE DISABLED PEOPLE IN VIETNAM
According to the report of the Ministry of Labor-Invalids and Social Affairs, the number of the disabled people in Vietnam at present is about 5.4 millions of 86 millions of population. The disabled peoples are about 6, 34 percent of population in Vietnam including 16 percent at under the age of 16; 60 percent at the ages of 16-55; and 24 percent at over the age of 55.
Disabled types: moving disability (29, 41%), mental impairment (16, 82%) impaired vision (13, 84%), hearing impairment (9, 33%) speaking impairment (7, 08%), intellectual impairment (6, 52%) and other types of disabled impairment (17%).
The causes of disabilities: 35, 8 percent comes from congenital disorders; 32, 34 percent from diseases; 25, 56 percent from the traumas of wars; 3, 4 percent from working accidents and 1, 57 percent from the other causes. The causes of disabilities from the wars are relatively high due to the Agent Orange which was used during the Vietnam War. This Agent Dioxin affects disabled life generation to generations.
Education: 35, 83% of the disabled people cannot read, 12, 58 % disabled persons can read and write, 20, 74% disabled persons finished secondary school, 24, 13 % finished high school. It is about 97, 64 % disabled people have not attended job trainings yet. There is 58 percent the disabled persons have been participating in working in communities and 30 percent have not got jobs yet.
Standard environment and situation of the disabled people: 70 – 80 percent disabled people in the urban areas depend on family, relatives and social welfare while 65 – 70 percent the disabled in the rural areas depend on family, relatives and social welfare. There are about 25 – 35 percent disabled having jobs and incomes to help themselves and their families.
Most of the disabled still have difficulties in their life and they need supports from government and communities. (Cf. Bui Duc Hien, Some Results after 10 Years of Applying the State Law for Disable People. Accessed on 15th Jan 2010 at http://drdvietnam.com/news/123074/vi)
1.2 The numbers of disabled people are increasing yearly because of traffic accidents, working accidents. The mentally disabled children are also increasing due to the impacts of 20 million people drinking the alcoholic substances, 16 million people smoking, and other causes such as stress, tensions in life, polluted environment, toxic substances on food because of abusing of toxic pesticides on food, of toxic fertilizers on food and even abusing taking anti –pregnancy pills, etc, …
At presence, the percentage of self-suggestion children is about 1 per 150 (Dr. Quach Thi Minh, faculty director of Mental Illness – The General Children Hospital concerns that the percentage of self- suggestion children are 4/10.000 in the 80s of 20th century. Now it is about one self-suggestion child per 150 children. The numbers of boys who often have this self- suggestion more than girls, especially it happens in the city more than in the countryside. (Cf. www. Gadinh.net, Bao Yen, The Number of Self- suggestion in Children is discovered increasing gradually. 6th, November, 2009)
1.3. Most of the disabled live with their family (95, 85%), live by themselves (3, 31%); live in the governmental supported centers (0,22 % including in this number the age of 15-55 is about 54,17%, under the age of 15 about 28,85%), the wondering disabled is about 0,62%. (Cf. www.t5g.org.vn, Tra Giang, The Disabled People in Vietnam – Need more sharing, 14th Jan, 2010)
1.4. The vision of CCSA - Caritas Vietnam: The disabled cannot have or have less the ability to think but also cannot have or have less the ability to face challenges in their difficult life. If so, then, we have to concern more new types of disabilities such as: the gays and lesbians who feel pessimistic about their gender; some mothers feel traumatic about post- abortion (2 million cases of abortion per year in Vietnam); some unsuccessfully committed suicide); drug addicted persons feel pessimistic because they could not give up the addicted substance; game online addicted, pornographic addicted with sexual contents. CCSA - Caritas Vietnam concerns these above disabled people and their problems.
2. THE SOLUTION OF GOVERNMENT AND SOCIAL COMMUNITIES
2.1. Vietnamese Government invites many organizations and research institutes of the universities to participate in the program: “Renew the Way of Thinking and Living of The Vietnamese.”
2.2. Vietnamese Government opens groups, associations in order to help the disabled such as the Association of the Blind, the Association of the Deaf and Dumb in almost their provinces on over the country. Some provinces open the training schools, shelters and centers for them. Therefore, at these places, they just focus on providing food, housing, training job rather than pay attention to their spiritual and psychological needs in order to eliminate their loss of competition, open minded, a good and strong will for happy life.
2.3. Some religions, especially the Christians and Buddhism, open many good centers to help the disabled. According to the statistics of Catholic Church in Vietnam in 2009: Catholic Church is present and serve at 115 centers for the disabled, orphans, Nursing homes, 23 centers to help the metal patients, drug addicted persons and HIV/Aids.
The religious centers are often small and lack of accommodations for job training. The disabled are loved and cared yet men powers, human resources, the accommodations for sleep and food become gradually the burdens to these centers. The spiritual needs are not very taken care of due to the material difficulties. The caretakers are not trained well enough to serve these disabled people.
2.4. The CCSA – Caritas Vietnam has some activities to help these disabled through offering training courses to help those who work in these centers. Since 2004 unto now, we have operated 11 courses for many types of disabilities: vision impairment, hearing impairment, self- suggestion class, etc… at Ho chi Minh City and Hanoi. The total number of participants was 1. 267. Therefore, these operations are too small efforts in compare the numbers of disabled in Vietnam, just as a little piece of salt in the ocean.
3. THE OPERATIVE PROGRAMS OF CCSA – CARITAS VIETNAM TO SERVE THE DISABLED PEOPLE IN 2010
3.1. CCSA - Caritas Vietnam established a special office to serve the disabled. This office includes one sister, (Sr. Thu Hoang), a group of doctors (Dr. Hai Lan and Dr. Luat) and some Saint Paul sisters who specialized on this affair. This office will help the Caritas in the dioceses to list the names of the centers for the disabled in these dioceses, research the living and working situation of the disabled and their needs and organize the workshop and training officers to help these communities.
3.2. CCSA - Caritas Vietnam will be continuing to train the officers for Caritas at Dioceses and Parishes in Vietnam in order to help the disabled to learn the special courses.
3.3. CCSA - Caritas Vietnam evaluates the contemporary situations (lack of financial and human resources), the program of Community based Rehabilitation. These programs have some advantages and can be possible to implement.
3.4. In order to decrease the number of disabled children due to the causes of abortion, violation in the family, CCSA - Caritas Vietnam runs the program based on building comprehensive humanism and relationship. We are building training programs for Caritas officers in the diocesan levels, 16 lessons for living skills which are necessary to build this humanism. There were three courses offered based on three priorities: Charity, Respect and Cooperation for 25/26 dioceses in Vietnam. We hope some congregations and associations can have these lessons of value and living skills to help build comprehensive humanism in their communities.
4. CERTAIN GOALS
4.1. The project “Support the Disabled”
As CCSA –Caritas Vietnam, we will support scholarships to 500 disabled students, aid means and instruments for living such as wheelchairs, hearing aids), open the training course for the caretakers at the level of Caritas in the dioceses, training and the members of the family of the disabled persons the skills to take care of the disabled. The total cost for these courses can reach 550.000.000 VND.
4.2. Organizing the training courses for officers in Caritas of the Dioceses about CBR on April 2010.
4.3. Printing the handbooks about How to take care the Disabled at home (10.000 volumes). The total cost for this project: 100.000.000 VND
4.4. We also offer guidelines about CBR on our website: www.caritasvn.org or www.caritasvietnam.info.
CONCLUSION
CCSA -Caritas Vietnam wishes to cooperates to all those who serve societies and communities in and outside of Vietnam in order to serve better the disabled in our society, especially the disabled children in Vietnam.
We wish you a successful forum-workshop.
Respectfully yours,
Fr. Anthony Nguyen Ngoc Son
General Secretary of CCSA-Caritas VN
CCSA-Caritas VN
72/12 Tran Quoc Toan St., Ward 8, Dist.3, Hochiminh City - Vietnam
Phone: (84-8) 38208716
Mobile: (84-8) 0908411106
Email: ubbaxh_vn@hcm.vnn.vn, ubbaxh_vn@yahoo.com
AND SOCIAL ACTION - CARITAS VIETNAM
Dear friends,
Commission on Charity and Social Action (CCSA) - Caritas Vietnam sends our warm greetings to Bishop Kike Figaredo, Chairman of Caritas Cambodia, Bishop Yvon Ambroise, President of Caritas Asia; Mr. Kim Rattana, Executive Director of Caritas Cambodia, the organizing staff of the Caritas Asia CBR Forum Woskshop and all the participants. We wish you all peace, strength and fullness of the loving grace of our Lord to serve effectively the disabled people in imitation of Jesus Christ.
Due to the situation we could not participate in the conference, however, we send you this brief report in order to be in communion with you all in the Caritas system to serve the disabled people in Asia.
1. THE SITUATIONS OF THE DISABLED PEOPLE IN VIETNAM
According to the report of the Ministry of Labor-Invalids and Social Affairs, the number of the disabled people in Vietnam at present is about 5.4 millions of 86 millions of population. The disabled peoples are about 6, 34 percent of population in Vietnam including 16 percent at under the age of 16; 60 percent at the ages of 16-55; and 24 percent at over the age of 55.
Disabled types: moving disability (29, 41%), mental impairment (16, 82%) impaired vision (13, 84%), hearing impairment (9, 33%) speaking impairment (7, 08%), intellectual impairment (6, 52%) and other types of disabled impairment (17%).
The causes of disabilities: 35, 8 percent comes from congenital disorders; 32, 34 percent from diseases; 25, 56 percent from the traumas of wars; 3, 4 percent from working accidents and 1, 57 percent from the other causes. The causes of disabilities from the wars are relatively high due to the Agent Orange which was used during the Vietnam War. This Agent Dioxin affects disabled life generation to generations.
Education: 35, 83% of the disabled people cannot read, 12, 58 % disabled persons can read and write, 20, 74% disabled persons finished secondary school, 24, 13 % finished high school. It is about 97, 64 % disabled people have not attended job trainings yet. There is 58 percent the disabled persons have been participating in working in communities and 30 percent have not got jobs yet.
Standard environment and situation of the disabled people: 70 – 80 percent disabled people in the urban areas depend on family, relatives and social welfare while 65 – 70 percent the disabled in the rural areas depend on family, relatives and social welfare. There are about 25 – 35 percent disabled having jobs and incomes to help themselves and their families.
Most of the disabled still have difficulties in their life and they need supports from government and communities. (Cf. Bui Duc Hien, Some Results after 10 Years of Applying the State Law for Disable People. Accessed on 15th Jan 2010 at http://drdvietnam.com/news/123074/vi)
1.2 The numbers of disabled people are increasing yearly because of traffic accidents, working accidents. The mentally disabled children are also increasing due to the impacts of 20 million people drinking the alcoholic substances, 16 million people smoking, and other causes such as stress, tensions in life, polluted environment, toxic substances on food because of abusing of toxic pesticides on food, of toxic fertilizers on food and even abusing taking anti –pregnancy pills, etc, …
At presence, the percentage of self-suggestion children is about 1 per 150 (Dr. Quach Thi Minh, faculty director of Mental Illness – The General Children Hospital concerns that the percentage of self- suggestion children are 4/10.000 in the 80s of 20th century. Now it is about one self-suggestion child per 150 children. The numbers of boys who often have this self- suggestion more than girls, especially it happens in the city more than in the countryside. (Cf. www. Gadinh.net, Bao Yen, The Number of Self- suggestion in Children is discovered increasing gradually. 6th, November, 2009)
1.3. Most of the disabled live with their family (95, 85%), live by themselves (3, 31%); live in the governmental supported centers (0,22 % including in this number the age of 15-55 is about 54,17%, under the age of 15 about 28,85%), the wondering disabled is about 0,62%. (Cf. www.t5g.org.vn, Tra Giang, The Disabled People in Vietnam – Need more sharing, 14th Jan, 2010)
1.4. The vision of CCSA - Caritas Vietnam: The disabled cannot have or have less the ability to think but also cannot have or have less the ability to face challenges in their difficult life. If so, then, we have to concern more new types of disabilities such as: the gays and lesbians who feel pessimistic about their gender; some mothers feel traumatic about post- abortion (2 million cases of abortion per year in Vietnam); some unsuccessfully committed suicide); drug addicted persons feel pessimistic because they could not give up the addicted substance; game online addicted, pornographic addicted with sexual contents. CCSA - Caritas Vietnam concerns these above disabled people and their problems.
2. THE SOLUTION OF GOVERNMENT AND SOCIAL COMMUNITIES
2.1. Vietnamese Government invites many organizations and research institutes of the universities to participate in the program: “Renew the Way of Thinking and Living of The Vietnamese.”
2.2. Vietnamese Government opens groups, associations in order to help the disabled such as the Association of the Blind, the Association of the Deaf and Dumb in almost their provinces on over the country. Some provinces open the training schools, shelters and centers for them. Therefore, at these places, they just focus on providing food, housing, training job rather than pay attention to their spiritual and psychological needs in order to eliminate their loss of competition, open minded, a good and strong will for happy life.
2.3. Some religions, especially the Christians and Buddhism, open many good centers to help the disabled. According to the statistics of Catholic Church in Vietnam in 2009: Catholic Church is present and serve at 115 centers for the disabled, orphans, Nursing homes, 23 centers to help the metal patients, drug addicted persons and HIV/Aids.
The religious centers are often small and lack of accommodations for job training. The disabled are loved and cared yet men powers, human resources, the accommodations for sleep and food become gradually the burdens to these centers. The spiritual needs are not very taken care of due to the material difficulties. The caretakers are not trained well enough to serve these disabled people.
2.4. The CCSA – Caritas Vietnam has some activities to help these disabled through offering training courses to help those who work in these centers. Since 2004 unto now, we have operated 11 courses for many types of disabilities: vision impairment, hearing impairment, self- suggestion class, etc… at Ho chi Minh City and Hanoi. The total number of participants was 1. 267. Therefore, these operations are too small efforts in compare the numbers of disabled in Vietnam, just as a little piece of salt in the ocean.
3. THE OPERATIVE PROGRAMS OF CCSA – CARITAS VIETNAM TO SERVE THE DISABLED PEOPLE IN 2010
3.1. CCSA - Caritas Vietnam established a special office to serve the disabled. This office includes one sister, (Sr. Thu Hoang), a group of doctors (Dr. Hai Lan and Dr. Luat) and some Saint Paul sisters who specialized on this affair. This office will help the Caritas in the dioceses to list the names of the centers for the disabled in these dioceses, research the living and working situation of the disabled and their needs and organize the workshop and training officers to help these communities.
3.2. CCSA - Caritas Vietnam will be continuing to train the officers for Caritas at Dioceses and Parishes in Vietnam in order to help the disabled to learn the special courses.
3.3. CCSA - Caritas Vietnam evaluates the contemporary situations (lack of financial and human resources), the program of Community based Rehabilitation. These programs have some advantages and can be possible to implement.
3.4. In order to decrease the number of disabled children due to the causes of abortion, violation in the family, CCSA - Caritas Vietnam runs the program based on building comprehensive humanism and relationship. We are building training programs for Caritas officers in the diocesan levels, 16 lessons for living skills which are necessary to build this humanism. There were three courses offered based on three priorities: Charity, Respect and Cooperation for 25/26 dioceses in Vietnam. We hope some congregations and associations can have these lessons of value and living skills to help build comprehensive humanism in their communities.
4. CERTAIN GOALS
4.1. The project “Support the Disabled”
As CCSA –Caritas Vietnam, we will support scholarships to 500 disabled students, aid means and instruments for living such as wheelchairs, hearing aids), open the training course for the caretakers at the level of Caritas in the dioceses, training and the members of the family of the disabled persons the skills to take care of the disabled. The total cost for these courses can reach 550.000.000 VND.
4.2. Organizing the training courses for officers in Caritas of the Dioceses about CBR on April 2010.
4.3. Printing the handbooks about How to take care the Disabled at home (10.000 volumes). The total cost for this project: 100.000.000 VND
4.4. We also offer guidelines about CBR on our website: www.caritasvn.org or www.caritasvietnam.info.
CONCLUSION
CCSA -Caritas Vietnam wishes to cooperates to all those who serve societies and communities in and outside of Vietnam in order to serve better the disabled in our society, especially the disabled children in Vietnam.
We wish you a successful forum-workshop.
Respectfully yours,
Fr. Anthony Nguyen Ngoc Son
General Secretary of CCSA-Caritas VN
CCSA-Caritas VN
72/12 Tran Quoc Toan St., Ward 8, Dist.3, Hochiminh City - Vietnam
Phone: (84-8) 38208716
Mobile: (84-8) 0908411106
Email: ubbaxh_vn@hcm.vnn.vn, ubbaxh_vn@yahoo.com