VILLAGE OF HOPE

CONCEPT, GOALS, AND STRATEGIES FOR PROVIDING SUSTAINABLE FOOD, HEALTH, SHELTER DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS IN NEEDY COMMUNITIES 

I.           THE CONCEPT.

The world population has been increasingly dividing into two major groups, “the Needy” and “the Wealthy".  The majority of the population in developing countries are the needy, the landless, the scavenger, the subsistence farmer, laborer, etc., who have difficulty earn enough natural or man-made resources, capital, and the opportunity to escape poverty.  They do not have sufficient means and opportunities to earn a little better living condition.  Some choose the risky road of escaping as refugees to other developed nations hoping for a better life.  In addition, there have been so many wars among nations for years that the pain and hunger have been intensifying their misery.  To correct this miserable situation, resulting from natural and man-made disasters and war-torn countries, many world organizations pour in trillions of dollars assisting those being affected by those destructive events.  Fortunately, they can help temporarily relieve them some of those pains but “the Needy” still remain in poverty.  So, what can we contribute to this noble effort regardless of how minute it is?  I believe that we can and must try.  The why is explained below.

I believe that in a simplistic way, there are individuals who are born poor, lacking education and job opportunities.  They need a helping hand, not a handout, so that they can work and earn a better life for them and their families with some food to eat, minimum health care, and a roof to cover their heads.

“The Wealthy” have an easier life because of their assets but what can they leave behind when they die?  Obviously, they can leave behind their accumulated materials, but they will take with them their most valuable assets – "their knowledge and experience" – which they accumulated throughout their lives.  Now for the sunset years of the more privileged, what can we do beyond enjoying leisure cruises, visiting families and friends, giving to charity?  Yes, those enjoyable activities are very important to our lives after many years of working.  However, if some of us could find a way to transfer our valuable knowledge and experience to alleviate "the needy and the-have-nots" to a little better life instead of allowing those valuable assets to disappear when we leave this world, our senior years would be exponentially beautiful.  THE GIFTS OF KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE ARE EXTREMELY VALUABLE IN HELPING MANY OTHERS.  THEY ARE TOO VALUABLE TO BE WASTED.

II.          GOALS AND OBJECTIVES:

A. Goals.  To sustain our lives, we need "Food, Health, Shelter."  Our goal is to invest our life-time knowledge and experience in alleviating a needy community from the ground up.  Our goals will be obtained when the participating community can be self-supported and sustainable, meeting the minimum needs of "Food, Health, Shelter."

 B. Objectives.  Daily food intake is the most important need to keep one alive, and a minimum level of health assistance is needed when one gets sick.  Shelter is needed as well to protect from the extremes of the environment.  Illness, however, requires intervention and treatment cannot wait; therefore, our objectives are to set up our project in the following order:

1.        Tackling the health issue is the priority for our volunteering retirees and active medical professionals: providing medical services, supplies, sources, and treatment at an affordable cost.

2.        Agricultural Development will be assisted by volunteering retirees and active professionals in soil, water, engineering, agronomy, forestry, husbandry, fishery, veterinary, food processing, marketing, financing, bookkeeping, business development, cooperative organizations, education, and management.  These activities will create a lot of jobs for the community.  The cycle of progress will continue.

3.        Shelter can be developed in parallel with agricultural development.  This project is the challenge for engineers and architects to use local materials for building low cost and comfortable shelter.

With our Knowledge and Experience, Creation, Appropriate Technology, Time Availability, and most of all, the Love and Care we give to others less fortunate then we are, we believe that success is inevitable. We will receive their appreciation and gratitude and we will be very happy to know the real purpose of our lives.

III.         TEAM AND ORGANIZATION FORMATION

Throughout his life, Dr. Nguyen has had the opportunity to learn about the world of “the Healthy” and “the Unhealthy,” “the Haves” and “the Have Nots,” “the Wealthy” and “the Poor.”  He is working on selling one of his commercial real estate properties (see Appendix) to donate the starting budget to The Honoring Character© Foundation in order to test his experimental, socio-economic project of using an economic solution to solve social challenges.  He left his position as the Director of the Socio-Economic Development Center at California State University Fullerton in the early 1990's to see if he could make enough capital to invest in his dream.  Now he is ready to start the Food-Health-Shelter project.

His life's career brought him to many countries in America, Asia, South and Central America, and Africa working in project development, evaluation, and training.  He believes that the common "Donors and Receivers" concept only temporarily helps the Needy.  They cannot wait until the next donor trip arrives to get treated; children do not know when rice would be shipped in.  “Donors” feel great with their giving and "Receivers" remain in poverty.  There must be a way that we can help the Needy to escape their poverty by helping themselves.

He dreams of building a project model utilizing a system approach, resulting in a self-sufficient community with health, food, and shelter for and by the local community.  Donors and Volunteers will withdraw with joy and satisfaction.

Dr. Nguyen has called on his friends from his school of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, Forestry, and Fishery, from his friends and colleagues in medical fields, in architecture, and many others from all walks of life.  All service contributions will be volunteered.  The team initiated the project with its meeting in on March 30, 2019. This project welcomes all good men and women, young and old, advisers, volunteers, in all professional fields.

The round table formation and not the pyramid structure will be used.

IV.      FINANCE.  A private contribution will support the start-up costs.  Additional contributions can be capital from individuals, foundations, non-profit organizations, all types of services and/or materials such as medical equipment, medicine, seeds, farming equipment, etc.

V.        IDENTIFY NEEDY POPULATIONS, PARTICIPANTS, AND EVALUATION.  The selections will be based on the following criteria:

A.         Selection Process.  Setting up guidelines by the project team in order to evaluate and to select one or two participating populations.

B.         Location Selection and Participants.  Working with the participating communities and their local leaders in consideration of all necessary information that meets our criteria of the project and the desires of participants, such as their opinions and recommendations.

VI.      PERSONNEL.  Our project personnel are volunteers, donors, partners, professionals, etc. There are no paid positions, only volunteers.  There is an exception when a service provider is needed but this provider cannot join because of personal financial limitation.  The project will pay for travel and expenses.

THE INITIAL ROUND TABLE TEAM:
Dr. Bui Duy Tam, MD, Ph.D.
Ms. Tran Thuy Mai, Writer
Dr. Vuong Quan Phuoc, DVM
Dr. Phuong Ly, MD
Dr. Thanh D. Nguyen, Ph.D.
Dr. Loi Vo, MD
Mrs. Ginna Nguyen Fields, Assoc. AIA
Ginger Nguyen, Administration
Rocio Brooks, Founder, Kiwanis Club of Orange County, CA
Jeremy Fields, Facility and Operations Manager
David Barnes, CPA
Other the project participants

VII.        IMPLEMENTATION USING A PARTICIPATORY APPROACH.  Multiple teams or groups need to work together as one team in a round table format to accomplish the defined goals and objectives of the project.

VIII.       FEASIBILITY.  A feasibility study to determine the FHS project team will be able to meet the goals and objectives from the  local leaders and participants of the selected location(s).  The investment, expertise, and time input must be sufficient until the sustaining goals and objectives are met.  The project team would gradually be able to exit in an estimated time of 4 years. 

IX.        EVALUATION & RECOMMENDATION.  An oversight committee will monitor the operation in meeting its project goals and objectives.  The success of this test project is crucial for the future duplication to other needy areas in the world.

X.        TIME & SCHEDULE.  The FHS project has started, with its first meeting on March 30, 2019.  The second meeting will be for organizing all necessary local activities for the  implementation of the Foundation’s “Food Health Shelter” project.

 XI.        APPENDICES. This concept paper was written by Dr. Thanh D. Nguyen. His full bio can be read here.