Afghanistan Earthquake Relief
Joy Just in Time
With illness and loss having blighted her early life, Thuy stopped eating, and without money for medical treatment, her mother feared the worst. Not until World Vision joined forces with local officials to fund her health care did Thuy retrieve hope and health again.
Thuy's Rough Start of Life
When Thuy was eight months old, her skin became yellow and she was plagued with terrible bouts of fever, each lasting two to three days. The doctors said she was suffering from haemolytic anaemia, meaning antibodies from her mother had crossed the placenta and had destroyed her red blood cells.
In 2010, aged two, Thuy’s father died of hepatitis and the young girl’s condition deteriorated. “She didn’t eat enough and stayed in bed all the time,” says her mother, Thiep. “I couldn’t afford any medical care for her and couldn’t stop crying whenever I looked at her.”
Help Arrive in Time
Thuy is now 8 and lives with her mother and older sister in a village in a mountainous district in Vietnam’s northern Thanh Hoa province. And although she hasn’t completely recovered, she seems cheerful, saying: “I’m happy that my health is better. I’m trying to study hard to be a teacher.”
Thuy would have died if she had not received World Vision’s support. In cooperation with the local government, the organisation funded her care at a children’s hospital in the province. After receiving treatment several times, her health has improved.
Looking at her daughter, Thiep exclaims: “I’m so happy when I see my daughter playing with her friends. She eats and sleeps well. She used to skip school a lot due to her condition.”
Living Life with Hope
World Vision has changed not only Thuy’s health, but also her family’s living conditions. Thiep received training in raising animals, including protecting them from diseases, and then she received pigs, chickens and a cow. “I’m going to look after the animals well, so I’ll have enough money for my daughters’ education,” Theip says. “I hope my children will be healthy and find good jobs when they grow up.”
Realising the family’s difficulties, members of the local children’s club also proposed that World Vision gives them a rice cooker, table lamp and schoolbags as part of a child-led project to help disadvantaged children in their village. “I don’t need to spend so much time cooking rice now,” the mother says. “When I come home after work [at lunchtime], I can prepare a meal for my daughters quickly, so they can get to school in the afternoon on time.”
Thuy and her family have experienced many positive changes, thanks to World Vision’s Child Sponsorship Programme. Community development is also implemented in sponsored children’s community to improve children’s well-being as a whole, making it a better place for children to grow up.
