Today, we started the day with a site visit. Unlike the firms we visited before, Vina Capital Foundation is a NGO that is responsible for creating multiple ongoing projects that benefit the women and children of Vietnam. To our surprise, the visit session was guided by Mr. Rad Kivette, an American who has been part of the organization since late 1990s. However, although he may look like a foreigner, it is undebatable that Mr. Kivette cares deeply about the health of the Vietnamese. When explaining Vina Capital’s many projects, such as providing free heart surgery to children, granting girls scholarships to continue their education, and ordering ventilators during the pandemic, Mr. Kivette spoke passionately and emotionally, like he was reliving the moments when he changed the lives of thousands of people. As well, he mentioned the unequal and horrific treatment of Vietnamese girls in rural areas, who are forced into marriage and impregnated by the age of 12/13. His description painted a vivid and terrifying image in my mind, and it has made me want to know more about what can be done to end this tradition.
Mr. Kivette also mentioned that Vietnam has some of the most skilled heart surgeons. Thus, Vina Capital’s Heartbeat Vietnam uses this to its advantage by providing heart surgery for Vietnamese kids at a low cost in a local hospital, instead of flying children abroad where surgery could be more than triple the price. Instead of spending the donation money on actual surgeries, Vina Capital tries to build hospital capacity instead, so more surgeries can be done inside the country. In this way, I feel Vina Capital’s solution is different from the US. In the United States, there are also very skilled heart surgeons. However, because the surgeries are so expensive in the US, most of the donated money goes towards paying for the patients’ surgeries, and barely any is leftover to help with other aspects of the problem. The two solutions tackle different challenges that exist in the two countries.
Aferwards, we went to lunch and ate noodles. Then, we went to UEF to continue language lessons, as. well as the chance to design our on straw hat! My friend and I worked together to create our own lotus flower hat.
To end off our afternoon, we went on a waterbus tour. I got the opportunity to try the street food here, as well as see the city view from the water. It was very pretty.
I ended the night by having dinner with my friend, who took me to eat bun dau mam tom. It was something I have never tried before and I was surprised by the taste! It was still great, and we went for some dessert at a local bakery afterwards.
