2021 FINANCIAL REPORT

KONTUM MISSIONARY AND FRIENDSHIP (KMF)

 

2021 FINANCIAL REPORT 

KMF 2021 Funding

The KMF funds come from US, Canada, Australia, Europe and Vietnam.  As such, the main currencies sources are in US Dollar, Canadian Dollar, Australian Dollar, Euro, Swiss Franc and Vietnamese Dong.

The amount in US Dollars comes from the KMF (Kontum Mission Foundation) non-profit organization in the US.  Contributions to this fund are from KMF members as well as non-members, their families and friends, and donors with the sole purpose of helping the poor, the handicapped, and the less fortunate ethnic tribes in the Central Highland Areas of Vietnam.  The fund in Australian Dollars is raised by KMF members as well as non-members through Rev. Hai Thanh Ha in Australia. The fund in Canadian Dollars is raised by KMF and non-KMF members, their families and friends and Rev. Paul Than Bui in Surrey, Canada.  Rev. Than also organizes a local concert every two years to raise funds for KMF.  This activity was not possible in the last two years due to the Covid Pandemic.

KMF members and non-members from France, Germany, and Switzerland…also contribute to the funds in Euro and Swiss Franc converted into US Dollars.

Contributions in Vietnam are from local KMF members as well as non-members and benefactors, their families and friends.

Fund raising activities in all countries mirror those of the US KMF calendar.

The following schematic describes the process by which the funding reaches the final destinations.

2021 FINANCIAL YEAR FUNDING
	$VN	$US
BALANCE FORWARD FROM 2020		76,697
TOTAL		76,697
US. FUNDING SOURCES	$VN	$US
TRANSFERRED FROM KMF TREASURER 4/5/2021		59,976
TRANSFERRED FROM KMF TREASURER 12/15/21		40,639
TOTAL		100,615
CANADA FUNDING SOURCES  (REV. THAN’S FUND)	$ CAN	$US
TRANSFERRED ON 01/26/2021	4,000	3,174
TRANSFERRED ON 04/20/2021	2,500	2,000
TOTAL	6,500	5,174
AUSTRALIA FUNDING SOURCE	AUSTR  $	$US
NO FUNDING FROM AUSTRALIAN SOURCE IN 2021	0	0
TOTAL	0	0
EUROPEAN FUNDING SOURCE	EURO €	$US
NO FUNDING FROM EUROPEAN SOURCE IN 2021	0	0
TOTAL	0	0
VIETNAM FUNDING SOURCES	$ VN DONG	$US
HEALTH CLINIC FUND RAISING CONTRIBUTIONS	404,071,000	17,307
MASS INTENTIONS CELEBRATED BY REV. TAM	52,150,000	2,267
TOTAL	456,221,000	19,574
		$US
2021 FUNDING GRAND TOTAL		202,060

2021 FINANCIAL YEAR SPENDING
1)   HEALTH ASSISTANCE	SPENDINGS  $VN	SPENDINGS $US
CAO THUONG HEALTH CLINIC	384,550,000	16,720
MEDICINE CABINETS PROGRAM FOR REMOTE  VILLAGES	123,400,000	5,365
TOTAL	507,950,000	22,085
2)   EDUCATION ASSISTANCE	SPENDINGS  $VN	SPENDINGS $US
THE BOARDING SCHOOLS RUN BY THE ETHNIC MONTAGNARD RELIGIOUS SISTERS	816,000,000	35,478
THE BOARDING SCHOOLS RUN BY PRIESTS AND OTHER RELIGIOUS SISTERS	1,220,000,000	53,043
TOTAL	2,036,000,000	88,521
3)   LEPERS ASSISTANCE	SPENDINGS  $VN	SPENDINGS $US
DAK KIA (KONTUM PROVINCE) BOARDING SCHOOL	96,000,000	4,174
PLEI PHUNG (GIA LAI PROVINCE) VILLAGE BOARDING SCHOOL	48,000,000	2,087
TOTAL	144,000,000	6,261
4) ORPHANS AND HANDICAPPED CHILDREN ASSISTANCE	SPENDINGS  $VN	SPENDINGS $US
THE 4 VINH SƠN (1,2,3 & 4) ORPHANAGES	384,000,000	16,696
TOTAL	384,000,000	16,696
	SPENDINGS  $VN	SPENDINGS $US
2021 SPENDING GRAND TOTAL	3,071,950,000	133,563

BALANCE AT END OF 2021 (US$): 202,060-133,563 = 68,497

 

2021 Year End Report

KMF (Kontum Missionary And Friendship) remains true to its mission clearly stated since its inception (2000) which is to put all its efforts into the following four programs:

1. Healthcare Assistance Program
2. Education Assistance Program
3. Leper Patients Assistance Program
4. Orphans and Handicapped Children Assistance Program

1 – HEALTHCARE ASSISTANCE PROGRAM

Since the opening of Cao Thuong Health Clinic, the KMF Healthcare Assistance Program is accomplished through 2 activities: the Cao Thuong Health Clinic and the Medicine Cabinets Program for remote villages.  However, since 2019, to fulfil the needs within the Kontum Diocese, the Cao Thuong Health Clinic has been partnering with Caritas of Kontum (Rev. Viet Tan Tran as Director) to visit and provide medical exams to the old and children at their residences, provide care to the leper patients and take care of their wounds at a location near their communities to eliminate the inconvenience and cost of travel.

• Cao Thượng Health Clinic

The Cao Thượng Health Clinic was founded in 2009 by KMF in Kon Jơdreh Village, (situated 8 km NE from the City of Kontum, on the way to the Virgin Mary of  Mang Den Shrine) with the purpose of providing health exams and cares / cures to the poor, free of charges, regardless of their religions, mostly for the mountain tribes belonging to the villages in Kon Rẫy County, one of the poorest counties in Kontum Province.

The Cao Thượng Health Clinic is opened daily, including on Saturday and Sunday from 7.30 am to 5.00 pm.  Every day, the health clinic staff provides health exams and dispenses medicines to approximately 40 to 50 poor and needy patients. On weekends, on Saturday and Sunday, however, it normally is more crowded with the number ranging from 90 to 120 people.  In addition, the staff takes turn going out to provide exams and dispense medicines to the old, the sick and the handicapped who have difficulty traveling around in the region.

Fifteen thousand patients were seen in 2020 and 2021.  The Cao Thuong Clinic, in its present capacity, can only treat the common illnesses.  The staff recommends and refers patients with severe cases needing special cares to the local county or city hospital and, if they are too poor to afford transportation cost, the clinic would pay for it.

There were 15 thousand patients getting free health exams and medicine in 2021. To put that in perspective, if each patient was given some medicine only worth 30,000 $VN Dong (equivalent to 1.3 $US or 1.1 Euros) for 3 days, it would have taken a big bite out the of the funds: 450 million $VN Dong, equivalent to a sum of 20 thousand $US, or 17 thousand Euros.  This cost would have only accounted for the medicines and not yet for the staff’s salaries and others.   As a result, the clinic has been doing its best to cut costs just to survive and stay relevant in the long term among the poor mountain tribe villagers.

• Medicine Cabinets Program For Remote Mountain Tribes Villages

The Medicine Cabinets Program For Remote Mountain Tribes Villages began its operation in 2012.  The region of operation of Kontum consists of two provinces, Kontum and Gialai, with a combined population of 3 million and a 25-thousand-km-square surface area, an area 12 times the City of Saigon (the city and its metropolitan surface area: 2,056 km2), and 35 times the area of Singapore (716 km2).  However, the road system is still very undeveloped.  What to do when medical needs arise in extremely remote villages?  The poor first recourse is to ask for help from the local priests and religious sisters to get immediate medical help.

Up until now, The Medicine Cabinets Program For Remote Mountain Tribes Villages only reaches 22 villages served by local priests, sisters or Yă (religious sisters of mountain tribes heritage): Plei Tơwer, Ya Ly, Kon Mah (Chư Pah County), Kon Hơring, Dak Rao, Dak Cho (Dak To County), Mang La, Dak Pơxi, Ling La, Kon Bơbăn, Dak Kơđem, Kon Trang, Kroong (Dak Hà County), Ha Moong, Plei Kơbei, Plei  Rơkơi (Sa Thầy County) Tea Rơxa, Kon Pia (Tumorong County), Dak Tuk, Dak Jak, (Dak Glei County), Dak Mot, Plei Kan (Ngọc Hồi County) Klau Ngol, Plei Jơdrâp (Kontum).

These sites and names sound unfamiliar not only to Vietnamese nationals living abroad, but also to the Vietnamese themselves because these parishes are located in extremely remote areas.  Every month, each village receives a medicine package worth about 1.5 to 3 million $VND (70-130 $US, depending on the population in the villages, whether or not during a flu season or an epidemy) with the medicine distribution extended to all, regardless of their practicing or non-practicing religion or affiliation.  The villagers, usually after mass, would come and ask the priests or sisters for help.  In response, they offer whichever immediate help they can to the villagers, preventing patients and their loved ones, sometimes, from unnecessary deaths.

1.3      Mobile Health Exams

Three times a week, in coordination with the Kontum Caritas organization, 2 out of the 5 staff members of the clinic  take turn in going to the Plei Tơwer region to provide health exams and dispense medicine to the poor villagers on Sunday or giving health exams to the old and the children at their residences and tending to the wounds of the leper patients in the Dakto region on Wednesday and Saturday.

 

2 – EDUCATION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM

To eliminate hunger, decrease poverty and improve the quality of life of the mountain tribe villagers, there should be a bigger investment in education.  This is too grand and too long a task and KMF can only contribute its minuscule part and, more often than not, donors get discouraged because their assistance and investment in education don’t manifest in concrete results unlike when they provide funding to build a house or digg a well.

Moreover, the students from the ethnic mountain tribes would rather play and run free in their natural environment than to be in classrooms and, facing new and difficult constraints, don’t produce adequate results.  There is no denial to the truth that, in villages, without the necessary help, the children would give up their schooling for two reasons: being destitute and the long distance to schools and, as a result, they cannot walk 5 to 10 kilometers on dirt roads while being hungry.

Therefore, the top priority of KMF is to team up with the local priests, the religious sisters and Yă to maintain and increase the activities at the boarding houses that they have built within the confines of their church or communities even though they often face many problems, financial and political.

At the present time, KMF is providing monthly funding to buy rice for approximately 800 students from 23 boarding houses in various villages.  There are 13 houses run by the Yă (Tea Roxa, Dak Mot, Ha Moong, Kon Horing, De Tul, Plei Bong, Plei Groi, Dak Wơk, Plei Pơdư, Kon Bơbăn, Kon Rơ bang, Plei Rơwăk. . .) and 10 houses run by the local priests or the Vietnamese religious sister orders (Kon Hơring (boys), Ling La, Mang La, Kon Xơmluh, Pleikan, Dak Kram, Tân lập, Nhà Thờ Gỗ, Phú Túc . . .).

The following are some recent photos of the boarding houses to provide the readers a glimpse of the activities undertaken by KMF in the education assistance program provided to the poor students in remote regions.

Ling La Boarding House

Ling La is located in Dak Hà County, Kontum Province, 30 Km North of the City, but to reach the City requires access to Route 14 which is 15 Km away.  From Route 14, it would take another 35 km.  Therefore, the real distance to the City center is about 50 Km.  Ling La consists of 12 village of ethnic Montagnards (mountaineers) villages of Bahnar and Sedang ethnicity.

KMF helped establish its boarding house in 2010.  At the beginning, it consisted of bamboo walls and thatch roof.  Afterwards, The Non-profit Lipoid Organization from Germany provided the funding for its construction in 2018.  The House was run by Rev. Hoang Minh Nguyen with the help of 3 nuns from The Love of the Holy Cross Order of Thủ Thiêm.

At present, there are a total of 33 students in primary and secondary schools. The primary school is located within Ling la Village.  The students are allowed to go home once a week, from Sunday after Mass till Monday morning.  Some students have to travel to their villages located 15 – 20 Km away.

Sr Trúc, from The Love of the Holy Cross Order of Thủ Thiêm and 3 of her students.  The latter attend school in the afternoon.  So, they get some extra tutoring and help with kitchen duty.

Here is 10 years old, 4^th grader Little Y Bển. She is the youngest from a family of 10 brothers and sisters.  The family makes a living growing cassava, collecting bamboo shoots, fishing and harvesting wild vegetables,

“I love living here because I get to go to school, in addition to the extra tutoring from the sisters. My living quarters are clean.  I get to fill my tummy with better food than at home.”

Rev. Hoàng and the students.

Student A Bảo, a straight A student in 7^th grade.

• How many kids in your family?
• 9 Sir!
• 9 brothers and sisters?
• No Sir, only seven brothers and sisters. My parents make 9.
• How old are your parents? Why such a big family?
• My dad is 35 years old. My mom is younger than my dad.
• How old are you?
• I am thirteen.
• What is your order in your family?
• I am the eldest.
• Have you just gotten back from school?
• Yes! with this bike.
• Is school hard for you ?
• Yes, it’s really hard.
• Why didn’t you stay at home and enjoy yourself? Why coming here to live?
• I love going to school. If I stay home, I wouldn’t be able to be in secondary school.
• You like being here?
• Definitely! I am with many friends here. I have enough food for myself, compared to at home.  I get to go to school, in the afternoon, I get to play soccer too.
• Why didn’t you tell your younger brother to come here to live and keep you company, and going to school together?
• Oh, the priest said that it is not possible. They say that they can only help one kid in each family.  There isn’t enough money to help every kid.

Kon Hơ Ring Boarding House

Located in Kon Hơ Ring parish, Dak Tô County, 35 Km North of the City of Kontum.  At the school year beginning, there were 65 students. Because of the Covid Pandemic, Some returned home and never came back. There are now 52 students, 38 females and 14 males under the care of the religious Sisters of Saint Paul Order.

This boarding house is under the KMF Education Assistance since 2015.

Student Y Hảo, 16 years old, in 11^th grade, coming from a family of 7 brothers and sisters. She is the second oldest.

• Where is your family from?
• We are from Pxi Village.
• You aren’t from Hơ Ring village here?
• No, Pxi village is 15 Km away.
• How many years have you been here?
• This is my third.
• Do you like school?
• Yes, definitely.
• Are you a straight A student?
• (Smiling) I am just a good student. Tough to be a straight A student. So tough!
• How long before they let you go home?
• Once a month, on a Saturday afternoon, back on Sunday afternoon.
• Why don’t you stay home once you get to go home? What’s in it for you here?
• Ah ha! There isn’t a high school near my home, I wouldn’t be able to go to school.
• Do you like being here?

Yes! Definitely. I get to go to school and to church every day.  I get to have enough food without a worry in the world.

• Do you take extra class?
• No, not really. At night, we have self-study at home. Then at 9,30 pm, everybody up to bed so we can wake up at 4.30 am the next morning, go to mass, have breakfast and get to school.

Student A Anh, 14 years old, in 8^th grade. Coming from Dak Nu Village, 30 Km away. He loves it here because he gets to go to school, then get to play soccer with his buddies.

The students can take music and musical instruments such as organ, traditional drum and gong if they want.

The Plei Kan Boarding House

Located in Ngọc Hồi County, 70 Km North of Kontum.

The boarding house has 31 female students (4 Vietnamese of Kinh ethnicity and 27 of Sedang Ethnicity): 1 in 8^th grade, 2 in 9^th grade and 28 in high school.

The school is located 3 Km from the house. Each student has her own bike to get to and from school.

Under the care of the sisters of the Daughters of The Immaculate Mary Order ( From Phú Xuân, Huế).

The students get to go home once a month on the last Sunday of the month.

This boarding house is under the KMF Education Assistance Program since 2014.

Student Catarina Y Lân, 17 years old, currently in 11^th grade. She is the second oldest in a family with 4 brothers and sisters.

• Do you love being here?
• Definitely!
• Don’t you prefer being home?
• But by being here, I have a better chance to go to school and yet, I get to live together with others. I get guidance from the sisters each morning at church and get extra time for sports in the afternoon.
• What sport do you participate in?
• We usually play badminton and volleyball.
• After you finished 12^th grade, do you want to keep on going?
• Yes! Definitely. I would like to.
• What do you want to be majored in afterwards?
• Why medicine?
• To improve the lives in my village.
• Where is yours ? Far from here ?
• I am from Chiên Chiet Village, Dak Xu Commune, 4 Km from here.
• Do you often sneak out to go home, to see your boyfriend?
• (Laughing). I don’t have a boyfriend. If I sneak home, Sister would kick me out. It would be over for me, wouldn’t be able to stay here.
• Are you a good student?
• Yes, I am being a good student.
• I wish you all the success in school then to become a doctor to help the villagers in your village.
• I would like to thank you and all the benefactors.

Student Teresa Y Gió, 18 years old, currently in 12th grade. From Dak Tuk Village, 7 Km away, in a family with 9 brothers and sisters making a living by growing cassava and rice. She is the 5th child of the family.

Her aspiration: To go to college with a major in Administration.

Besides schooling, the students get guidance in spiritual life and in the Art of Living, catechism and thinking about others in their daily prayers.

The Plei Pơdư Boarding House

Enthusiastic students ready to head out to school, 4 km away

The Ha Moong Boarding House. School out, double riding on bikes because there aren’t enough

The Kon Bơ Băn Boarding House, back from school, ready to devour a meal

The Plei Kan Boarding House, Ngọc Hồi County, Nightly Study Session

Among more than the 800 students in this 2020-2021 school year, there are 120 elementary students, 300 middle school students, 230 high school students, and 150 students from trade schools.

Each student gets about 200,000 $VN in monthly assistance, approximately 9 $US, equivalent to a daily sump of 7,000 $VN Dong or 0.30 $US.  Donors should ask themselves the question of what can a 0.30 $US sum achieve? The answer to the question is that the sum is mainly used for buying rice to at least fill the students’ stomach  with the basic staple (rice at the lowest grade costs 12,000 $VND a kilo), without meat or fish making up a decent meal because KMF existing funds only allow for such an amount during these difficult times.  We wish for additional funding from donors to feed the students with the proper quantity and adequate proteins from meat, fish and milk …

In addition, in Chư Sê and Chư Pưh Counties, and Ayunpa County (Phú Bổn) in Gia Lai Province, KMF, together with Mrs. Diễm Ly Volunteer Group and the Grain of Rice Association, is helping 220 poor students to give them a proper environment for their schooling.

Elementary Students in the Chư Sê Region

3 – LEPER PATIENTS ASSISTANCE PROGRAM

For a few years now, KMF has not been providing direct funding to the leper patients within the Kontum Diocese because they have been taken care of by specific organizations such as Caritas, the Leper Patients Association, The Father Damien Foundation.   However, KMF has been helping their children at the Dak Kia Leper Center (in Kontum Province, administered by the sisters of the Miraculous Medaille Order) and at Plei Phung Leper Center (Chư Pưh County, Gia Lai Province, administered by the sisters of the Queen of Peace Order).  This funding allows the children to attend school and be part of the social life without the burden of the social stigma and the lack of confidence.

The Dak Kia Boarding School

In addition, as mentioned above in Section 1 (Healthcare Assistance Program), the Cao Thuong Health Clinic, under the KMF umbrella of activities and in a concerted effort with Kontum Caritas Organization, has been taking care of the wounds of the leper patients and treat them at a location near their residential centers, especially for patients from remote counties such as Dak Tô and Tu Mơrông.

4 – ORPHANS AND HANDICAPPED CHILDREN ASSISTANCE PROGRAM

In Kontum, there are 6 orphanages run by the religious sisters of the Miraculous Medaille Order.  They are all called the Vinh Sơn Orphanages, numbered from 1 through 6.  The daily life of the children in the Vinh Son Orphanages is still naturally very hard.  However, because Vinh Son No. 1 and 2 are located within the city of Kontum, they get the visits and helps from many people and charitable organizations. For this reason, KMF concentrates more of its efforts to Vinh Sơn Orphanages No. 3, 4, 5 and 6. which are located relatively far away from the city center, definitely not easy for traveling, and rarely get visited.  The above 4 orphanages have 348 students, from new born to 18 years old with all children in school age in school attendance.

Lunch Time at Vinh Son 6 Orphanage

 

More than 100 orphans at Vinh Son 4

The orphans in Vinh Son 3 celebrating Tết

To all our benefactors:

“A morsel when hungry is equivalent to a feast when full”.

Please continue to cooperate and work together with  KMF organization in continuing the four programs to help the poor of Kontum as in previous years. We wish that all donors from near and far continue to join their hands and efforts in helping us.

Saigon 5/12/2022

Nguyễn Anh Võ,

KMF Vietnam Representative