Glocal Ventures

Zachary Masaru Chau was born at 2:45 a.m. on August 13, weighing 2.9 kg / 6.4 lbs. He was born at home safely with the help of a friend who is a mid-wife. Zachary and mom Becky are both doing well.

I love the word ‘glocal’ because it truly embodies what happens when we work in Vietnam. We are making a global impact as we work on different projects and initiatives in Vietnam. And we are moving into very small communities and villages, moving in a very local context…

Leading off with what may be the best sound bite of all GVI newsletters published so far, veteran trip leader Hank Reed recounts NorthWood’s 10th Orphanage Support trip
A great trip. Every challenge was met with a smile and a can do attitude. Anytime you can go in and pour over 2,000 cubic feet of [...]

Monica Laurendeau from Forefront Church, Virginia Beach, writes about her third summer serving in Ta Phin, Lao Cai.
Most of my time this year was spent teaching. Yeah, I know I’m not a real teacher, but I certainly learned that God can do amazing things using plain ordinary people. The teacher’s conference was for [...]

July 2010 marks the 15th anniversary of normalized diplomatic relations between the US and Vietnam. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton was in Hanoi to celebrate the occassion.
GVI got in on the celebrations as one of the NGO sponsors of the event. Several pictures of our volunteers and our projects were shown on a Powerpoint loop [...]

I feel truly blessed to have been able to be part of this trip and experience a small slice of Vietnam. While I came over intending to be on a panel for the conference, and in essence, helping to “teach” on the topic of Human Relations, I came back to the U.S. realizing that I was actually the student in many ways…

We were impressed with the high level of engagement and humbled by the sincere generosity shown by our new friends at HYBA. We enjoyed connecting with our new friends on who they thought might make it to the final rounds of the World Cup.

Ernest H. never covered Vietnam, but another Hemingway did. Intrepid GVI volunteer and Elderly Care specialist Mark Hemingway gets close to the action and lives to write about his 3rd visit to Vietnam…

Huong safely delivered a healthy daughter at 4 pm on Saturday, May 8 at the French Hospital in Hanoi. Her daughter was born at a healthy 3 kg (6.6 lbs). Baby’s nickname is May (for her birth month) and at the moment, it’s her only name. Huong is having a hard time deciding on her official name…

- by Hoang Thi Bic, administrator and newest member of GVI’s team
I met NorthWood teams years ago when I was a waitress at Alfrescos restaurant. I was so appreciative of what they were doing for Vietnamese people, especially for the kids. I was deeply impressed by their kindness (I thought to myself, “I am Vietnamese [...]