I am writing this letter from the city of Thu Duc in Viet Nam. This city is 15km [a little more then 9 miles] northeast of the famous city of Saigon [it is now called Ho Chi Minh City].

I arrived here on 14 May 2009 to work on a water well drilling project to help poor children, in small villages, have clean drinking water. I am working with a group of Franciscan priests and brothers to help me locate the villages that need someone to drill water wells.

Many children live in poor communities and have no access to clean water. If they have the money they can buy water, otherwise they have to travel to a river or a government location to collect water.

Safe, clean drinking water can save many children from diseases, especially babies and older people.

While I am waiting for the new drilling equipment to arrive, from America, I accepted an invitation [volunteer] to teach English to seventy-five [75] Franciscan Seminary Students here in the city of Thu Duc [Tu Vien Phanxico]. (This means: Franciscan Monastery). It is named for St. Francis of Assisi, my patron Saint..

My day begins at 4:30 AM with the morning bell waking me from a deep sleep. I have little time to get ready before climbing the thirty-one [31] steps to the chapel on the 4th floor. The students pray, sing and have Mass everyday.

After breakfast, at 6:30 AM. I have a few moments to prepare for my first class at 7:30 AM, [in the first week I had four classes each day, but now I have only three]. Before lunch, at 11:30 AM. I have some free time to send and receive emails, [usually, unless some students want to practice speaking English with me].

The sun is very hot in the south of Viet Nam, so most people take a two (2) hour nap/sleep before the afternoon classes begin at 2:00 PM. I teach another group at 2 o’clock for 2 hours. If it is not raining, we might walk to the medication garden to hold a class [the morning class also prefers to work in the garden].

This garden is very peaceful and beautiful. The Director of this Seminary was an engineer before becoming a priest and helped design a beautiful area with small buildings that look like the original buildings in Italy that St. Francis of Assisi taught, preached and lived in, when he was alive.

I have sent a few pictures to share with you. The first pictures show the village of St. Francis, in the Italian city of Umbria. The next picture is the original home of the Sisters of St. Claire and the last one is a closer view of the detailed work needed to recreate this beautiful scene.

Okay, this letter is getting too long, so, let me finish my day and stop writing. Dinner is 6:30 PM, next preparation or answer and send emails, 8:00 to 9:30 PM class, talk with some students [they always want to talk, they forget I need my sleep because they are young people 19 to 25 years old and I am 65].

Finally, the day has ended at 10:00 PM or later. I walk down the stairs for the last steps of the day ready for sleep and another 253 up and down steps.

• More than one billion people do not have access to safe water.
• Diarrhea caused by drinking contaminated water remains a leading cause of illness and death among infants and children in the developing world.

June 26, 2009
KATU TV in Portland Oregon received information about the plight of Francis sitting in Viet Nam waiting for the manufacturer of the equipment to ship it. Upon seeing the many months of delay Brian Barker made the following report. Click here to visit KATU's web site, or Click here if that link does not work.

The next phase of this project will be purchasing U.S. made drill equipment that will be easier to operate and decrease the cost per well. Go to the linked page and see what this equipment will be and how it will operate.

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VNCAP
Viet Nam Children Assistance Programs
7620 SW Sage Place Beaverton, OR  97008 USA Tel- 011-503-526-1726 fax - 011-419-793-6399
http://www/vncap.org
OR reg. # 501099-93 EIN: 91-1796800 Tax-exempt 501(c)(3) Organization

Contact us on  Contact name: friendlyfellow

• In Viet Nam more than 25 million people, including about 80 percent of the country’s poorest populations, still cannot access safe water.
  
  
• About 1.8 million children die every year due to diarrhea diseases.
  
  
• More children die from diarrhea illnesses, like cholera and dysentery, than from HIV/AIDS or malaria combined.

• Thousands of children in Viet Nam suffer from easily preventable health problems, including skin infections, digestive problems, scabies, trachoma [1] and flea, lice and tick borne diseases, as a result of the contaminated water they drink and bathe in every day.
  
  
• It is well documented that simply providing safe, clean, drinking water can reduce deadly diarrhea and other devastating diseases by about 50%.
  
  
• Viet Nam is known around the world for having some of the highest levels of arsenic in its drinking water.

note: [1] tra• cho• ma• n, a contagious bacterial eye disease in which scar tissue forms inside the eyelid, eventually causing it to curve inward and the eyelashes to scrape the eye, often leading to infection.

Get involved with the work we are doing with charitable organizations and educational programs that support this effort to bring clean water to people in need.

Together we can make a difference.