Lavang Boarding House

16 College Students with Sr. Nga at the Lavang Boarding House.

Women college students from poor families in Vietnam struggle to live up to their college dream. Most come from the countryside and encounter cultural shock when they have to move into the cities for college. Some can afford college tuitions with their parents’ life savings through long and hard working hours, but expenses for food and a place to live impede them from applying for college. While others can afford both tuition and boarding, their living condition is not conducive to a healthy environment. They have to rent rooms in the cities that fit their meager budget; sometimes these rooms can become the most undesirable place to inhabit.

Vietnamese culture still embraces a preference of sons over daughters with regard to education. This is the main reason why fewer women have the opportunity to pursue a college degree. Realizing the difficulties these young women are encountering Vietnam Dream for Success seeks to provide tuition, room, and board for twenty female students from poor families annually. We hope that within four years of college these women will obtain their respective college degrees and secure stable jobs to support themselves and their families.

It is also our goal to instill in these young women a thirst and discipline for learning and scholarship, as well as an eagerness and generous disposition to render assistance to the less fortunate in society. Above all, our Lavang Boarding House instills in these students Jesus’ legacy of unconditional love and gracious service, for just as they have received freely, they will give freely to others.

Students studying at the Lavang Boarding House.

Students studying computer at the Lavang Boarding House.

With $500 a year you can sponsor a college student at our boarding house and enable her to complete her college education and secure for her a career that ensures economic security for herself and her family. She relies on your generosity, and her family depends on her future.

Currently we have 16 young students residing at the Lavang Boarding House. All of their meals, room and board, and tuitions and books are taken care of by VDS. Since its operation in 2007, we have had five graduates with degrees in veterinarian technology and nutrition nurse. Next year (2010) we will have eight graduates. Our students attend several colleges and universities in Saigon and major in various fields. We instill in these students the spirit of gratitude and giving back to society. Once they are successful and secured financial, they are encouraged to help other college students who need assistance just as they have been assisted.

Students praying for VDS benefactors and giving thanks to God
in the chapel at the Lavang Boarding House

Students praying before Our Lady of Lavang Shrine
at the Lavang Boarding House.

Students sharing meals at the Lavang Boarding House.

Students commute with bicycles from the Lavang Boarding House
to the bus station nearby and then catch their bus to their colleges.