What you hope for the year ahead

What you hope for the year ahead Daily’s reporters Dinh Dung and Trung Chau asked expats what their reflection on the year that has been and their hopes for the next year. Seek all the help for disable children in challenging new year “SCC has received support from many friends around the world. We work with individuals, companies and specialist foundations to raise money. Every donation is important to us – whether it is $1 or $10,000” Finnis said, adding that occasionally organizations hold special events to raise money, and that more than 75% of SCC’s income comes from outside Vietnam. Reviewing SCC’s activities, Finnis identified the major difficulty for SCC in 2008 was inflation, as it was for many people, particularly the enormous fluctuations in the price of rice as well school building projects, with some costs almost doubling. “Rice is a core ingredient of our scholarship scheme where we give each child 10kg of rice a month. When we support 3,000 children, even a small change in prices can badly affect our budget,” he said. Saigon Children’s Charity will focus on its work here in HCMC and in three provinces, namely Tra Vinh, Tay Ninh and Tien Giang, and it will also look to work more with children with disabilities over the next few years. However, Finnis foresaw that there would be more challenges in the year to come given the economic downturn. “Next year, I know will be more difficult as a result of the global financial…