News

CEEVN Contributes to the Da Nang People Committee's Fund to Keep Needy Children in Schools
In January 2014, CEEVN made a contribution to the comprehensive rural development project of Hoa Vang and Thanh Khe districts in Da Nang. This contribution was made in response to a request for assistance from the Da Nang's People Committee in their efforts to keep children with difficult family conditions in school, and enabled forty students from needy families who were on the verge of dropping out to stay in school during the 2014- 2015 academic year. The $125 that was donated to each of the forty students has helped him/her to obtain textbooks, gain access to tutorial services, procure annual health insurance, and purchase two sets of school uniforms, shoes, and a physical education uniform. Half of the students attend Hoang Dieu Junior High School, while the other half attend Hoa Son II Elementary School.

On January 22, 2015, Dr. Ha Thang Long, one of CEEVN's IFP alumni from Da Nang City, attended the ceremony held by the Department of Education and Training at the two schools. These students and their families were present to receive the assistance. Students were selected based on their family conditions and economic hardship. A number are orphans, or have lost parents and are living with relatives.

Photos (above and below) provided by the Department of External Relations Committee, Da Nang City.

ACLS-CEEVN Awarded Certificate by President of VUFO
In December 2014, PACCOM (Vietnam People's Aid Coordinating Committee) announced that the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organizations (VUFO) had awarded ACLS-CEEVN the Certificate of the President of VUFO. This prestigious certificate is given to international non-governmental organizations that have made "outstanding contributions to the socio-economic development of Vietnam in 2014."



The certificate was presented to ACLS-CEEVN by Mr. Vu Xuan Hong, President of VUFO, in a ceremony attended by nearly 250 representatives of foreign humanitarian NGOs in Hanoi on December 19, 2014. Ms. Nguyen Xuan Huong accepted the award on behalf of ACLS-CEEVN.

The award that accompanied the Certificate of the President of VUFO.

ACLS-CEEVN Provides Support for International Underwater Archaeology Symposium in Vietnam
The following is a summary of an article that originally appeared in Vietnam News (The National English Language Daily) on October 16. The full text of the article in English can be viewed at http://vietnamnews.vn/life-style/261473/vn-needs-young-underwater-archaeologists.html.

Researchers from seventeen countries attend the first International Underwater Archaeology symposium held in Vietnam on October 15, 2014. [Photo credit: Nguyen Xuan Huong, CEEVN Hanoi].

With ACLS-CEEVN support, the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences (VASS), in cooperation with the Quang Ngai Provincial People's Committee, organized the first international symposium in Vietnam on underwater archaeology. Held on October 14-16, 2014 in Quang Ngai City, the event, entitled "Underwater Archaeology in Vietnam and Southeast Asia: Cooperation for Development," brought together 170 experts in the field from 17 countries to discuss the need to cultivate the young field in Vietnam as a means of identifying and preserving sites of historical significance along Vietnam's coastline. Researchers participating in the conference—including VASS President Nguyen Xuan Thang and Nguyen Giang Hai, head of Vietnam's Institute for Archaeology—undertook field visits to two such sites nearby, Ly Son Island and the Binh Chau coastal commune, the latter of which is said to contain more than half a dozen shipwrecks dating from the tenth to eighteenth centuries. Artifacts from these shipwrecks are under threat from local residents, who have stolen and sold valuable items for profit, a practice which, according to conference participants, will likely continue unless Vietnam trains researchers in this emerging field, and works to designate such sites as national and world heritage sites.

A collection of 13th-century pottery and ceramics found in Binh Chau coastline is among 500 items recovered from underwater archeological excavations on display at an exhibition that opened at Quang Ngai City museum on October 13. [Photo credit: Nguyen Xuan Huong, CEEVN Hanoi]

An assortment of 13th-century commercial ceramic pieces from a shipwreck found in Vietnam Central coastal waters on display at Quang Ngai City museum. [Photo credit: Nguyen Xuan Huong, CEEVN Hanoi]

Further reading on underwater archaeology:

The Vietnam Maritime Archaeology Project Center: http://www.themua.org/vietnam/

On VietnamNet (posted October 16, 2014): http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/art-entertainment/114277/quang-ngai-exhibits-500-underwater-antiques.html

The Conversation (posted November 7, 2012): http://theconversation.com/first-wrecked-now-pillaged-vietnams-underwater-treasure-10219/