As a VIA alum, I’d have to say that it was one of the best experiences of my life. Like all “one of the best experiences of my life” stories, I met new friends whom I still keep in touch with, saw things that I never thought I’d ever see or even knew existed, ate some of the world’s best foods, struggled with new cultures, struggled with myself, fell in love, got lost on a new adventure, shared in laughs and tears…

It was amazing.

Now is the recruiting season for VIA. If you are looking to do something abroad- whether you know what you want to do or not- take the time to look at the below links and see if it sparks your interest. There’s so much of the world to see. There’s so many wonderful people to meet and get to know. Take that chance and live out a new story in your life. I’ll do my best to share some of the ones I’ve had in a new category called “Volunteer in Asia with VIA”.

Brief VIA Information Page

VIA Website

If you have questions, feel free to leave it in the comments section or contact VIA directly. I had tons- and they answered them all.

Dear Friends and Supporters,

I am writing to let you know about Blue Dragon’s emergency relief efforts following Typhoon Ketsana.

The typhoon struck central Vietnam on September 29. At least 163 people were killed by the storm, and over 6000 homes were completely washed away.

Blue Dragon has long been working in two areas of central Vietnam, Hoi An town and Hue province, where the typhoon hit. We are relieved to report that none of the families we are working with lost their lives as a result of the typhoon.

Sadly, however, almost all of the families and children we work with in those areas have been badly affected.

Hoi An Town

In Hoi An, where Blue Dragon runs the Hoi An Children’s Home, a flash flood caused by a collapsed dam resulted in the loss of many personal items belonging to the 30 kids living there. Thanks to some private donations from around the world, we have been able to replace those lost clothes, books, and personal effects.

Hue Province

In Hue, the typhoon was much more devastating. Many homes lost their roofs or were destroyed totally. Some families lost everything they owned.

Immediately after the typhoon, Blue Dragon worked with the United Nations International School (UNIS) to deliver rice, noodles, and other essentials to over 300 families in coastal areas of Hue province. We were careful to ensure that we were delivering emergency supplies to families who were in the greatest need, and had not received support from any other agency.

Follow-up

Almost a month has passed, but the situation in Hue province remains dire. Hue airport has been closed recently due to flooding, as storms continue to cause havoc. Many roads remain impassable.

One consequence of this ongoing disaster is that impoverished fishing families from coastal areas have been unable to go to work for a full month. This is leading to widespread hunger in many areas of Hue.

As I write, Blue Dragon staff are in Hue distributing over 4.5 tons of rice and noodles, which have been funded by the Australian Chamber of Commerce in Ho Chi Minh City. We are also providing families with simple water filtration systems which will provide clean drinking water for at least 2 years.

What’s next?

Everyone is hoping that the rain will ease and the floods start to recede soon. Once that happens, Blue Dragon will start helping families to rebuild damaged or destroyed homes.

At the moment, we have enough money for the ‘emergency relief’ phase of this work, but we would welcome donations to help us with the repair and rebuilding that will take place over the coming months. You can visit our website if you wish to donate – www.streetkidsinvietnam.com – or email us on info@bdcf.org.

See for yourself

The Blue Dragon blog – www.vietnamstreets.blogspot.com – has some photos of the affected areas, as well as images of our relief work.

With sincere thanks for your support,

Michael Brosowski
Director
Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation

I think I was too hyped up to see Borobudur that when I got there, I found myself wandering around asking myself, “There’s got to be more than this.”

Not to say that it’s not impressive, but I thought that- it being a temple meant that- you could go inside it. Nope.

The stone carvings- from lava rocks- were impressively detailed. It was sad to see that some of the Buddhas had either been completely stolen or had their heads taken off. Most likely to be sold to a collector.

Technology is great. I love it- when it works.

I think that’s how we all feel about technology. We’re so use to it in our lives and on most days, it seems to work seemlessly. But on the days that it’s a tad slow or worse, not available, it just plain sucks.

One of the great movements of technology into our daily lives is the sharing of information. Rather, allowing for the greater access of digital files. In the past, and sometimes today, it was something of a mystery to get or share files. One way around it was to attach a file to an email, and email yourself. (I still do that from time to time.) Another way could be to use Google Docs. Even when you have your file “up there”, you may want to share it with someone else. This usually happens, per file. Yeah, you could arrange to share a folder, but that’s a few more steps than the average person wants to take. Next thing you know you have dozens of different web services accounts to do a little bit of everything. Think about it…

Gmail, Yahoo!, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Blogger, Wordpress, Flicker, Kodak, Picasa, DropBox, etc…………….

Multiple accounts because not everyone you know uses the same thing, and not every service provides what you want.

I know that not every service is supposed to be used for everything, and that we don’t want to share everything with all of our “friends” on Facebook, but you probably have 5 close people you want to share things with. Let’s narrow that down some more. Say you have 5 family members that you want to share things with, or a group of 5 close friends. You’re spread out all over the globe- heck, you could even be a small company- and want to share files, but also music, pictures, and recipes.

Technically speaking, the simplest solution would be to implement a file server that gives access to multiple users. Linux would be the cheapest solution, using Samba and SWAT. Yes, but not as pretty or as aesthetically pleasing as what the average user is accustomed to when it comes to installation, setup, and management.

Enter the HP solution.

HP EX485 MediaSmart Home Server (2.0 GHz Intel Celeron 64-Bit Processor, 750 GB Hard Drive, Windows Home Server)

And it’s cheap, too.

Links:
- http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001OI2ZG4
- http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/windowshomeserver/default.mspx

I’ll be setting up one of these bad boys next week at an NGO, and I am excited! I think every household, small business, or NGO should have one of these.

However, I do say this without having ever used Windows Home Server and can say that I am influenced by the hype and reviews online. But the potential in what I’ve read sounds exciting. I’ll have a post-op published at the start of May to validate or smash down my high hopes.

Action stations.