10 Highlights of Caritas Dalat in 2020

Thursday, February 11, 2021

The year 2020 is marked by historical events in the world and in Vietnam. COVID-19 has claimed the lives of at least 1,700,000 people around the world and many others have been affected, lost their jobs, quarantined, isolated... 249 people have died in historic floods in the Central region of Vietnam and many people have lost their houses, property, crops damaged...

Caritas Da Lat before these historical events also stopped many activities. But thank be to God that He still opens many opportunities for us to continue to deepen and become more professional in sustainable development activities.

 

1. Laudato Si' Learning and Action Programs:

2020 marks the 5th anniversary of the publication of the encyclical Laudato Si' by the Pope. Caritas Dalat’s employees held online self-study and sharing sessions about Laudato Si' message, especially during the quarantine days due to COVID-19 in April 2020. Caritas also sent employees to attend an online course to become an advocate for the Laudato Si (Laudato Si Animator) message organized by the Global Catholic Climate Network. Through practical exercises, Caritas office had activities during the Creative Season (from September 1 to October 4) such as: outdoor mass, prayer and seed exchange, tree planting ceremony, prayer travel, and environmental talks for Caritas Parish. In addition, during Laudato Si' week (May 16-24), we organized a prayer for the environment with young people, communication sessions about Laudato Si for parishes along with a prayer for the Earth environment.

 

2. Caritas parish network:

With the desire to develop the network of Caritas parishes, Caritas Diocese of Da Lat is focusing on building and strengthening the management (deputy) board of Caritas districts. Despite being affected by COVID-19 and many canceled programs, Caritas in some districts still actively organizes a number of events such as fundraising activities of Don Duong county(district), day of prayer for life of DaLat county, promoting to establish Caritas in parishes and developing members of Duc Trong Caritas… Furthermore, some parishes in the diocese were also invited to bring the message of Laudato Si' to life. Therefore, a series of exchange forums and learn from Laudato Si' lay people were also built. One parish in each district was selected to participate in the learning exchange process to create change, including parishes: Mother of God Dalat, Donbosco Salesian Dalat, Diom, Da Tong, Duc Giang, Kala, Da Loan, Madaguoi.

With the kick-off forum held on October 15-16, 2020, participants were motivated to commit to greater commitment to themselves and their families in Laudato Si' while also inspiring others for associations/collections in the parish, local neighbors living together in Laudato Si' spirit.

In 2020, 272 more people from 9 parishes participated in making membership cards to join Caritas Vietnam, of which Nghia Lam, An Hoa and Du Sinh were parishes that applied for membership cards for the first time.

 

3. Program to support mental patients at Trong Duc facility:

    Despite being affected by COVID 19, activities to support mentally ill people at Trong Duc campus were still organized: 1 picnic in Vung Tau, monthly meetings with core groups (1 men group, 1 women group), a mental health communication day for the patient's family and some parish Caritas. In addition, the program also organized events on holidays for the brothers in the facility: Lunar New Year, Easter, Flower Month, Mid-Autumn Festival, and Christmas. The service staff also exchanged and learned to expand their professional knowledge. Seminar (Studying) trips to mental health camps in Gia lai and in Can Tho. The staff also attended a course on mental health care and case management organized by DOLISA. In addition, the patient's (sick and elderly) are still receiving physical health care, taking mental medicine every day, participating in entertainment activities, listening to music, watching movies, doing sports and making rosary chains activities, create discipline such as queuing up when eating, cleaning the house, brushing teeth, etc.

The presence of Caritas staff at the facility helps to improve the patient's quality of life and be treated with more dignity.

 

4. Accompanying the Associations of People with Disabilities (PWDs) in Lam Dong province:

Caritas Dalat has been supporting PWDs in Lam Dong province for more than 7 years. However, the accompaniment is stopping at discrete activities to meet the needs of some associations. Inspired by the Tu Dan self development project, Caritas Da Lat realized that in order to make a change in the way the association is run, organized and operated, a forum for learning exchange between PWDs in the province can be a solution to speed up this process. So, with the kick-off workshop held at the end of September 2020, a 2-year learning exchange program was built, the topics stemming from the needs of the associations and the participants. The first workshop with the topic of organizational development and leadership skills will be conducted in February 2021 in an exchange and learning activity with the Can Tho PWD Association.

In parallel with the kick-off forum, with the cooperation of PWD associations, Caritas Da Lat completed a survey of 1018 cases of PWD in Lam Dong province. These databases help CDL to understand the situation of people with disabilities and to have an overview of the program to support people with disabilities.

Three communication training sessions on communication skills, prevention of diphtheria, children with cerebral palsy and physical therapy were also conducted for the executive board and some members of the association.

 

5. Savings and micro-credit programs:

The savings-microcredit program established by CDL in 2008 continues to be maintained and developed by more groups in new communities. Members are ethnic minority women who practice saving and managing money in small groups. The amount of savings accumulated over time will help women in the group reduce pre-term loans in times of emergency. In addition, with the program's support capital, the sisters were also able to borrow money to invest in production. Loans are rotated annually.

With nearly 1,000 people participating in the savings program, the total amount of people's accounts by the end of 2020 has reached 2.9 billion VND plus a support loan managed by Caritas of 2.5 billion.

 

6. Learning exchange forums between communities:

From the first steps involved in the Independent (Self) Development program in 2013, CDL now has a period of time to be trained in more knowledge, skills, accumulate experience in working with the community to create change. We realize it's time to let go to let the community be more proactive in their process. In particular, CDL with the role of fueling the fire will organize forums to promote the exchange of learning between communities. Therefore, in 2020, many series of forums (learning exchange platform (LEP)) were formed to accelerate this process. An organized LEP for communities that already have a product (SLEP), to be in the process of developing, finalizing the process and organization; and a new Caritas outreach LEP, not yet product driven (CLEP).

The kick-off workshop was held in June 2020 in Da Lat. Thereafter, the CLEP 1 and SLEP 2 workshops were held in Dinh Trang Hoa and Dung K'no respectively in July and September 2020. The forums helped Caritas employees gain skills in promotion and organizational skills, as well as deepening the fields of ecological agriculture, community organization, and marketing. Communities are deeply inspired in their change process.

 

7. Training courses in the community:

In 2020, CDL would continue to organize a number of intensive training courses for the community. Instructors from organizations or individuals were referred through Misereor's network of connections.

In early June 2020, CDL invited Mr. Phung Huu Chinh, a bee expert, to conduct a 3-day training course on how to hunt and trap bees and how to collect, process and preserve high-quality honey. This is a follow-up activity from his field trip to Dung K'no which was carried out in 2019.

The international training course on Community Livelihood Assessment and Product Review (CLAPS) scheduled to be held in February 2020 has been canceled due to COVID-19. However, by October 2020, with the cooperation of the Vietnam Non-timber Forest Products Exchange Forum (NTFP-EP) and the Southern Institute of Ecology, CDL was able to organize a training course for staff. Resource set on management and development of non-timber forest products.

In addition, at the KaTip community, the farmers in the group also had a day to test the soil and participate in a workshop on the harmful effects of chemical fertilizers.

To proceed with the establishment of the Caritas Dalat Farmers Guarantee System (CFGS) for the Ohmi Koho coffee group, the team invited CDL's CFGS expert to conduct a number of sessions. The process will continue until June 2021 before the team can obtain CFGS certification in organic coffee farming.

 

8. Development ideas in the community:

Ideas from communities are developed over time to form groups and organizations that can create specific products, or preserve indigenous culture, specifically in the communities where Caritas works. There are the following groups:

(1) Iem Goh - Tutra Vegetable Cooperative Group: The Iem Goh group currently has 11 members who persist in pursuing organic vegetable growing. The group is increasingly known, including local authorities, to create favorable conditions and opportunities for the group to access state policies and programs on supporting organic agriculture. In 2020, with the extreme climate situation causing a lot of damage to gardeners, vegetable production decreased significantly, also causing the group's fund to decrease. So the team members got a little impatient. The group is still looking for ways to consolidate production and business organization.

(2) Ohmi Koho Coffee Group – Dinh Trang Hoa: With 8 members, the Ohmi Koho group with special organic coffee products is equipped with a roasting system to produce the final product. The team is also in the process of finding customers and marketing products to give people more motivation in the transition.

(3) Da Nhar youth group: A group of 5 young people (both husband and wife) in Da Nhar village have been experimenting to develop many typical products from the forest such as wild tea, dried bamboo shoots. In parallel with the processing, some of you are also nursing some native forest varieties to intercrop in your garden. The group designed drying racks, invested in some packaging equipment and designed packaging labels.

(4) Loc Tan gong group: Self-designed and built a traditional house on stilts with local materials collected in the forest, people in village 2 Loc Tan also formed a group to preserve and develop the culture gongs. The group planned to teach those who want to learn how to beat gongs and traditional dances. The group also had receptions for guests (journalists, cultural researchers, etc.) according to the old custom in order to pass on their heritage to them.

(5) Natural dyeing – Dung K'No: While brocade weaving in many places is disappearing and shrinking, in Dung K'no, there are still many women who know and practice brocade weaving in a good way skilled. Especially in the village, there is a profession of dyeing cotton yarn with natural colors: indigo from Tram, orange from cashew nuts, green from bean leaves, yellow from turmeric... Trendethics - France, has been accompanying to develop and introduce natural dyed brocade products of local people to France. Ecological cultivation of cotton is also being started in the pilot phase.

(6) Lieng Trang 2 cereal group + Cilmup: The group has collected local and ecologically grown cereal varieties. The group's first product was first used to eat, then to be sold in the community and to acquaintances.

(7) Youth groups:

+ Loc Tan 2 youth group: The group has about 25 young people and some 45 year olds, of which 2/5 are married. The group is responsible for managing a communal garden in the village. With an enthusiastic and capable young leader, the group seeks to learn and practice ecologically for the common garden as well as the farm of the member families. The group receives strong support from parents and counselors on special occasions.

+ Young group Da Nhinh 1 with many marketing-oriented ideas, the group opened a snack shop, found land to plant ecological products for the shop, and created a common fund. Many other ideas are gradually forming and developing over time.

(8) Other ecological models: In addition, there are many initiatives of farmers applying in the garden related to ecological agriculture such as grass coffee, redesigning coffee gardens by planting intercropping, composting, EM probiotics, livestock groups... These models are implemented in households, in farmer groups in 11 communes working on CDL's PLD project.

 

9. Project of 5 organizations:

As a joint project owner of 5 organizations (Caritas Da Lat, CSDM, CEPHAD, DWC, Caritas Phan Thiet) with the theme of Vietnam's mountainous ethnic minorities integrating and self-governing to ensure food sovereignty , CDL has tried a lot in this COVID year. Through the long process of searching for foreign experts in the field of Independent Development, and through the months with the complicated development of the epidemic and the inability to invite foreign experts, the project finally found a solution. Ms. Elizabeth Cruzada, a Filipino with many years of experience in community development in the Philippines and some Asian countries, was selected as an expert for the project. Since each participating organization has a different understanding of PLD and agro-ecology, an online training route for the staff of 5 organizations is needed to prepare for the 7-day workshop in Da Lat. Online learning sessions have been underway since early November 2020. The content aims to bring participatory action research (also known as the action-response-action cycle) into the vision and the mission of the organization. Employees also have the opportunity to reflect on their mission in community development. Facilitation skills and agro-ecological dimensions are also topics in the online training sessions with hands-on exercises within the organizations.

The Agro-Ecology Participatory Action Research Workshop on Agroecology taking place in Da Lat from December 7-13, 2020 was the culmination of the training session. Organizations have developed processes to promote with tools to help people do research so they can recognize problems in their communities and find solutions. These methods are practically practiced in 3 communities of Da Loan, Loc Tan and Dang K'no. The proposed solutions are proposed by the people and committed to implementation. CDL staff will continue to work with the community on action plans for these solutions and follow-up assessments through regular meetings. That way, the community will gradually create change for their own village.

 

10. Accompany other Caritas.

As a pioneering Catholic organization for Self-reliance Development in Vietnam, CDL has a mission to introduce, share and support other organizations to replicate the spirit of PLD. With the companionship of CDL, Caritas Phan Thiet completed the 2-year project. Caritas Phan Thiet and the community have the opportunity to participate in a number of training programs organized by CDL, attend the PLD review meeting to be inspired and have ideas in action. CDL was invited to share PLD practice experience with people in Phan Thiet. Ms. Dinh Thi Hong Phuc was invited to be present and help Misereor's advisor to assess Dr. Ngo Tien Dung with CPT about rice program in Phan Thiet.

In addition to the above 10 highlights, there are many other charitable activities/programs that Caritas Da Lat is continuing to maintain for many years. May God continue to bless our Caritas Dalat family in our mission of collaborating with Him to build a better society and world.

 Da Lat in the last days of the Year of the Rat

 Caritas Dalat Office