In 2006, local teacher Nguyen Vinh started a breakfast program for Dakbla Secondary School students. Seeing the great success of the program, he inspired Sandra Mead, also a former teacher, to partner with the Dakbla Kindergarten to help start an anti-malnutrition program for younger children.

It all began in September 2008 with Sandra contributing $US1000 to the setup. TRT learned of this project through Sandra's son, who works at the company, and have now matched her donation to help kick-start the project. Already the benefits are starting to flow to the children.

"The local community and kindergarten leaders are all extremely enthusiastic and supportive of the program and showing us incredible hospitality. The parents are so grateful that there are no words to express their deep emotions – they think of us as angels. We are making a real difference," said Sandra.

As a very poor area, there is an extremely high mortality rate for mothers in childbirth, which leaves many children in orphanages. Plus, the vast majority of the parents are subsistence farmers who have no choice but to work long hours in the fields.

The result is that kindergartens often take over the demanding role of providing meals, healthcare, toilets, hygiene, love, support and parenting for the children - often before, during and after school. This care is provided by incredibly hardworking teachers using whatever rudimentary cooking and medical equipment they can find.

"Despite incredible challenges, the children are beautiful, clever, friendly, loving and enthusiastic about life. They all deserve the best start in life," continued Sandra.

To simply feed the children, basics are urgently needed such as long-life milk, bread, fruit, medical kits, medicines and vitamin supplements, not to mention school equipment and books.

"TRT is proud to be supporting the fantastic staff and supporters of Dakbla Commune Kindergarten. Our initial goal is to simply ensure that the children get one nutritious meal per school day to give them the energy they need to gain an education and remain healthy."

Domenic Romanelli, Managing Director, TRT

The project began with one class and the team look forward to expanding the program into other classes and kindergartens as rapidly as possible.

If you'd like to support the cause, please contact Sandra Mead:

Feeding Breakfast Program - Feed one child for AUD $45.00 per year:

One child needs 540,000vnd / per year.
5 breakfast meals / 1 week X 4 weeks = 20 meals
20 meals X 9 months = 180 meals / a year
One meal costs AUD $0.25
AUD $0.25 X 180 = AUD $45 / one child per year.
Children are fed class by class
Average Class size = 25
AUD $45 X 35 Children = $1,575 per year to feed 1 class
Each village has one class.