Some of you may have already been following our journey and the story behind this family through our blogs, video blogs, pictures and also previous crowd funding page. For those of you who have not been made aware of this project here is a summary of our ultimate goal...

This single mother (sadly her name is unknown) is deaf and mute and has become a victim of rape multiple times and as an outcome now raises two young daughters by herself. we have recently been informed that this act is something her daughters, Lyly (age 4 ) and Mimi (age 3 ) have also been exposed too, unaware of the abuse. They live on the top of a very steep hill in the North of Vietnam a small tribal village called Ta Van in Sa Pa. Their home is built on a very small piece of land that just about holds itself level on the side of the eroding hill. Made of plastic sheets and bamboo the front door is secured with a flimsy piece of wire and a pocket size padlock, inside is a small platform slightly off the ground with a couple of blankets where the three of them sleep.

As the girls grow older they are becoming more vulnerable to the same dangers and abuse their mother has encountered and with lack of education we are highly concerned for their safety. The girls are luckily able to attend school for free in the local community, they are very smart, understanding and beginning to speak English as well as their native language and signing to communicate with their mother, Lily helps her mother to communicate to others which is inspiring for someone so young herself.

So the latest updates... With help from previous donations we have now been able to rent the land that the family currently live on for the next 15 years. This means that now the family is at no threat to loosing their home and the owner of the land they have been staying on is no longer in a position to use the land for any other purpose, which was recently a concerning issue. With the land being rented for the next 15 years under the two daughters names we are now able to start building the structure of their new secure home. Two people, Dahlia and Callum, who are highly invested and committed to this project are currently living in Sa Pa, settling contracts and spending personal time with the family, educating the girls further on their safety and also keeping a close eye on the progress and ensuring everything is moving forwards.

The building work has all began and now all we have left to do is raise further donations for electricity and some furniture. Any donation that you might be able to spare is going to make a massive difference and change for the welfare and protection of this family. We have been so thankful and amazed for the donations we have received so far and with this, the plan is now in action and we are baby steps away from this project being completed and hopefully in the next few months the family will have their secure and fully functioning house ready!

Here are some links to follow from my personal blog page which explains the emotional connection we felt when we first found this family and the journey we took into first helping them...

https://internationalsmile.blog/2017/05/15/reaching-out/

And here is also Dahlia's video blog from the first trip taken to gather information about how we could help...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbfvAS59-ms&feature=youtu.be

Thank you for taking your time to read this story!