UK charity helps Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia

The executive board of Medical and Scientific Aid for Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia (MSAVLC), a UK charity organisation, held its annual meeting in London on April 28 to review its 2013 activities.
The executive board of Medical and Scientific Aid for Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia (MSAVLC), a UK charity organisation, held its annual meeting in London on April 28 to review its 2013 activities.

MSAVLC Chairman and General Secretary Peter Lidgard said 2013 was a year full of challenges to the organisation as half of its eight-member executive board retired. Yet i still managed to mobilise donations to spend on wheelchairs and hearing-aid devices to Agent Orange/dioxin victims in Hanoi and medical equipment and health care for the elderly in the central province of Ha Tinh. Other activities were held in the northern mountainous province of Cao Bang and Ho Chi Minh City.

The body funded the New Hope Children’s Home project in Poipet, Cambodia and a well construction in Suan Luang orphan village in Laos.

Also during 2013, Ligard and his spouse Mary, an executive board member, made a four-month fact-finding trip to these countries to observe the MSAVLC-funded humanitarian projects.

Ambassador Vu Quang Minh said the Vietnamese embassy is willing to bridge MSAVLC with organisations with shared interest in Vietnam under the umbrella of the “Vietnam – UK network”.

The embassy plans to launch a new campaign to raise funds for MSAVLC, Minh said, expressing hope that the Cambodian and Lao embassies will back this initiative.

He also proposed producing a documentary about MSAVLC’s humanitarian activities to mark its 50th founding anniversary by 2015.-VNA

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