A US freelance writer traveled to Vietnam for her work and discovered a cause so personal that she established a foundation to help raise funds for deaf children in Vietnam.

Paige Stringer was working on an article about customized vacations when she traveled to Vietnam last year. Born hard of hearing, she volunteered at Thuan An Centre in southern Binh Duong province for deaf children for two and a half weeks.

She observed a distinct difference between the limitations of the school and her personal experience growing up in the US .

“A lot of hearing aids were old and outdated,” Stringer was quoted by Northwest Asian Weekly as saying. She also found that Thuan An Centre lacked the proper training and resources needed to assist children with hearing problems.

She also learned that most deaf and hearing impaired children in Vietnam did not receive an education past the 7 th grade. This prevents them from attending college or learning any vocational skills which would assist them in developing a career.

This year, Stringer established the Global Foundation for Children with Hearing Loss - a nonprofit organisation that is designed to provide resources to children so that they may be able to obtain the necessary education and equipment to function as independent adults. She hopes that the initial work done in Vietnam will lead to sponsored programmes in other countries.

The foundation would provide a month-long teacher training workshop at the Thuan An Centre. The workshop will bring together 80 teachers in Vietnam with 10 visiting experts who work in the areas of auditory-verbal and deaf education./.