OUR STORY
the 3

MAINSTAYS OF SOTB
EDUCATION
Our main mission is to offer access to education to kids living along the Red River and in the Long Bien area. Within this framework, we have built a sponsorship program. This allows us to finance scholarships for the kids participating in our program within 7 different public schools. In the school year 2019/2020, 26 kids were registered on our program. Since the creation of School on the boat, 39 kids have had the chance to enter public school. To support their educational development, our N.G.O provide the children with an after school tutoring program. To assist the kids with their classes and homework, volunteers come to our office each evening to help them overcome difficulties in math, literature or English.
CULTURE
School on the Boat organises sports games, cultural and artistic after-school activities. It's an ideal way for the children to enjoy experiences that wouldn’t necessarily be available to them due to their socio-economic situation. Since 2011, the kids have visited the ethnology museum, the swimming pool, had a Do-paper workshop and circus training, had a hip hop class and even went ice-skating. Additionally, we organise trips beyond Hanoi. In October 2016, the project Run to Sapa was co-organised with it’s founder Valentin Orange. The children were able to discover the beautiful landscape of Northern Vietnam and create everlasting memories..
School on the Boat monitors the children's psychological development and contributes to their medical expenses (surgery, dental, material purchases).
In order for a child to study and live in good conditions, it is important for us to support them with their health expenses. The main problems encountered by the kids are respiratory and optic problems. These problems are often a direct result of their living conditions: humidity, pollution, waste brought from the current of the river, houses built from wood and steel..
We also organise a monthly rice distribution, thanks to the association "Coup de pouce", which since 2012, has provided 10 kilos of rice to each child’s family. Our initial partnership agreed on 20 kids.
School on the Boat welcomes clothes donations and distributes them to the children and their families.
HEALTH

WORKING
CONDITIONS
Without documentation, the only jobs available to these families are very low paying and labor intensive. They work as motorbike taxi drivers, farmers, can/bottle collectors, hired hands in the night markets, and sellers of inexpensive goods along the Long Bien Bridge (lemon tea and roasted corn).
Most of the families work day and night to offer adequate living conditions to their families, but their daily average salary is between 50,000 VND to 100,000 VND (about $2-5 per day). These earnings are not sufficient to feed their families, maintain their houses or send their children to school.