Dear EMW Friends and Supporters,

School is getting underway in Vietnam as in the United States, and all over Vietnam thousands of school children and university students are benefiting from East Meets West projects, many of them supported by you, our contributors and partners. A few of our recent school projects include:

• Eight hundred medical students in Thai Nguyen will be staying in brand-new dormitories at Thai Nguyen University, thanks to EMW.
• Four thousand very low-income students are enrolled in this year's SPELL scholarship program, and over 600 of them have shiny new bicycles to help them get to school.
• Over four hundred children are attending classes in a bright new two-story schoolhouse built with the help of The Boeing Company (right: children at the dedication ceremony for the school).
• And thousands more children are able to do the same thanks to a partnership between Room to Read and East Meets West to build schools in central Vietnam.

Some of these schools are testing a new technology – UV-treated water from a dedicated well, meaning that the water is purified of all parasites, bacteria and viruses that can harm human health.

Read below about more of our current happenings at EMW. And, as always, thanks for supporting East Meets West and our mission.

Regards,
John Anner
Executive Director

Water Water Everywhere

EMW has just completed an independent evaluation of our Village Safe Water program, written by water and sanitation expert Rick McGowan. We learned a lot about our program:Compared to other rural water supply programs, the EMW Village Safe Water Program is of high-build quality with very high customer satisfaction, costs about half as much as projects done by other NGOs, and rates very highly for long-term sustainability.

Download the full report here (PDF).

Boeing Helps with a New School

Thanks to a generous donation from The Boeing Company, EMW has just opened its newest school, a two-story 12-classroom primary school in Quang Nam Province. Called the Nguyen Van Troi school, the facility boasts modern lighting and ventilation, high-quality construction, running water and handwashing stations, and – soon to come – a library. Over 400 children attend the school, which opened on September 4.

Download the press release (PDF).

Americans Support International Projects

A recent report from the Hudson Institute shows that individual Americans send more money to help people in developing countries than the US Government. According to the report, private Americans sent more than $71 billion in 2004, while the US government sent $19.7 billion.

Find the full report at The Hudson Institute online.

Veterans Give Back through EMW Veterans Circle Join the EMW Veteran's Circle or Circle of Honor today and through this exclusive giving circle, you will be part of a network of EMW supporters who are honoring their own military service, or the service of their loved ones, during times of peace and war. Find out more and join today.		Mouth-Watering Correspondence Order a set of original EMW greeting cards! Our latest set features beautiful imagery of Vietnam scenes on the cover and on the inside are tasty Vietnamese recipes like garlic-seared clams and mussels in a lemongrass curry broth (plus plenty of blank room to write your message). All recipes were donated from well-known restaurant chefs. View all EMW greeting cards/order cards.