Charity Cirque Helps Save Newborn Lives
On June 29, 2007, The Westminster Rose Center in Westminster, CA played host to the first-ever Charity Cirque fundraiser to benefit The American Academy of Pediatrics Chapter 4 “Project Vietnam” and The Boys and Girls Club of Westminster.
On June 29, 2007, The Westminster Rose Center in Westminster, CA played host to the first-ever Charity Cirque fundraiser to benefit The American Academy of Pediatrics Chapter 4 “Project Vietnam” and The Boys and Girls Club of Westminster.
Featuring a masquerade ball and live music performances by top Vietnamese performers such as Vudoo Soul, Magnetic North, Thao Nguyen, Ming and Ping, Thaifoon, Robot Dream Machine, Drop Black Sky and Thomas’ Apartment, the fundraiser helped raise awareness in the community and got the younger generation involved.
Highlighting the event was a rousing Chinese Acrobat show performance featuring China’s Shen Yang National Circus, which included contortionists from Mongolia and China. Also performing were Shaolin Martial Artists, the Si Chuan Acrobats Troupe, Scarlet Sisters Circus Stiltwalkers, acrobat lion dancers and a clown.
Among those honored at the event were “Project Vietnam” founders Dr. Quynh Kieu, M.D. and Chan Kieu, M.D. A non-profit humanitarian program which provides medical assistance to the children of poor rural communities in Vietnam, “Project Vietnam” was founded in December 1996.
“We have chosen to go exclusively to Vietnam,” said Dr. Quynh Kieu. “But besides doing surgery, examining children and families in the remote rural areas and providing training, we have done something a little more difficult — I’d say a lot more difficult, which is to work and promote with the government some changes of policies so that we can benefit not only the children of the areas we visit, but all of the children of Vietnam.”
According to Dr. Quynh, the addition of the “Breaths for Newborns Campaign,” which helped raise funds for the purchase of $100 CPR Kits, resulted in a reduction in the infant mortality rates in several provinces.
Since “Project Vietnam” launched its Newborn Care Initiative in 2005 by setting up model sites at Khanh Hoa and Vinh Phuc provinces, neonatal specialists and volunteers have assisted in developing the kind of care needed by infants. Nearly 200 physicians have been trained from 34 provinces, along with equal numbers of midwives and nurses who have been trained in neonatal resuscitation. At the two model sites, infant mortality rates were down 20 percent.
Hosting the fundraiser were MC’s Jade Kira and Dr. Anh Ngo. Others on hand, included models from the “Vietnamese Modeling Project.”
Sharing her own experiences with “Project Vietnam,” Kira, a mixed Vietnamese, Chinese, Cambodian, French and Russian actress, model and writer had this to say:
“I got involved with Project Vietnam because it’s something I deeply believe in and something I tried to do on my own. When I was 18-years old, I was a complete idealist and believed that I could change the world overnight, which was totally wrong. I was trying to donate a lot of medical supplies that were abandoned from Open Your Heart to Haiti. There were beds, incubators, milk formula… all that… and I figured if they can’t get it into Haiti, maybe I can bring it to Vietnam and that would be a great thing to do.
So at 18, I traveled to Vietnam and tried to get in contact with the government and tried to get these supplies in. And of course, lo and behold, after three months of going around and around in circles, the formula had expired and the equipment was pretty much useless…. But that was my first real lesson that it’s really difficult to give, especially to a country that’s now kind of assimilating into modern times. Project Vietnam they already have their way in. They already have all the equipment ready to go. They provide funds, medical supplies and injections to save lives over there.”
Among those in attendance was California Senator Lou Correa representing District 34, which includes the Orange County cities of Garden Grove and Westminster where Vietnamese Americans constitute 21.4 percent and 30.7 percent of the population, according to the 2000 U.S. Census.
“I’ve known Dr. Quynh Kieu for years,” said Senator Correa. “I believe in what she does. I think this is a righteous, almost a holy mission of saving children. Most immigrant communities have something like this, but I’ve never seen the kind of energy that she brings giving back to Vietnam. She’s able to transcend the politics and goes over to Vietnam to save children. She was my woman of the year about 3 or 4 years ago in Sacramento. Her father was speaker of the Vietnamese Congress before the fall of Vietnam. Both her and her husband are doctors. They’re just great community people and great examples to all Americans.”
Organizing the fundraiser was Rival Entertainment (www.rivalent.com) founders Victor Vu and Lorna Vu, who helped assemble the talented group of artists that performed at the event. For more information or to contribute, please contact Project Vietnam at 11100 Warner avenue #116, Fountain Valley, CA 92708. They can also be found on the web at: www.projectvietnam.net
For more information about the Boys and Girls Club of Westminster, please the website at: www.bgchv.com