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As promised here is part 2. I know this is not the end of this families story. There is so much more to come. Soon Huong's younger daughter will be living in The Lighthouse, our girls college dorm. Moms doing great. I hope you can come and visit her coffee shop one day. I'd be remiss if I did not mention how impressed I am with Huong's willingness to share the difficult times she had with such candor.
Part 2;
You know, this society is hard. Many rich people are jealous and poor people are despised. When my mother rolled the wheelchair to sell lottery tickets, she was laughed at and scorned by people. Why do people want to increase the pain of others or why despise the poor like us? My mother sold lottery tickets, which was also an honest job, not begging, and not robbing anyone.
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Coffee shop named in memory of my wife, Dorothea
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However miracles finally came to my family. Mr. Robert and Ms. Tam gave my family true love. Their eyes are filled with love and that helped me realize that this society still has good people. Since then I now have a different perspective on life. GIBTK has brought to my family a deep love, and an opportunity and a belief in life. In 2011,
GIBTK sponsored my family with a beautiful home, a grocery store and a coffee shop. That's fantastic! They made our dreams come true. I thought it was just a dream, but it has become a reality. We were very happy as my mother no longer had to roam in the scorching heat with her wheelchair to sell lottery tickets. Now there is no fear of the rainy and windy days and during the floods we did not have to go to other people's houses. Our income is also higher and the meal is also more complete. There is meat with fish, and my sisters also felt secure to study.
That to my family is like a miracle in fairy tales. My mother and siblings are the motivation for me to constantly try hard in everything. Trying to be successful in the future can help my mother and siblings. But I still do not know what is the goal of my life? But luckily, I met GIBTK, and especially Ms. Nhung. She helped me a lot to figure this out and she was the person I wanted to run to hug every time I met, and give thanks to her and everyone here.
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Always stop by fro a great cup of coffee and beautiful smile from mom
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Realizing your life's goal and trying to achieve it is an amazing opportunity. The day I passed into University my mother was very happy. Although I knew I could only walk half the way, but at least it showed my efforts. I was brought up by GIBTK where there is a perfect environment to develop yourself. I was fed and cared for and received lots of love.
GIBTK's staff were very close and it seems that everyone has a special love for this job. I learned soft skills, life skills and especially when I first joined the program, Xiem's mother and Lanh always gave me the most useful advice. I learned from Lanh about leadership skills, confidence skills, forgiveness and how to handle problems. I learned to think positively, she is a person that gave me inspiration, always helped me when I feel stressed, gave me advice and motivates me to keep trying.
I am really grateful to GIBTK for giving me the opportunity, faith and love so I can find myself and that I can fulfill my dream to become a better person. I am now a 4th year student at the University of Foreign Languages - The University of Da Nang. I am taking steps to realize my dreams and goals.
I now changed completely. I am more confident, no longer timid. Timid and afraid have the same meaning, no negative thoughts about people around me. I like to help people as it is my upmost pleasure. I want to bring love and help the unfortunate people like I used to be. I am happy to try to be able to do it. I realized that there are people out there who had more depressed, have more grim circumstances and have to fight every day to overcome it. Compared to them, I am much more fortunate, there are many people with unfortunate fates.
I know I have to appreciate and be grateful with what I have, cherish every opportunity, every moment of being in the Light House and trying harder. Now that I am an intern for GIBTK, I will try to be a member of GIBTK to fulfill my mission. I believe I was born to do this.
Warm regards,
Thanh Huong
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