Maison Chance is a non-governmental organization (NGO), free from any political or religious ideology and has been recognized by Vietnamese authorities since 1998. The operating license of Maison Chance is updated every year. Since the end of 2007, Maison Chance has partnered with the Vietnamese organization “The Charity helping sick and destitute from Ho Chi Minh City”. Being associated to a local partner is required by the Vietnamese authorities. However, even if this requirement is applied to all NGOs, Maison Chance has always maintained its freedom of action, including long-term and short-term planning, hiring and internal organization.
More than 100 people, both Vietnamese and from abroad, are employed, and a dozen volunteers constantly give their support to Maison Chance. Among the beneficiaries, around 40 people live at the
Shelter, 86 are accommodated at
Village Chance and 240 disadvantaged children, are provided with free schooling and nursery. The fourth center in the province Đắk Nông hosts about 161 beneficiaries, and operating at its full capacity, will host 250 beneficiaries.
Board of Directors
The operational management of Maison Chance has been led by its founder, Tim Aline Rebeaud, who is also Vice president of the
Board of Directors. The president is M. Pham Hong Ky, representative of the local partner “The Charity helping sick and destitute from Ho Chi Minh City”. All other members of the
Board of Directors are permanent employees of Maison Chance.
The
Board of Director members meet on weekly basis to plan daily activities of the
Shelter,
Take Wing Center and
Village Chance, and also for administrative and medical follow-ups regarding beneficiaries. To draw up an assessment of the period gone by and to set the objectives for the year to come, an annual meeting is held in coordination with the International Maison Chance foundation.
Staff
At the end of 2019, Maison Chance employs 60 people in Ho Chi Minh City (project office, board of directors, administration and finances, social department, education, training and production, medical department, food service department, stewardship, security) and 43 people in Đắk Nông. Also, foreign and national volunteers help us by offering short- and long- term aid.
Volunteers
Vietnamese and foreign volunteers offer support in the areas of Health, Education and Communication.
A Story of Love and Philanthropy
Maison Chance is first and foremost a story of love – the love of a 21-year-old Swiss girl traveling across Asia in 1993 – for a young Vietnamese boy, who was seriously unwell.
During her journey painter Aline Rebeaud accidentally arrived at a psychiatric hospital south of Vietnam. The heavy fate of the 12-year-old boy named Thanh touched her deeply. Chained and left alone in a corner of the room, he was given just a few more days to live. With heart, liver and lung problems, Thanh was in a terrible state. Unable to accept the medical forecast, she took the boy under her wings and brought him to another institution where he received more appropriate medical care. For three months she looked after him. Soon the other patients and their relatives would call Aline ‘Tim’, the Vietnamese word for ‘heart’ – a name she carries to this day.
Spending so much of time at the hospital, she crossed paths with many disabled people treated like outcasts, ignored by society and even own families. In order to help them Tim extended her stay in Vietnam indefinitely, rented an accommodation and welcomed them under her roof. Orphans, street children and people with disabilities found a shelter in her small house in Binh Tan, that time a poor suburb of Ho Chi Minh City. Together they formed a big family, considering Tim as their mother, sister of friend. This shelter became home to the small community of destiny, which local started to call “Maison Chance”, the lucky house.
Education and Training: Ways out of Poverty and Dependency
When providing a roof and food were no longer enough, Tim launched an education program for the residents of the lucky house in 1995. She organized literacy classes and introductory courses in art. The
Shelter turned into a classroom. Simultaneously, she put a rehabilitation program in place to address the needs of disabled residents.
The activities of Maison Chance were finally recognized by the Vietnamese government in 1998, and gradually supported by international donors and friends. That was the hour of birth of Maison Chance as registered non-profit organization.
Flying with Own Wings
In 1999, the organization’s field of professional training was extended to areas like information technology, sewing and textile design courses. By learning new skills, the trainees ought to get opportunities to find a job that suits their abilities and eventually “fly with own wings”. Seven years later, a vocational training center, the
Take Wing Center, was created to expand the successful training model. Located around 1 km away from the
Shelter it includes training rooms for workshops like sewing, drawing, stone cutting and IT. Additionally, it serves as a place of handicraft manufacture where handicapped beneficiaries skillfully produce products like stuffed animals and bags, oil paintings, jewelry or stone figures.
Village Chance
A third Maison Chance Center was inaugurated in January 2011.
Village Chance or the ‘Lucky Village’ is built as miniature village composed of apartments especially designed for people in wheelchairs. The cost of rent is low compared to the market value. It also hosts a school for under-privileged students, a kindergarten and a specialized class for mentally handicapped kids. The spacious campus makes it possible to organize extracurricular activities at the end of the day, such as football matches, circus acrobatic or martial arts classes. Beside a restaurant and a bakery, the center has a hydrotherapy pool which helps disabled people carry out rehabilitation exercises. The three centers, situated within 1 km of each other, are recognizable by their blue color, a symbol of hope.
And the story goes on…
Maison Chance noticed that some of the older beneficiaries who could not fully integrate into society would be more comfortable in a quiet environment, far from the hustle of the city. After a lot of research and land exploration, Maison Chance chose to establish a new and innovative Social Center in the region of Đắk Nông, located 350 km away from Ho Chi Minh City. It offers more adapted activities to its beneficiaries such as gardening, farming and horse therapy. The Social Center in Đắk Nông opened its primary school in 2018 and welcomed its first 120 beneficiaries, orphans and under-privileged children of the region living in secluded minority villages. Today, the center welcomes 161 beneficiaries, among them, 31 with disabilities.
The programs at Maison Chance aim at the improvement of health and living conditions and the support and reintegration into society of the most vulnerable in Vietnam through access to appropriate education and vocational training.
Objectives:
- To build up self-confidence through daily activities offered by the Shelter where the oldest and youngest learn how to help one another like family.
- To heal wounds and improve the physical health of disabled people through physical exercises, rehabilitation as well as medical treatments.
- To encourage them to become independent through basic education and vocational training in order to have necessary skills and get a remunerated job in the future.The uniqueness of Maison Chance derives from its innovative programs and the cohabition of disadvantaged children and people with disabilities in a family-like atmosphere.
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CONTACT US
HCM City: Take Wing Center
19A Duong so 1, Kp 9, P. Binh Hung Hoa A
Binh Tan District, HCM City, Vietnam
Tel: +84 (0) 28 62 65 95 66
Email:
vietnam@maison-chance.org
Đắk Nông: Maison Chance Social Center
Duc Lap Village, Dak Sôr Commune
Krông Nô District, Dak Nong Province
Tel: +84 (0) 261 2226 888
www.maison-chance.org
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