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This is what I needed today. Although the event happened last week, here is what Tam our SE Asia director experienced and saw. Honestly I fought back tears (with little success I may add) as I read and looked and the photos.
The "TET shop" came about in attempts to make the families, especially the fathers the heros. For many years gibtk would give TET gifts to the poor families. I remember being on stage handing out gifts to poor children. A great "cute" photo op. and being the so called "hero"
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| picking things for their familes at TET shop |
I also remember painfully I may add, the parents (almost all moms) standing at the back. Grateful but something was missing for them. A couple years ago it hit me. Let's try to make the parents the heroes!What a concept huh?
We decided to set up a shop where we have "goodies" for .10 cents on the dollar. If one of the invites does not have funds let's give a simple job at the office. Something they can earn enough to buy some things for their child and family.
The event was invitation only. And local business gave us the clothing, toys and goodies on "consignment". What pay for only that which is sold and return the rest.
Please read Tam's journal, Feel free to write to her, I will forward all your comments~.
"Today is a good day for me and for the poor families, too. I can tell you how happy it made me to see the enjoyment the people buying things at our Tet shop had. It went beyond my expectations. I could see laughter and big smiles on parents' face. Of course, couple of them got confused by this Tet shop even though we explained. But this little thing could not stop me from getting emotional when I talk about this. Honestly, I enjoyed myself seeing this event. I still remember how happy I was when my parents bought me something.
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| Tam explaining our concept |
Before we started the Tet shop, I had a meeting with them to explain why we do this event. We want to build them up. We want to build self-esteem for parents. We want them to feel good about themselves and be proud of themselves because they buy things for their children by money they earned. We want their children to be proud of their parents. This is an amazing event!
When the event started, I talked to a couple of fathers and mothers who bought toys and teddy bears for their daughters. I was told that their children asked them to buy toys and teddy bears many times but they did not have money for this.
Whenever they took their children to the market to buy food, their children could not take their eyes off from those things. They want them so bad. Parents felt bad because they could not afford even buying one. If they spend money on one teddy bear, it would mean that the whole family will miss some food.
When talking to these parents, I entirely understood their children's feeling when they could not get things they like. It just brought back my memory about childhood of a little girl growing up in a poor family J. I saw myself in their children.
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| A father able to "chose" gifts for his daughter |
And then, looking at a father who bought clothes for their children reminded me of my father. My father often bought me shorts or flip flop after getting his earnings from working at a brick factory. I am very emotional when I talk about this. I can feel tears on my cheek now. I definitely know how children feel when their new clothes are bought by their fathers.
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| Earning enough to participate and be her son's hero |
One lady who has a 9th grade boy, came in with no money. I sat down and talked to her about this event. She asked me: "Is it ok if I don't buy anything? I asked why? She told me she had no money, and what little she had (3.70 USD) was to pay for a debt of her upper-jaw cancer treatment. Her husband died several years ago. Listening to her answer, my heart shrank. I could just imagine about the hardship in her life and a lack of opportunity for her son. She was given an opportunity to work at GIBTK to earn money to buy things at the Tet shop. She came back with big smile and started choosing things for her son.
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| Having earned enough to shop |
During the event, I interviewed different fathers to get an idea how they felt about this event. All of them responded to me with a positive attitude. They all liked the purpose of this event and felt proud of themselves. They could not wait to get home and give this gift to their children. Also, they did not forget to thank GIBTK for making this great event happen.
What more important is that I want to thank all staff members, interns, LH girls who helped to make this event successful!"
Tam Tong
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