I AM KIANH
An award-winning special school in the midst of a decimated war zone.
The Kianh Foundation runs an award-winning special school near to the 17th Parallel, the line where Vietnam was divided into North and South during the American Vietnam War. It is an area that was sprayed heavily with the dioxin Agent Orange, which still affects the environment and the people, causing related disabilities to this day. Despite this, we have managed to create an oasis where both the land and the children bloom, and children from poor families with a wide range of special needs flourish in a lush, green natural environment that caters to their every need.
All of this blooming is because of people like YOU, who read this website. This beautiful school runs entirely on your donations and changes multiple lives in the process.
Founded in the year 2000 by Jackie Wrafter MBE and Jacci Bulman.
In the year 2000 , Jackie Wrafter MBE and the poet, Jacci Bulman were in Hoi An and feeling fed up and motivated to move onto a less touristy area. On their last day in the area they visited the local state orphanage and what they found there changed their lives. They came across a dark, locked room with no natural light or fresh air. Children were curled up in foetal positions (some banging their heads repeatedly on the wall) on wooden cots with buckets underneath to catch defecation. They were just being kept alive.
As they opened the door to the room a few of the more cognitive children turned their heads towards the shaft of light – it was like a scene from the movie “Awakenings” - they had clearly been abandoned on a daily basis. They stayed for the day and opened the windows and took some of the children outside. It was amazing to see the response as these ghost children came alive, it was an epiphany moment, and the inspiration for setting up The Kianh Foundation.
Today, Kianh Foundation runs its own school and therapy centre and gives families the support they need to allow them to keep their special child within the family and not give them up to an orphanage or institution.
A proven track record in supporting children with special needs to develop to their highest potential.
As a school 'in the middle of nowhere', there are limited resources for the greater than national average of disability in the area. We do our best to cater for the specialised needs of every child we work with and provide tailor-made development plans for our students, aged from 1 - 19 years of age, who live with Cerebral Palsy, Down's Syndrome, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Cognitive Delay, Learning Difficulties, Microcephalus and rarer conditions such as chromosome disorders and deafblindness.
Our wonderful team of Vietnamese educators and therapists have been highly trained over the years by overseas professionals who spent years on the ground with us, helping us to develop our program. Our local staff are now able to deliver international-standard education and development to the children of families often overlooked by society and who would never be able to afford such a program themselves.
What we do
PARTNERS
