The Nelson's Fundraising Page for the 2010 Aid Expedition

In March our little family will be travelling to (or from as the case may be) Vietnam for the third time. Trip one was in 2001 when we became a family and I had the joy of exploring Vietnam with a 4-month old Grace strapped to me in a Baby Bjorn. I loved Grace before even meeting her, and fell in love with Vietnam about 2 second later. Trip two was in 2008 when we made our first trip back to just experience the sights, sounds and smells of Vietnam. We saw lots of beautiful places, meet wonderful people, ate amazing food and shopped, and shopped and shopped. The joy of exploring Vietnam with 7 year old Grace was even greater.

Trip three will be a whole new adventure as we are returning this time not just as tourists, but to participate in The Catalyst Foundation Aid Expedition in Rach Gia in southwest Vietnam where there are over 200 families living on a garbage dump. They subsist by selling scraps of garbage for pennies a day. Catalyst programs provide access to education, increase economic opportunities and generate a sense of empowerment--in the hopes of improving the lives of those families living in extreme poverty who are vulnerable to child trafficking. I'll be assisting with the medical team and Grace will be working with other kids to distribute much needed books, bikes and computers to kids in the community.

We are so excited to be joining more than 80 other volunteers and proud to be part of the amazing things Catalyst is doing in Vietnam. To support the Expedition the team is raising funds to build/repair houses, provide basic medical and dental exams for the 800 patients we expect to see in 4 days, buy 100 bikes for kids who need them to be able to get to school, buy computers, renovate a playground, and the list goes on. All volunteers pay their own expenses, so any donations go directly to providing aid.

We so appreciate your support. If you'd like to follow along on our adventure, we'll be blogging (if internet access permits) the trip at http://www.banyanroots.wordpress.com/ .