Sao Mai Education Fund

Scholarships.

Long term education program in favor of Ms Phan Thuy Phuong to acquire advanced computer skills and to attend a public school near the Center.

Two saomaicenter domains.

Our financial contribution is recorded by the Sao Mai Center administrator.

English language classes held at the Center (May-September).

Scholarships.

Long term education program in favor of Ms Phan Thuy Phuong to acquire advanced computer skills and to attend a public school near the Center.

The domains saomaicenter.info and saomaicenter.net .

Research on the Internet to update the Sao Mai website.

Our financial contribution is recorded by the Sao Mai Center administrator.

English language classes held at the Center (January – May; September – December).

Scholarships.

Long term education program in favor of Ms Phan Thuy Phuong to acquire advanced computer skills and to attend a public school near the Center.

Study on potentials of Symbian cellular phones for the blind.

Study on PHP scripts.

Research on the Internet to update the Sao Mai website.

Our financial contribution is recorded by the Sao Mai Center administrator.

3) English language classes held at the Center.

4) Scholarships.

5) Maintenance of the Braille printer (embosser).

Our financial contribution is recorded by the Sao Mai Center administrator.

In 2003 Sao Mai Computer Center has submitted two projects that have received funds from the World Bank and Samsung. It is a first small step on the long and difficult way towards self-sustainability but it has allowed the Center to cover some of its running costs from December 2003 for a few months.

a) Free blind-to-blind computer classes at different level. Mainly students from the Ky Quang Pagoda, located in the Go Vap district of HCM, where some 90 young blind live and study but don’t have access to computers. Tuition may vary from simply reading and writing Vietnamese texts, to using Windows applications, navigating the Internet, or printing in Braille.

b) Long term scholarships for blind women trained in the Center by blind instructors.

c) Short term scholarships for specific purposes or limited research study (e.g. search and download of software for the blind, download and conversion of web pages in Vietnamese)

d) Allowance for blind coordinator of Education and Research.

e) English classes as an essential tool in computer education.

f) Creation of the Web Team Training Program to provide web developing skills to blind computer users.

g) Maintenance of the Braille printer (embosser).

h) Power, Telephone and Internet account.

The running costs of the Sao Mai Computer Center for the Blind Center (without maintenance of the technology) require more than 1.000 US$ per month for rent of the building, electricity, telephone, Internet, blind trainers (full and/or part time), transportation of students to attend classes, technician, administrator, two full time blind vice-directors, cleaning and night watching.

Our financial contribution of about 6.000 US$, to cover the running costs from December 2002 to November 2003, is recorded by the Sao Mai Center administrator.