What we do
Empowering local initiatives in developing structures that support children and teenagers in need along their growth and education journey by building a self-sustainable orphanage in Kon Tum, Vietnam, with our personal engagement, know-how, hands-on project support, and initial financial contributions.
Since the founding of LittleBigDreams e.V. in 2019 we have built two dormitories, sanitary- and educational facilities, a bakery, sustainable water tanks and planted nearly 300 fruit trees. Our current construction projects are a 160m2 girls’ dormitory, a 100m2 education house, a kitchen and a 40m2 health house.
The orphanage
Location
The orphanage is located in Kon Tum, the capital of the province of Kon Tum, in the Central Highlands region of Vietnam. This area is not usually reached by tourists and is near the borders with Cambodia and Laos.
The orphanage itself is surrounded by a big garden, full of banana trees, different kinds of vegetables, a beautiful rice field, free-range chickens, and compounds inhabited by ducks and pigs. Teresa, her sister, and sometimes a few local volunteers, who grew up in the orphanage with Teresa, keep the garden, which sustains their growth and nutrition.
The goal is to expand the plantation of vegetables and fruit so that the orphanage is self-sustainable and can sell its surpluses.
Who runs it
Teresa (Y Lung) is the head and heart of the orphanage in Kon Tum.
She was born 40 years ago in Vietnam. Since her parents passed away when she was very young, nobody else in her family was able to take care of her, her sister and brother. Therefore, the three siblings grew up in an orphanage in the area. But to make matters worse, the children at the orphanage were often treated poorly by the leaders of this place. After she met her husband, Thin, she decided to dedicate her life to helping children who are in the same situation as she was in. She wanted to give these children a new place they could call home. Without having many financial resources to herself, she spent every cent in fulfilling her vision of gifting these orphans a happy childhood. In 2005, Teresa and Thin finally managed to open the orphanage. Teresa’s sister and a few others, who grew up in the same orphanage with Teresa, are helping with the orphanage, the garden, and the animals.
The children
Most of the children at Teresa’s orphanage go to elementary school. Out of currently 82 children, 30 go to secondary school, and three are attending university! The children mostly identify as part of the ethnic minority group of the Montagnard people. The Montagnard, which means in French “people of the mountain”, are indigenous peoples of the Central Highlands of Vietnam who have to fight extreme poverty.
Detailed information about the story and dreams of every child can be found under Sponsor a child.
**All pictures of the children were officially approved by their legal guardian Teresa or by themselves if they are of legal age with a formal consent form.
The facilities
The original orphanage compound includes a dormitory, kitchen, eating area, two small bathrooms, an outdoor shower, and a classroom. The general lack of space provided Teresa with many challenges; In the dormitory, every bed was shared by three children, and some sleep outside or on the classroom floor. The classroom is only partially protected from the rain and is not big enough for all the children to do their homework. That being said, one of
Further, Teresa’s husband Thìn and workers from the local community have
We also finished the construction of the orphanage’s bakery that has provided the children with fresh bread for months now. Furthermore, the local workers built two sustainable rainwater tanks that water the new 263 fruit trees that were planted in the garden.
More information can be found under
What is unique about LittleBigDreams?
We are a very young, motivated, and creative team that believes in getting active rather than just acknowledging problems. We know the children personally and learned about their stories, dreams, and hopes.
Our ongoing, daily contact with Teresa and the children allows us to stay in the loop regarding what is needed most. Hence we are able to help to materialize her dream of giving the children a carefree childhood and creating a future for them that is full of hope, independence, and opportunity.
We support Teresa & Thin in their dream to provide a safe home for all children & youth at the orphanage in Kon Tum, Vietnam. This means that we work on an equal footing with the Vietnamese team, and Teresa and Thin always have the final say in decisions.
Our long-term goal is to enable Teresa’s orphanage to finance itself in the future without external support. Therefore, we mainly support sustainable projects, such as the bakery or the garden project, contributing to the orphanage’s self-sufficiency.
We work consciously environmentally friendly in our association work and on-site. This includes reducing plastic consumption in the orphanage, planting trees & printing as little as possible, and if so, only on recycled paper. There are many more things we would like to change. However, this is a process where we still have a long way to go.
We are a young team that is very happy about the personal exchange with community members, donors, and supporters. We are always glad to receive constructive criticism and suggestions for improvement because we also make mistakes. But it is essential for us to deal with them and to improve our work.
Our communication channels are short, so we can act very quickly.
Within a short time, we transform dreams into plans, which we then promptly realize. We are in daily contact with our Vietnamese team, so we are in constant exchange.
It is important to us that the children & youth in Teresa’s orphanage benefit from our work and the local community. Therefore, we primarily use local building materials and employ construction workers from the area who are paid fairly. Besides, we also want to strengthen our LittleBigDreams community and have therefore founded the LittleBigDreams Community.
We actively protect the children´s privacy
The privacy of the children is essential to us. Therefore, we have decided to no longer post close-up photos of the children on the Internet. Furthermore, we do not give out birth dates and last names. The young adults in the orphanage are allowed to decide for themselves whether they want to appear on the Internet with close-up photos or not.
We work very transparently and keep our promises. You can be sure that your money will only be used for the purpose you have chosen. A general donation goes 100% to where it is most needed at the moment. All team members work voluntarily, and travel expenses to Vietnam are paid by each member independently.
We will update you with audio-visual feedback via our blog, newsletter, sponsor letter, and Facebook and Instagram accounts.
It is vital to us in our work that all people are treated equally and that they are not discriminated against based on their gender identification, skin color, origin, sexuality, educational status, disability, religion, or any other reason.
We are happy about everyone who wants to support us. No matter how old you are, what you do for a living, or where you come from, we believe that everyone can contribute to making the world a better place. Not everyone has the money or the time to help, so it is essential to us that we offer various ways of supporting LittleBigDreams e. V.
IBAN: DE73 2005 0550 1500 5499 18
SWIFT: HASPDEHHXXX
BIC: HASPDEHHXXX
Bank: Hamburger Sparkasse