Conquering Fansipan to open minds

The event is to promote the inclusion of disabled people in society.

“Building a good society starts with making it possible for everyone to participate, that is inclusion," said Cas van der Horst, deputy head of Mission, Royal Netherlands Embassy in Vietnam.

The mountaineers will include 45 people coming from Medical Committee Netherlands-Vietnam (MCNV), the Royal Netherlands Embassy in Vietnam, central and local state authorities who are stakeholders in inclusive development, and young disabled people. They will team up to conquer the Fansipan peak.

This is one of many activities celebrating the 45th year of Medical Committee Netherlands-Vietnam (MCNV) in Vietnam (1968-2013) and the 40th year of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and the Netherlands (1973-2013).

MCNV together with partners in three regions in Vietnam has organised a series of events with the theme, “Towards an inclusive society” for disabled people. This also reflects a key principle of MCNV’s work in Vietnam.

Previously on March 26, “Let’s Dance Together” a flash mob dance, was held in Quang Tri with the participation of more than 100 disabled and non-disabled youths.

The public dance attracted much attention of local people and helped them understand the importance of giving disabled people a chance to participate in social and cultural activities just like non-disabled people.

Other events includes the “Football Fusion Summer Camp” was organised in Dak Lak province from June10-15.

During the event, coaches from Netherlands’ National Football Association’s World Coaches team provided a training course for hearing impaired and non-disabled children to play football in the same teams and same fields.

This activity provided disabled children with skills for a better life in an inclusive society and demonstrated to the able children and to the community that all children can play together. Through this activity, MCNV and its partners also raised more than VND660 million ($31,400) from local businesses and individuals to support disabled children in two poor districts of Dak Lak, who need more support to attend school.

MCNV is a Dutch non-governmental organisation that has been supporting development in Vietnam since 1968.

MCNV now runs projects in 16 provinces and cities across Vietnam, which addresses a broad range of issues supporting the disabled, poor women, people living with HIV/AIDS, the elderly, people with mental health problems, and contributing to rural development including microfinance and livelihood, and to human resources for health.

A focal activity of MCNV in Vietnam over the past 20 years is to support disabled people, especially disabled children, to integrate into their community, through comprehensive rehabilitation programs including healthcare activities, rehabilitation, education, financial support, vocational training, as well as establishing associations for disabled people and working towards policy advocacy and enhancing people’s awareness of the potentials of disabled people.

MCNV combines the programs supporting disabled people with health development programs managed by the community.

Through MCNV’s activities in Vietnam, more than 15,000 disabled people in several provinces have already received support and are better integrated into their communities.

“MCNV has been working with disabled people to understand what they need. MCNV and other organizations which support disabled people wish that Vietnam and the Netherlands will both soon ratify the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, that will help them enjoy equality in the community,” said Professor Dr. Pamela Wright, director of MCNV.