The family of Lo Thi Lem, 19 her mother and 2 younger siblings have got to put with their neighbours till they get a new place after a New Zealand man from Wellington, Wayan Rosie, brings down their house in the hope of building, but could not, after a fundraising appeal fell flat.
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Wayan Rosie,(left), Lo Thi Hem (Right)
Wayan Rosie in one of his regular visits to Vietnam had came across a lady, Lo Thi Hem house and saw that it was one of the worst house in the village, below road level and covered in swamp and asbestos, the dad of Hem is dead and the mother had a bad fall four years later leaving her permanently crippled. Lo Thi Hem is the breadwinner of the family.
Wayan Rosie went back to New Zealand to help the family after he visited their home in 2013 and promised to build them a new home. He went back to New Zealand and started a fund raising in helping the family, setting the a target of $15,000, but Rosie could not meet up the price target he set.
Wayan had been in touch with the family who said he should come back afte rhe raised $6000, telling him the amount is enough to have a new home.
Wayan Rosie admitted that he made a mistake and did not plan the project well. The problems were compounded after they needed to build a large retaining wall to bring up the section to a workable level to fill it in.
"[It] has been an expensive exercise, but just had to be done before building started."
Wayan Rosie hoped to get the roof on the house, but that would still leave it without walls, doors, bathroom or kitchen, with the rainy season coming. He promised to return to the family and help them rebuild the home next year
'I'm pretty stressed out and worried that I will leave the family without a home now. I've already put in all the money I personally can ... I don't want to leave them homeless.
Update: Believe In Humanity
Some expats have berated the young man for demolishing a house and being a disappointment to New Zealand after leaving the family homeless, but while the debate continues. Some well meaning people have gone to help the family on the Give a little page of the family and have donated $14,220.00 in total at the time of this writing.
This is a good move and seems the family will have their home and roof on their head soon. So if you want to donate and help Wayan and Lo Thi Hem achieve their dreams, fund them here