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Building Continues: VVAW Library and Learning Center Updates

By VVAW

The overwhelming support VVAW members and supporters continue to show to the building of children's libraries and learning centers in Vietnam is a balm for these difficult times we live in. Our partnership with the Library of Vietnam Project (LOVP) continues to prove mutually beneficial and, most importantly, is providing educational opportunities to some of the poorest and most war-torn parts of Vietnam. In LOVP's 27 years of building children's libraries in Vietnam (and Laos and Cambodia), VVAW has been their largest fiscal sponsor. We have you all to thank for that. Your donations and bequests are crucial in our moving forward with more libraries.

Just recently, Chuck Theusch and Khoi Tran of the Library of Vietnam Project spent almost two months in Vietnam, overseeing the construction of the Library and Learning Centers VVAW is sponsoring (along with all their other projects). The struggles related to the ongoing government restructuring have made progress a little more difficult, but Chuck and Khoi are still able to move things forward

They attended the dedication of our FOURTH and largest Library and Learning Center in Vietnam on December 17, 2025. This Library and Learning center is at Hanh Minh Secondary School in Nghia Hanh District, Quang Ngai Province. This library is now serving secondary school students in grades 6-9.

Besides the specific benefit of providing a physical library and computer lab, ALL of these projects have helped spur additional government funding in these areas and for other programs beneficial to students and the local population. All of the new libraries now participate in Vietnam's National Readers' Week, which helps create a reading habit among the young students. Book reports and contests will take place at all the libraries. The libraries are also serving as sites for occasional day clinics, where doctors can conduct health checks on the kids. We are proud to be part of this small part of reconciliation and growth in Vietnam.

Here are some updates on the Library and Learning Centers funded by VVAW.

Ms. Suong, the ever-energetic headmaster at the Pho Vinh School and VVAW Library and Learning Center, continues to use the library to reach kids with new programming. She joined the national Celebration of the Founding of the People's Army (December 22, 1944), which Chuck and Khoi attended on December 13, 2025. VVAW and LOVP member Ken Embers and his wife, Pat, awarded scholarships to 10 kids at this celebration. Also, books about such heroes of the People's Army as General Giap, Pham Van Dong, Le Duc Tho, and others were among the books donated to the library collection.

VVAW also helped fund an outdoor Reader's Garden with marble furniture. The students find this their new favorite place at the library. The end of the monsoon season means the kids can start using the Reader's Garden again. A big thank you from the kids!

The headmaster, teachers, and students are still celebrating and enjoying the nearly three-year-old VVAW Library and Learning Center. Les Kaschner, a high school classmate of Chuck's, funded scholarships for the kids at the library at the end of 2025.

The headmaster says the computer lab and expanded librarian staff presence make this a top choice in the Hoai An District. The innovations are routine in the US, but in the shadows of the Xuan Loc Battlefield of December 27, 1966, they are groundbreaking indeed. Just dedicated in December of 2024, the library is looking forward to taking part in another book week and all its activities in April of 2026, its second since opening.

We are proud that our fourth library and learning center, and the largest in the history of the Library of Vietnam Project, is open and was dedicated on December 17, 2025. A plaque thanking VVAW and the late Charlie Jones, a major donor, is displayed inside. With all the redistricting and the yearly challenges of the monsoon season, the contractor had a lot of last-minute work to get everything ready for the dedication. But all the hard work paid off.

Mr. Nguyen Hoang Giang, Chairman of the People's Democratic Committee of Quang Ngai Province, visited the library in the morning on December 17 and was elated over the project. The Vietnamese Government added $25,000 to VVAW's $75,000 investment to complete this library. The project will serve as a template for future Vietnamese Government investments in education infrastructure in Quang Ngai Province. This is the grandest project the Library of Vietnam Project has undertaken since its founding in 1999, encompassing projects in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia.

Chuck and Khoi met with both the Xuan An People's Committee and the Cat Tuong Secondary School Education Administrators on December 30, 2025. The goal is to hold the groundbreaking for this library on May 1, with a formal dedication planned for December 2026.

The government reorganization has proved challenging, but it has not stopped the progress. Plans involve demolishing some old buildings on the current school site to make way for the new library. The People's Committee has committed some money to the project. This is the poorest commune in Gia Lai Province, situated at the foot of the well-known mountain range.

This remote area is just coming into its own as it emerges from poverty. No NGO, American or European, has come to this commune since 1975. VVAW's grant will, once again, break new ground with this small but meaningful investment in the future.

The People's Committee contract signing was at Cat Tuong on January 26, 2026. The People's Committee of Xuan An bought lunch in appreciation for the VVAW initiative. They are frustrated by the slow pace, but very excited by the project and its eventual completion. Government departments have asked when the dedication will be in contemplation of official attendance.

Once again, thanks to major funding from long-time VVAW members Richard and Debra Peters, this library will serve the children of Vietnam. If you would like to include VVAW in your will to support these projects, contact the National Office at vvaw@vvaw.org. VVAW is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. But why wait? The children of Vietnam would appreciate your support now, and you can see the results of your donation.

Hanh Minh Library and Learning Center dedication, December 17, 2025.

Headmaster Vo Thi Suong and Chuck Theusch in the Reader's Garden at the Pho Vinh Library, December 12, 2025.

Hanh Minh Library and Learning Center dedication, December 17, 2025.

Kids at Hanh Minh Library and Learning Center dedication, December 17, 2025.

View from site of future Cat Tuong Library, December 30, 2025.