Swiss organisation to build schools, provide tuition aid

Vinh Long (VNA) - The Dariu Foundation, a Swiss non-governmental
organisation, is sponsoring school construction and tuition fees for
students as part of an agreement with the Tra On District People's Committee in southern Vinh Long province.

Dariu will donate 1.5 billion VND (93,750 USD) to build three kindergartens
in the province, and provide around 400 scholarships for poor students in
Vung Liem and Tra On districts.

A thousand poor students in Dong Nai and Vinh Long provinces will get
scholarships worth a total of 1.6 billion VND (100,000 USD) for the
2008-2009 school year. The foundation wants half of the recipients to be
girls.

For the past five years, Dariu has provided direct microfinance services for
the poor. It has already given over 13,000 loans to households in Vinh Long
and Dong Nai province.-Enditem