In January 2008, I was doing research into a project about Leprosy in Vietnam. In my research I meet Robert Lucius the director for a small charity organization named SendMe/Kiros Coalition in Hanoi, Vietnam.
Robert is very passionate about helping people. At that time, he had been doing charity work with leprosy villages in Vietnam for 3 years already. Most of his funds come from government grants and individual donations. We sat and talked about his problems with his work. He told me that he has a difficult time explaining to donors how poor the quality of life is for the people living at these villages and how much help is needed.
Robert is an individual out on a mission, like myself, to help out the best he can in the world. I felt like I found my kindred spirit and our work together started.
Robert suggested that I spend some time at the largest leprosy village in North Vietnam, Van Mon. He told me, that this village in particular, is very poorly funded and needs a lot of help. A patient at Van Mon receives a stipend of $9 USD a month for food and living expenses. The quality of life is poor as well as the medical care. It was here that I worked, lived and experienced life-changing stories of hardship.
After publishing my photo essays and making 2 films seen here. Robert has been able to help better the quality of life for the people at Van Mon.
He has raised funds and bought, TVs, food and built bathrooms. He also has raised funds to help bring Christian priests from the city for companionship and has funded training for better medical care.
This is an on going project as Van Mon is only 1 leprosy village out of the 22 that are in Vietnam. My photos and films are still being used today to help raise awareness and Robert is still working on bringing a better quality of life to these people.
