Continuing the program of supporting international students to participate in community projects, we had a working session with students and teachers from HELP University, Malaysia. With the major in economics, they were shared about the on going projects to support livelihoods and raise funds to support learning conditions for pupils in mountainous areas that CORMIS is implementing. The students and teachers researched and contributed ideas, practical solutions for the projects being implemented. In addition, the whole group also supported the project team who is raising funds to buy notebooks for students in mountainous areas. The students shared that being able to directly participate in practical projects at CORMIS made them feel happy. Before ending the working trip, we also discussed some cooperation ideas for next year, including supporting the sale of up-cycled products in Malaysia, supporting students to do community projects, mental health care programs for the community, etc.

This question is always on our minds when we bring students to work with disabled people in Da Nang City. The students' assignment when they visit disabled people's organizations is to provide some new knowledge and skills to disabled people based on their needs and the major they are studying. At the end of the working session, disabled people often share that they have learned new knowledge and skills from the students. However, from the students' sharing, we see that they also learn a lot from such practical experiences: "These experiences are wonderful - interesting, it helps us understand how Deaf children communicate with each other in real life; how CDS supports Deaf children in learning. We are proud that today we have become a part of it. After this session, we think we will be more confident when working with Deaf children. To remove information barriers for the Deaf, we think we can learn more about sign language to make communication easier. In addition, we will also pay attention to this issue in our future IT work to ensure their access to information”. “At first, I was very confused, not knowing how to teach computers to the blind. It took me a while to figure out how to do it. The blind are amazing, learn so fast, and have such a great memory. When I was young, it took me a long time to learn the characters on the computer keyboard. The blind sisters and brothers also made us realize how lucky we are. We have so much. They have so many challenges and lack so many things but still love to learn”. And many other meaningful shares from the students made us realize that our program to support students participating in practical community projects is not just a one-way give and one-way receive. We learn from each other.

Our Tango class includes blind people, deaf people, people with physical disabilities and people without disabilities. The sighted Deaf person leads the Blind person to dance; the Blind person moves their body following the music to help the Deaf people feel the music. The sighted person leads the Blind person. Just like that, all people learn and dance together. Just like that, each person connect with themselves and connect with the dance partner and everyone around them. The connection overcomes all barriers of senses, language and prejudice to find joy and happiness. Thank you all - Thank you the Tango international trainer Mr. Maximiliano Paradiso for creating such a new amazing experience for disabled people and the community. It brings tears to our eyes today.

“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” Warren Buffett! We are pleased to continue to collaborate with many partners last month to share the story of Upcycling textile waste, providing alternatives to single-use plastic products in important partner activities: - ASPBAE Regional Strategic Planning Workshop and 60th Anniversary Celebration in Da Nang, Vietnam. The event was organized by ASPBAE Education Association and its member - VAEFA Association. At this event, we provided 120 recycled bags for the Organizing Committee to give as gifts to delegates attending the Workshop. The sisters in the CORMIS Upcycling group also came to participate and share about the Waste Upcycling Program, the upcycling process to make 120 bags for the delegates. We are pleased to have received very positive feedback from the Organizing Committee and all delegates about these special up-cycled bags. - Workshop on Promoting Reuse, towards Circular Economy in the Tourism Sector in Vietnam. The event was organized by REED Co., Ltd., Pacific Environment Organization Vietnam (PE-VN) and Refillables Dong Day Enterprise, with support from DietPlastik Indonesia and the National Plastic Action Partnership Program (NPAP) in Vietnam. At this event, we provided banners for the workshop made from used white fabric; bags as gifts for delegates and water bottle covers. Upcycled products of disabled people were also displayed and introduced to delegates attending this event. All products provided for these events were upcycled from used white cotton fabric but still of very good quality. Fabrics provided by Melia Vinpearl Riverfront Danang in 2024. We thank all partners for their cooperation so that we can reduce more waste, especially the use of single-use plastic products through innovative and meaningful upcycling and reuse solutions. Please contact us if you have a need to provide such alternative solutions in your organization to reduce waste to the environment together.

We are pleased to have sown 6 more “seeds” of TRE Facilitators in Vietnam. 6 people come from 3 regions of Vietnam, including Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. By the end of November, all 6 brothers and sisters have completed 2 10-day learning modules, including all the basic knowledge and skills to be able to start practicing TRE for their local communities. In Module 2, all of them had the opportunity to experience TRE guidance for many different groups in the community, including employees & managers of luxury hotels; vulnerable groups such as the visually impaired, the physically disabled and children. These are useful experiences that help them gain practical experience in guiding TRE for different groups in the community, including people with disabilities. This year, we are pleased to have the enthusiastic participation and support of our colleagues coming from the TRE Japan group. This is also an opportunity for us to share and learn from each other in the TRE community in the Asia region. In particular, we are very grateful for the continuous technical support of 2 amazing international TRE trainers, Ms. Sae Kani and Joan McDonald, during the training process of the Community TRE Facilitators for Vietnam Community TRE Program. We are super grateful for Dr David Berceli, TRE Founder, for his creation of TRE as a self-help tool for community. We would like to thank you to all participants who have patiently spent time studying and practicing to become TRE Community Facilitators. See you all in our TRE program in 2025!

On the morning of October 26, the program began with a series of communication activities, raising awareness of environmental protection and providing some solutions to reduce waste at Swinburne University. It can be said that the program attracted a lot of young people to participate. Each person brought 5kg of waste (3kg of plastic waste, 2kg of paper waste) for the Network of Collectors to recycle. After that, the students were instructed to create whale shapes from plastic bottles; play with fabric waste, turn fabric waste into useful items for them to take home and use creatively. After going through all the activities working with waste like that, each participant will be given a physical album Sao Du De Bao Phu by famous rapper Datmaniac. In particular, after 1-2 hours of creatively upcycling from fabric waste, each participant made an upcycled product that they loved to take home and use. For most of them, this was the first time they tried making an upcycled product from fabric waste. When asked about this experience, most of them shared their joy and excitement when they were able to make a product from waste themselves - something they had never thought of before, or thought they could not do. The two youngest participants in the program, around 6 or 7 years old, also made a book mark for their book and even confidently wrote their own message: "Always green". 🌱 At the end of the morning of October 26, the two message boards in the event room were filled with promises, reminding each other to work together to protect the planet and the environment. In the evening, when the music program took place, the newcomers also added information. 🌱 It was raining heavily but the hall was packed with people attending the special show of rapper Datmaniac with songs about love for nature, connection and expression between people in the new era. 🌱 For us, one of the co-organizers of the event in Da Nang, Sao Du De Bao Phu is a very meaningful "playground". Through that, it has strengthened the connection between local environmentalists, youth, artists, Universities, enterprises, music enthusiasts, etc in the community; inspiring young people to take actions about green living in a creative and interesting way. 💚 Thank you Sao Du De Bao Phu team. Thank you Space Garden team. Thank you for the “piece” that connected us.Thank you for all collective efforts for the community!

Connecting, sharing, identifying current common issues in sustainable production and consumption; inclusion of vulnerable groups in society, taking care of health/strengthening resilience to pressures; discussing & proposing solutions, starting with a small action that each individual can do to contribute to solving those problems were the contents of our work with international students from many different countries around the world last August. All activities with the students were carried out through many diverse forms such as watching documentaries, playing quizzes; making usable products, drawing personal portraits from surplus fabric, picking up trash on the beach, chatting with disabled brothers and sisters, practicing stress & trauma releasing exercises... We had some really fun moments, laughing until our mouths were sore when the students competed to make upcycled products, or presented their portraits; moments of wowing each other because of the admiration for each other's creativity, moments of seriously questioning each other about the feasibility of the community project ideas to be implemented, and also emotional moments when they truly understood the problems of people with disabilities, of fast fashion...etc At the end of the working sessions, the students shared your positive changes and proposed personal plans that they plan to do after leaving CORMIS. Those plans, whether small or large, are an important initial change for them in their journey of self-development and sustainable community development.

Ridhwansabri Bin Haji Hashim – (as we affectionately call Duan) is one of the international students who participated in our educational program through the cooperation between CORMIS and FPT Global Education. After finishing the offical program, unlike other students, Duan proactively asked to return to work in CORMIS Upcycling program. During his days at the Center, Duan not only tried to do his job well but also volunteered to support the work of many other members. Duan always smiled and spread positive energy to everyone in the office. When working, Duan often puts his heart into it, whether it is a big or small job. Looking at his products, you will easily feel his heart in there, as well as the love he gave for the people around him. In addition to the disabled brothers and sisters at CORMIS, Duan also has a lot of love for the Deaf children at CDS, even though he has only met them once. Duan sends his love to them by patiently sitting for hours every day to thread beads to make bracelets for the Deaf children. Before leaving Vietnam to return to Brunei, in just a few days, Duan made 26 beaded bracelets to give to 26 Deaf children. In terms of material value, these 26 bracelets are not of great value. However, in terms of sentiment, it is a very valuable gift because it is his whole heart for the kids, the love between human being... it overcomes all barriers of language, culture, age, national boundaries... Leaving Vietnam to return to Brunei, Duan always thinks about what he can do from far away to contribute to the common goals of CORMIS in Vietnam and also for the community in Brunei. Despite having to go to University, Duan always arranged his time to be able to quickly and properly complete the remote support work for CORMIS. In addition, very quickly, Duan started organizing communication workshops educating on waste reduction for young people in Brunei. The first workshop had only 3-4 people, the second workshop already more than 10 participants. Just like that, Duan patiently continued to expand his work to shopping malls to be able to reach more people. Since started, he organized workshops every week and gradually received the attention of many people, especially the managers at the shopping mall. Therefore, instead of having to organize the workshops by himself, Duan was invited to do it. When he was in Vietnam, Duan once shared: “Before coming to CORMIS, I had studied and known very well about the sustainable development goals, but I had not practiced/done anything towards that. When I came to CORMIS, they not only provided me with theory but also guided me to learn how to practice in daily life. I am able to live a better life.” We are so proud to see Duan doing what he said, and trying to changing community values in Brunei. Duan you can be really proud of yourself and all the amazing work you have done ❤️🫶❤️

This morning, on July 16, 2024, the Center for Research & Community Integration Support, in collaboration with the Union of Scientific & Technical Associations of Da Nang City, organized a workshop to promote the participation of people with disabilities in environmental protection at the Bamboo Green Hotel in Da Nang. 🍃 The workshop was attended by 76 delegates from relevant departments, organizations of people with disabilities, social welfare organizations, and strategic partners of CORMIS, including businesses, universities, colleges, the Da Nang Startup Support Center, non-governmental organizations working on environmental protection, and several media agencies in Da Nang. 🍃 At the workshop, Ms. Đoàn Thị Kim Anh, representative of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, shared information on solid waste classification at the source in Da Nang according to the Environmental Protection Law of 2029, Decrees 33/2020 and 41/2021 by the Prime Minister, and other related Resolutions, Decisions, and Plans from the Da Nang People's Committee. Additionally, the concerns raised by the Disabled People’s Association about finding relevant information and how to proactively participate in Da Nang's Projects and Programs were also addressed by the Department of Natural Resources and Environment during the workshop, providing clear directions for future initiatives. 🍃 In addition to the shared information from the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, representatives from CORMIS, CORMIS’s fabric waste recycling group, the Da Nang Disabled People’s Association, leaders from Melia Vinpearl Da Nang Riverfront Hotel, Thinh Minh An Co. Ltd, the Center for Community-Centered Learning (CELC-DAU) at Da Nang University of Architecture, and FPT University Global also contributed valuable insights during the workshop. 🍃 Through this, stakeholders gained a better understanding of the vision, specific programs, and activities that each organization has been and is implementing to contribute to environmental protection and support the integration of people with disabilities into the community. It also provided an opportunity to discuss past collaborative initiatives, the strengths and challenges each party faces in the implementation process, and how they can develop coordinated solutions to enhance the active participation of people with disabilities in environmental protection and support sustainable livelihoods for people with disabilities through environmentally-friendly recycled products they produce. 🍃 This is likely the first workshop in Da Nang on environmental protection with the inclusion of people with disabilities, attended by so many stakeholders. Although the workshop concluded in just one session, the outcomes have truly opened a new chapter for people with disabilities in Da Nang, especially in the field of environmental protection. ❤️ The Center for Research & Community Integration Support would like to sincerely thank the Union of Scientific & Technical Associations of Da Nang for their active support, which helped make this workshop a success. ❤️ We would also like to express our heartfelt thanks to all delegates who attended and contributed their ideas, especially representatives from the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, the Disabled People’s Association, the CEO of Melia Vinpearl Da Nang Riverfront Hotel, the Director of Thinh Minh An Co. Ltd, the Director of the Center for Community-Centered Learning (CELC-DAU) at Da Nang University of Architecture, and the Director of FPT University Global. ❤️ We are grateful to the individuals, organizations, and businesses that have accompanied us in our efforts for sustainable development – for a greener world – rich in kindness. We look forward to meeting you again in future collaborative activities.

One of our main objectives is to contribute to enhancing the resilience of the community, especially the ability to cope with life’s pressures and recover quickly from events that cause psychological trauma. To achieve this goal, we, along with our beloved partners, regularly organize mental health care activities for the community, targeting various groups, in both online and offline formats. In the past two years, we have been fortunate to collaborate with a new partner in Ho Chi Minh City, The DomDom Healing Garden, expanding the scope of our activities, sharing our work, and serving the people in the Southern region. It has been a great gift for us to work with the DomDom team. This July, we are honored to once again join forces with the sisters at Vườn Đom Đóm and 4 other experts in our Annual Community Service Program in Ho Chi Minh City. The program includes 6 continuous sessions over two days (July 6-7) on a variety of topics: "Finding Yourself in the Image of Father, Shadow of Mother & The Children Trapped" (Therapist Nguyễn Phương Thanh); "Shadow Work: Working with the Dark Side" (Philosopher Researcher Phạm Thuỳ Dương); "Heart-talk: From Harvard to the Journey of Finding True Happiness" (Mr Huỳnh Hạnh Phúc); "Stress Relief Exercises & Recovery after Trauma" (TRE – Miss Mai Dung); "Bell Therapy" (Mr Trần Minh Luận). This event attracted 133 participants. As with other members of the coordinating team, we hope these two days of service, covering various topics, will help participants gain a better understanding of themselves and provide additional tools to care for their mental well-being, enabling them to live more peacefully, happily, and lightly. We are grateful to Vườn Đom Đóm, thankful for the program, appreciative of our fellow service members, and thankful for the contribution this program has made once again to CORMIS’s Community Support Fund (14 million VND). We look forward to seeing you again, our Southern brothers and sisters, in the upcoming programs 🫶🫶🫶

We often think or make a guess: Deaf people cannot dance because they cannot feel the music to dance. But the truth is not like that. We went to the Central Deaf Service (CDS) following the invitation of the teachers at CDS to teach dance - Dork Dancing - to the Deaf students studying here. Under the guidance of Ethan, the founder of Dork Dancing, the students danced passionately for more than an hour. And they danced very beautifully. Sometimes each of them was requested to create their own dance moves. The way they danced showed clearly how creative the deaf children are. This free and creative dance did create joyful atmosphere. The children always had big smiles on their faces during the dancing process. And this is what they shared with Ethan after their first dance lesson: “I feel very happy to participate in dancing with everyone because it helps me feel full of energy. I really like dancing, I like fun movements. This is my first time learning to dance, but I want to continue dancing until I graduate, even when I grow up and go to work, I will continue to dance. When I first woke up I had a bit of a headache, when Ethan came to teach me how to dance, I felt very excited and I immediately woke up. I really like dancing because it is very exciting. This is the first time I participated in a dance like this. It was both fun and humorous because my friends and I created our own funny movements. I find jumping like this very fun, but my strongest jumps are high jumps, so my legs hurt a bit." Children, whether disabled or not, have their own needs and abilities. As long as we understand and support them properly, they will be able to trust themselves and express their capacities to fully develop. Can’t wait to see their 2nd class next week. Dork Dancing for mental health Alternative Education “Find your dream again

How to effectively carry out marketing activities for the Upcycling program to introduce up-cycled products to the community and support selling the products is always a challenging question for our marketing team. With the original members being 2 lovely girls, we now have 3 more handsome men, 1 from Brunei and 2 mentors coming from India. All of them are young people who are eager to learn, want to support the disadvantaged and contribute to sustainable development. This time, with the presence of 2 mentors from India; the team spent 2 days sharing and discussing in details many interesting solutions for upcoming communication activities. This is also a good way for the Vietnamese youth to learn more about marketing through practical work and have opportunities to connect, exchange and learn about the culture of brothers and sisters from many other countries around the world. Nurturing the seeds of love, strengthening bonds, supporting the youth to develop themselves and then making useful contributions to sustainable development through their participation in our programs is our goal in helping the youth coming to CORMIS.

Every weekend, we enthusiastically organise our special classes, where people who have difficulty in a regular learning environment can come to learn the knowledge & skills they desire. The lesson is designed in a way that is easily accessible for learners. The topic of study each week also changes. Through the needs of the participants, the current curriculum not only helps participants improve basic knowledge and skills (e.g. reading, writing, calculation) but also helps develop basic, complex skills and other requirements for life. It can be seen that now in these classes, the participants have many different ages, their disabilities/difficulties are different. Therefore, class times are also flexible to change to meet each person's schedule. Trainers coming from our community also have different experiences so that they can support the participants to fulfil their needs. Because of these reasons, the classroom atmosphere also changes depending on each person's topic and instruction style. This is also where all learners feel respected, loved and supported to develop their values ​​and potential. Seeing the bright smiles and little changes of the participants in class is our happiness. We hope each of these classes is not just a small step forward in their learning journey, open, connect with other members in the community but also a door to new opportunities in their lives.

Warm sunlight streamed through the windows, casting a gentle glow on the laughter and joy that filled the afternoon during "Sew-en With Duen!"CORMIS extends its deepest gratitude to Duan, our dear Bruneian friend. Your skillful hands, infectious enthusiasm, and warm kindness were the heart of the workshop. Thank you for joining us, for sharing your talents, and for helping us make a positive impact on our community. We also extend heartfelt thanks to our incredible partner, Voi’s Kitchen, whose unwavering support made the workshop a resounding success. To everyone who participated, your presence was a gift. Thank you for being a part of the connection and sharing in this meaningful experience. CORMIS eagerly awaits the opportunity to reconnect with you all at our upcoming programs!

Busy life makes us always in a hurry. Sometimes during the week we have no time to sit down and eat a meal with our family. There are also times when we eat but we don't feel what we eating or what it tastes in our mouths like because we are busy focusing on phone, TV, computer... And so eating is simply just sitting and chewing the entire bowl of rice. Some of us even not aware of which foods are beneficial to eat - nourishing, healing the body and vice versa. Thank you Thuc Duong Bao An team for taking the time to share with us your story, the inspiring process of building and developing Bao An, and about the values that you have been supporting the community in taking care of their health through beneficial eating habits. Thank you for the enthusiastic and "fiery" sharing and guidance of Mrs.Nga, Mr. Loi, Binh and the Bao An team. Thank you little Bao An for giving us such a beautiful song. Thank you, Grandma, for being present and singing meditation songs with our whole team. We are surely that the youth fighter team and disabled women at CORMIS have learned many profound lessons about the relationship between food and health, mind, happiness and entrepreneurship start up. Hopefully, after this class, the young people at CORMIS will be able to confidently cook simple but delicious dishes that nourish the bodies of themselves and their team.

10 days of preparation 10 different outfits 2 countries and 1 joy! On January 12th, 2024, Da Nang University of Architecture became a canvas for vibrant expression, echoing the triumphant finale of the Fashion Show program. This wasn't just a runway, it was a tapestry woven from countless emotions. Days of collaborative brainstorming, meticulous garment crafting, and finally, the euphoric unveiling of collective creativity. Most profound of all, however, was the invisible thread that transcended differences - of culture, language, age, or background. We were all pilgrims to a shared destination, each brushstroke contributing to a masterpiece far greater than ourselves. And when bathed in the spotlight, our brothers and sisters with disabilities, hand in hand with the student designers, took the stage, and met with thunderous applause, the world seemed to hold its breath. It was a moment etched in eternity, a symphony of triumph, a chorus of joyful tears. This, truly, was the essence of the show - a testament to the transformative power of human connection, where art becomes a bridge, and joy, a universal language. From the bottom of our hearts, we extend our deepest gratitude to the incredible teachers and students of Da Nang Architectural University (DAU) and Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) for their invaluable companionship during our recent special event. It's through our close collaboration in recent times that we've been able to share uplifting messages with the community about the boundless power of connection and acceptance, illuminating the true essence of love. We eagerly anticipate our next collaborative ventures, where we can continue to create meaningful projects together. Please accept our sincerest appreciation for your dedication and partnership. We appreciate all the organizations, individuals, and groups who have supported and helped us communicate, promote, and take care of the stages of running the event program. It was the love and enthusiastic support of the brothers and sisters that made this event a success. We are forever grateful for everyone's kindness. We extend our sincere gratitude to our valued partners and friends for their dedication in participating in the program. Your esteemed presence served as a source of constant motivation not only during the program but also for future endeavors. We deeply appreciate the unwavering support and enthusiasm you have shared. Deserving of special mention are the ten incredible models with disabilities who graced this event. Following last year's impactful recycled Ao Dai show, you have once again radiated positivity, illuminating the hearts of all present. We are filled with immense gratitude and respect for the unwavering spirit and inspiring companionship each of you displayed. Keep shining brightly! Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to all CORMIS members, who silently stand behind each day to prepare, support, and create this special event with our partners in the organizing committee.

After Miuk style, we are happy to collaborate with Thinh Minh Anh enterprise within the Project of Upcycling Program. This collaboration aims to introduce and create another channel to help sell upcycled products made by the team of people with disabilities to the market. On November 19, 2023; the MOU signing ceremony between CORMIS and Thinh Minh Anh was held with the witness of many related stakeholders and organization of people with disabilities at Viet Nam – Innovative Hub of Danang city. At this event, representatives of people with disabilities coming from the Upcycing Project came and share their thought about their participation in this project. Mr Vo Duc, one of the members of the Upcycling team said “this is the first time I have the honor to participate in this kind of event to share about my family and my job. Feeling inferior about being a Deaf and his voice which made his friends laughed at it since he was young at the school, he was very scare of standing and talking in front of a huge number of people. However this time, even though still have the same feeling of worry and tremoring, he could be able to speak slowly (though not very clear) to introduce about himself and the upcycling work he is doing. It might be thanks to the loving eyes, compassion and admire from the participants for his living courage has inspired him to speak confidently. The collaboration of the enterprises in the Upcycling Program will create more motivation for Mr Duc as well as other members with disabilities to work so that they can live confidently and independently.

With the same goal on raising awareness and supporting Community to actively take good care of their mental health, we have collaborated with our amazing partner, TIA Wellness Resort to provide series of related workshops for community in Nov 2023. These mental health activities have been conducted by TIA Wellness Resort experienced staff, focusing on group and one to one therapy approach that enabled the participants to release tension & stress, recover from trauma. The methods included Breathwork, Sound Healing, Tai Chi Class, Creative Workshop and Mindful Reiki Touch. The 1st group of participants are those coming from different background at the community, including people with different disabilities and members of VCIL Education Organization. Through these workshops, the participants have been guided to bring themselves back into balance & harmony; connection with their inner landscape, open up authentic expression; clearing the mind and re-establishing emotional well-being to heal the heart and soul. We will continue this Community Outreach Program in 2024.

We had a truly meaningful time with dear friends coming from Asian countries to participate in the 4-day SECOND ASIA REGION ECOVERSITIES ALLIANCE program in Hoi An, Vietnam. They are independent researchers, alternative educators, climate researchers, freelance educators, entrepreneurs, community leaders, organic farmers, and more. They are contributors to building locally-rooted learning spaces to promote community solidarity, sustainable ecology, and local economic development. During these 4 days, many members brought their projects and experiences to share, including projects on alternative education, projects on sustainable agriculture,... In addition, there are projects that empower and promote social inclusion for disadvantaged people that CORMIS and HIRAYA Collective for the Blind have been doing. The program has truly created favorable conditions for sharing diverse experiences, working together, discussing, and supporting each other to create new, creative, and meaningful projects for the community. Many participants found their community; Like-minded people who can understand their individual paths, thereby it was easy for sharing, sympathizing, understanding, and supporting each other. Ecoversities has become a space where people can express their authenticity, differences and connect with a family that shares their values. Participating in this program, in addition to receiving a lot of useful information from international friends, we also had the opportunity to share with the participants about the projects that the we have been implementing. In particular, they also had the opportunity to talk directly with disabled women participating in the Upcycling Project and experience the mental health activities that we have been serving the community, including TRE and Dork Dancing. Immediately after finishing the meeting program in Hoi An, we collaborated with HIRAYA Collective for the Blind to organize a sharing and exchange workshop between the amazing friends from HIRAYA Collective and the representatives of Deaf, people with mobility disabilities living in Da Nang. This activity also helped people with disabilities in Da Nang gain more information, knowledge, and skills on how to support the Blind. Most importantly, it has created a bond between disabled brothers and sisters in the two countries and supported a gradual change in thinking from "impossible" to "possible" in the thinking and actions of disabled brothers and sisters in Da Nang, Vietnam.

In collaboration with FPT Education Global, in 2023 we began supporting Japanese & Brunei students to participate in internships at CORMIS. Following their proposal, during their internship, they participated in many environmental protection activities, for example, participating in picking up trash at the sea, sorting and arranging left over fabric/used linen at the ware house to be upcycled at CORMIS, practicing upcycling some products from leftover fabric... In addition, with the coordination of the VCIL group, the students also had a film viewing session and in-depth discussion on issues related to the environment, for example “What is the Economics of Happiness”. During the internship days, the students have the opportunity to work directly with the upcycling team of people with disabilities. Therefore, this interaction also helped them to better understand life of people with disabilities in Vietnam. This is also a way for the international students to access the model of supporting people with disabilities to live confidently and independently with their ability to work that the Center is implementing. Sharing thoughts after the internship at CORMIS, Yurkia Asahi shared: “I want to say thank you for teaching me how to sew bags. I had a great time during my days volunteering at CORMIS. I learned many valuable lessons here, for example knowing how much fabric waste is generated. I think I know the amount of food waste and other waste produced by humans. However, I never thought that the amount of fabric waste could be so large. Looking at the fabric waste warehouse here and knowing that there is probably a lot more fabric waste out there, around the world, this really hits me hard. We also went to the beach to pick up trash here. When I first arrived I thought there wouldn't be much trash. However, when I started walking along the beach to pick up trash, I realized that there was a lot of trash hidden under the trees. This makes me feel very sad. I realized that, even if it was just a small piece of cigarette butt, if I kept picking it up it would turn into a big pile of trash. During my 3 days at CORMIS, I thought a lot about how much waste humans create and how important it is to reuse and recycle waste. I also think a lot about my country, Japan and Vietnam. The waste management regulations of the two countries may be different. However, it is important that we care about our country and care about environmental protection. However, we are all on the same team and I think we all need to work together to improve environmental issues. I think the women here are very strong and are doing very important things. I would like to thank everyone and thank you for what you are doing. I hope that cleaning up the fabric warehouse can help you handle recycling more easily."

This morning, nearly 100 children at the Village of Hope, a center raising disadvantage children in Da Nang, participated in our workshop. After more than 2 hours, the children learnt basic skills of sewing to be able to solve basic problems on their clothes, if it happens. The kids shared: “ they normally see the strings broken out at the bottom of their trousers but they don’t know how to fix it, they want to learn how to sew a straight line but they don’t know how, ect”. After learning these basic lessons, they continued learning how to sew basic stuff for their own usage, for example, make scrunches, a small bag to put their pens inside, a book mark to use…All the materials they use were left over fabric. This was how they learnt about fabric waste and how to reduce waste to protect environment. Ms Le Phuong Thao, Vice Director of the Village said: “the image of the teachers with disabilities teaching the kids how to sew will be their inspiration to study. The skills they learnt this morning, though we normally thought they are such a simple thing in life, but in fact, they are really useful and meaningful for the kids. Garbage if we know how to use they will become our resource. So, I think, this morning workshop teach the kinds useful lessons. We know if the kids stay out of this village, they still grow up. However, the importance thing is who they will become? So, what we guide them since they are young is really important”. We understand the difficulties, challenges and concerns of the teachers in the village and we also want to cultivate “good seeds” in the kids, even starting from very simple, small lessons. However, these lessons will contribute to build their independence, confidence and more than that. Thank you Microtec company and the leaders of the Village for your great collaboration with us in this program. We look forward to next workshops for the kids.

The Module 2 Training of TRE community facilitators were successfully implemented in Danang, Vietnam from June 1-4, 2023. 7 women, including women with disabilities participated in this training. They came from different provinces of Vietnam, including Danang, Hanoi, Quang Tri and Quang Ngai. This training firstly helped the participants to review basic knowledge on TRE that they already learnt from Module 1. Then, they learnt how to facilitate properly a TRE session for community. That included how to guide people to do exercises including making modifications for different target groups in the community, how to help practitioners to do self-regulate, self -intervention, etc. Therefore, there were lots of practice happened in this training. At the end of the training, most of the participants said they felt more confident to start guiding community to do TRE. Each team at each province developed plan to start practicing TRE sessions under the monitoring of TRE provider.

There has been no specific data of the amount of Deaf people in Danang city There has been no specific data of the total people with disabilities, including the Deaf affected from the previous natural disasters in Danang The Deaf community could not understand the public early warning given by Local Disaster Management Agency. The local Disaster Risk Management Agency do not understand sign language and could not provide accessible early warning for the Deaf! These are the crucial issues that we decided to organize the Training – Workshop on Disaster Risk Management for the Deaf. This activity was held on June 30, 2023 in collaboration with our local management agency, the Danang Union of Science and Technology Associations. The participants of this training workshop included representatives of Leaders of The Center of Policy and Disaster Risk Management Technique (under Viet Nam Dike and Disaster Management Authority), The Danang Center of Disaster Risk Management, Department of Labors, War Invalids and Social Affairs; Center Deaf Services; Danang DPO, Danang and Tien Giang Club of the Deaf and teachers from schools that have deaf pupils in Danang. Though the training - workshop lasted only for 1 day, it has brought the relevant stakeholders to sit together, shared and understood more clearly about their strengths and weakness in this matter; discussed and proposed the priority solutions/measures need to be implemented to make sure that the Deaf community in Danang will not be left behind in the local Disaster Risk Management program in the coming natural disaster season. The Deaf will be more active in participating in community activities to keep them safe, reduce losses and support other members in the community in the way they can.

To us, mental health health care program for the marginalized group is considered as a priority program, same as the sustainable livelihood program for them. It is clear that, when they have good health, inner peace and positive attitude of living, they can do what they want in their life easier, they can overcome the barriers challenging them easier and they can feel the happiness in their life. When they have inner peace, it will also affect the peace of the communities around them. So, they can be able to contribute to the world with positive energy, compassion and sharing. We are grateful for the wonderful continued collaboration of the Art of Living Vietnam in this meaningful program. Thank you so much for the dedicated collaboration of the Managing team, the amazing presence of each member of the Club of Independent Living of Danang in this health care activity via the breathing techniques. Thank you so much for all your positive sharing at the end of the session. It enabled us to evaluate how this activity is needed, the suitability of the method and initial effects for your group, the severe disability using wheelchair. So grateful for your amazing facilitation, Ms Tran Linh.

Thank you for the interesting visit of the professors coming from Hong Kong University of Technology and CELC Center, Da Nang University of Architecture. We had a great time sharing about our community projects from both sides. The project that enabled the students from Fashion Faculty in Hong Kong applied the knowledge learnt in university to help their community is really amazing. It opens new ideas for us in our current program of Upcycling for Wellbeing. And thank you so much for the comments on our upcycled products from the Professor on Fashion Design in Hong Kong, Ms.Jin Lam. We will share with our team about it. We hope you all have a great, succesful trip in Vietnam and hope your students will come to Vietnam in the future for their community projects.

The plan of organizing this event was made before COVID pandemic happened. However, we could not organize it and delayed until now. Therefore, when it happened, we were so happy. So much emotion came up the moment it happened. Especially, the moment we stood by Hoai river in the Old Town, watching each model with disability came out with their confidence and bright smile is the moment that we will never forget in our life. It was so touching and happy moment that we could not keep our happiness cries! We are grateful for the kind support of the People’s Committee, the Division of Natural Resources and Environment of Hoi An city to make this event happen successfully. We are grateful for all individuals, organizations, groups in different cities who had sponsored, supported us in sharing the event and preparing each step of the event. Your amazing love and support had enabled us to make this event successful. We will never forget your compassion and sharing! We are thankful for our partners, friends who had spent your time coming to participate our show. Your presence, especially those coming far from Hoi An, was a huge motivation for us in this special event. We appreciate your love! We would love to share our love & deep gratitude to other members in our organization team: Ms Phan Ngoc Xuan Thao, the designer and the tailors from Miukstyle shop, the S.E.A club, Cua tiem hanh phuc, Women’s Union of Cam Nam ward. Our love for environment and the marginalized groups are the “fire” that brought us together to make this event happen. Especially, we would love to express our admire, love and gratitude to 18 women with disabilities who became the model in this event. We believe all the guests who came to this event will never forget your confidence, charming and beauty. Keep inspiring other people and shining, the amazing ladies with disabilities! And thank you so much all CORMIS team who had tried your best to support silently and collaborate with our partners to make this event happen. Finally, thank you so much for all different teams of mass media for your presence and sharing our event. Your important contribution has enabled our event to reach so much more people in the community. Really appreciate your contribution!!! With our love and gratitude CORMIS team.

We continue to provide TRE for the communities living in Hoi An and Danang. Through our workshops, they have been raised on mental health, learnt how to use TRE safely in their daily life to help reduce stress. The workshops are open for all target groups in the community, including enterprises, students, INGO staff, local charity organization. The workshops have been implemented in collaboration with our partner Lang 3 and TRE Coffee - Lounge &Dining.

We have finished our Module 1 for 2nd group - Training of TRE Community Facilitators. It was such a great training, full of joys, emotion and sharing. Though our participants came from different area of Vietnam, have different background, different appearance, etc they came together as a team so quickly. Reasons might not only be the same sex, they have common interest in learning more deeply to use Tre effectively to take care of themselves and take care of their communities, including the at risk and marginalized members they are working with. Thank you for your self love and compassion for the community.

The linen upcycling workshop was organized in collaboration with our partner the Crafty Cow at their venue 02 An Thuong 37, Danang. This workshop enabled the participants to experience painting on tote bag upcycled from used linen like bed sheets, pillow cases, table clothes of the resorts, hotels. The upcycled bags were made by the women with disabilities working in the Upcycling Project for Well being at CORMIS. More than 20 children and youths participated in this workshop. They were very interested in making arts for these upcycled bags and happy with their creative painting. At the end of the workshop, each participant has their own beautiful bag to use. This workshop is one of the ways that aims to raise awareness of the community on reducing wastes in a creative way.

We are happy to participate in the BRIDGEFEST music festival together 31 organizations coming from Central, North and South Vietnam. The message highlighted in this event is “Narrow down the gap and work together for a human economy”. At this event, we introduced about themselves, the mission and our operating programs. The Up cycling program was shared in detailed to the participants. We also organized the workshop right at our booth where the participants can experience how to do up cycling work. In doing so, they can have more awareness on environment protection via reducing, up cycling the wastes

The WHO estimates that about 5000 people commit suicide every year in Vietnam and around 3.564.000 people are suffering from mental disorders, accounting for 4% of the whole population. The shocking data also reveals the extremely stressful reality faced by a particularly vulnerable population, people with disabilities. Aiming at improving the quality of life of community, including the people with disabilities in Vietnam, CORMIS has established partnerships with international experts to develop and implement innovative Self and Collective Care Methods for Stress Reduction and Resiliency Building. Our primary supports include: providing TRE sessions for different target groups, including people with disabilities (online & offline); training of community TRE facilitators, trainings of TRE global providers for those who wish to master on TRE. All these activities will be implemented in close collaboration with our international trainers. Besides, we also collaborate with other healing experts to provide other related activities, including nature dance, yoga, meditation, breathing, etc.

The beneficiaries of this project is also women, including women with disabilities. They are the ones who have been suffering a lot from the COVID pandemic. Coming to this project, the selected women will be engaged in all steps of the implementation process, including collection of the garbage of coconut shells, cleaning, upcycling them into different products and even selling to the market. Through this project, we want to create more opportunities for more disadvantage women in Central Vietnam to be able to continue working, helping them to solve the basic financial problems due to Covid pandemic. In particularly, we want to empower, inspire them to use their inner strengths to work and from that they will have more power to overcome their challenges. We love to receive support, under any forms, for this project to create more meaningful values for the community, Please Contact us for more enquiries.

These programs will be implemented when emergency situations happen and require material assistance for affected communities, for instance natural disasters, COVID pandemic. It can be goods or money to provide for the people who need external assistance to fulfill their basic needs due to the disasters happen. Prioritized target groups include children, women, the elderly and people living in remoted mountainous areas. Our main supports include: support blanket, basic food for adults and children, help to rebuild houses and restart business for living (adults), study (children) after natural disasters, provide materials for pandemic prevention and disaster risk reduction (example: lifejackets, generators, facemasks, washing hand liquid), provide water filtering system for schools in mountainous areas.

Locating in the Pacific Northwest tropical monsoon climate, Vietnam is one of the countries facing lots of natural disasters in the world. This is the place which has been affected by many different natural disasters like flood, storm, wind, cyclon, landslide, flash flood, whirlwind, etc. Natural disasters have made tremendous impact on economic sectors, increased poverty, negative effect on households in particular and community in general, contributing to the depression of environment and serious health issues. Together with the partners and related stakeholders, CORMIS has been trying to support material facilities and technique for local goverment, Steering Committee of Disaster Prevention & Control, Technical Support Groups at disaster prone areas so that they can be active in responding to natural disasters, minimize losses that can be caused by natural disasters. In the mean time, we also help the local communities to recover quickly after natural disasters. Through our efforts, we have tried our best to promote the active participation of all stakeholders and community, including the at risk groups, women in all process of natural disaster prevention & control, especially before disaster happens. Our support include: (1) Training, capacity building on natural disaster prevention & control, Community based Disaster Risk Management; (2) Assisting in developing technical guidance materials on Inclusive CBDRM, (3) Developing policy briefs to support advocacy efforts with decision makers (4), Evaluating the implementation and providing guidance for improving the quality of activities at different levels, (5) Guiding how to integrate inclusion aspect in the projects for community, (6) Supporting to implement other technical problems related to disaster risk reduction, for instance, early warning system, develop disaster risk map using QGIS, (7) Supporting to develop strategic and advocacy plan at national level.

We have successfully completed the mental health workshop for people with disabilities and care takers for the Agent Orgent Victims living in Danang city. The workshop was organized by the close collaboration between CORMIS and VUSTA following the proposal from the CORMIS. This is the first time the mental health workshop for the marginalized group, especially the people with disabilities, was held with the collaboration among different stakeholders, from local government agency, researching, teacher from University to mental health practitioners/trainers. And the financial support was from the Government fund. 2 days were not a long time; however, it enabled the participants to understand what it means by the concept of mental health, increased their basic knowledge on mental health; had more information of the Government’s policies and programs on mental health; listened and answered directly their related concerns. Besides, they had opportunities to experience different methods for taking care their mental health (meditation, yoga, tension release exercises). We were so happy to receive so much positive feedback from the participants at the end of the workshop: “This is so meaningful workshop for us. We felt so lucky to attend this workshop. This is the place where we can share to release our sadness which was kept so long. A place that we have fun, happiness, gain more confidence, change our way of thinking for life and way of loving ourselves. The methods that we experienced are quite suitable with us. We can feel the immediate benefits after trying, for instance, less pain on our back and neck; we had better sleep last night. The knowledge we learnt on mental health in this workshop also help us to know how to talk/deal with the children at different age to encourage and not to harm them for their mental health later on in their life. We want to set up small groups in our communities, share the knowledge we learnt for more people. We want to involve more in this mental health program”. We are so grateful for the participants’ sharing and their active participation in 2 days workshop. See you all in our following activities. We are grateful for the close collaboration and dedicated support from the VUSTA, Dr Hang Phuong from the Danang Pedagogical University; the Danang trainer team of yoga, meditation from the Yellow Lotus Club; Vice Director of DoLISA, mass media in Danang, Danang DPO and Association for Agent Orgent Victims; Club of Women with disabilities from Quang Tri, Quang Ngai province and the CORMIS staff. Your amazing contribution had turned this workshop into a successful and meaningful event./.

Capacity building for Disabled People Organizations, Clubs of Women with disabilities to help them to be able to work independently and effectively. Without proper capacity, they cannot develop, implement and evaluate their implementation strategy which aim to help change the life of people with disabilities at communities. The capacity building also help these organizations to be able to implement effectively the tasks given by the local government. So, it will add their value and improve their active role in contributing to local sustainable development. Our topics of training include: meeting facilitation skill, operation strategy development and implementation, project management, club management, communication campaign, inclusive first aids, English etc…The needs of training will be consulted directly with the Disabled People Organizations before they are implemented to ensure they meet the requirements and solve the problems of Disabled People Organization. Besides the trainings, we have also tried to provide working equipment so that they can apply the knowledge learnt in their daily work

The Upcycling project is created and implemented by CORMIS, the social enterprise Green Youth Collective (GYC) and Sutenainet Japan. This project's key function is to up-cycle used finishing nets from the fisher men, the high quality discarded fabrics from luxury hotels, resorts and tailors into useful products that directly benefit the at-risk communities in Central Vietnam. We aim to educate local youth and women-with-disabilities with entrepreneurial skills that secures income generation; and build community by connecting people and resources into the loop of sustainability. Besides the efforts of upcycling wastes, we have also collaborated with Clothes for Compassion from the Workshop to collect and give used high quality clothes for the poor people who need clothes in many provinces of Vietnam, including Danang, Quang Nam, Lang Son, Son La, Yen Bai Our main supports include: collaborate with partners to study and execute upcycling models using different kinds of wastes, set up and train the upcycling team on the knowledge and skills related to the model of upcycling, upcycle products and find the markets to sell the upcycled products, provide free upcycled products to the marginalized people for instance: hats for patients with cancer, school T-shirt for children living in mountainous areas….