VPS Gala 2005 in Southern California
Tue Sep 13, 10:06 AM (VPS News)
 Rising to the Challenge
“There are risks and costs to a program of action, but they are far less than the long-range risks and costs of comfortable inaction.”
-- John F. Kennedy
Dear Friends:
On October 8th, 2005, Vietnamese Americans of Southern California will meet in Orange of California for the First Annual Benefit Gala on the theme “Rising to the Challenge.” We, the Vietnamese Professionals Society (VPS) of Southern California, invite your support for this event.
In keeping with our tradition of community service and helping those less fortunate, the VPS of Southern California invites you to join us for in our first annual gala. We aim to challenge ourselves and to explore our community to an issue of international importance – human trafficking and labor exploitation.
This 2005 Gala will be the first such event held by our chapter in an effort to reach out to those in need and support a newly established organization, VietACT, the Vietnamese Alliance to Combat Human Trafficking. All proceeds from the Benefit Gala will go towards VietACT to help establish much needed offices and shelters. By hosting this benefit dinner, VPS of Southern California also wants to bring awareness to the human trafficking and labor exploitation of Vietnamese women and men in the East/and Southeast Asia regions starting with Taiwan. From this spectacular event, participants will acquire new understandings of the issue. To achieve this vital goal, VPS of Southern California will invite significant public media from the community to promote the awareness to the community.
It is both an endeavor worthy of your support and an opportunity for VPS of Southern California to demonstrate our greatest concern toward human trafficking issue. We look forward to welcoming you at the Benefit Gala!
Warm Regards,
Xuan Vu
President
Vietnamese Professionals Society – Southern California Chapter
The Cause
A 19 years-old suffers from schizophrenia because she had been locked in a room and forced to watch sex tapes with her mentally disabled husband to induce sexual activities that would lead to a pregnancy.
A woman who was raped by her boss, gave birth to a child that she could not take back to Viet Nam because she had a husband waiting at home, and therefore, had to abandon her child.
A woman cried to Father Hùng, and as he described it: "Cô ta kh?c nhu chua t?ng du?c kh?c." And when Cha Hùng asked her “Why..? Why would you come here even if you knew that this would happen to you?” She replied: "Vì con c?a con nó h?c gi?i quá Cha oi...mà con không có ti?n cho nó h?c ti?p..."
A group of military men who worked at a factory and got paid nearly nothing, retired after work to a small, dirty room where they hung a red flag with a single yellow star as a reminder that THEY TOO are human, people from a country called Viet Nam, and they are not animals - Although it may seemed as if they were, the way they have been treated. Taking Father Hung's advice they called a Vietnam official in Taiwan to plead their case. They took down the flag after they were told, "Không làm thì di v?!"
These are the stories of our people, our brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers. They are not isolated cases of tragedy, but a pattern of behavior by a people so impoverished and desperate that a loved daughter can be sold for money. The epidemic problem is not limited to young women and girls “marrying” foreign men, but includes laborers tricked into slavery through the promise of a better future. According to the 2005 U.S. State Departments’ Release Trafficking in Persons Report, of the hundreds of thousands, “a large percentage of the Vietnamese women who are trafficked to Taiwan are lured by fraudulent offers of employment or marriage to Taiwanese men.”
Half-way across the world, another group of hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese, here in the United States, together form a vibrant economy, a celebration of culture, pride mingled with modern dynamism. After 30 years, as we emerge as a community to reckon with, we must remind ourselves that our successes are banal, our accomplishments only superficial if we did not share it with our less fortunate brothers and sisters.
Father Nguyen Van Hung, the head of the shelters in Taiwan, has taken this step when he left his comfortable life in Australia to take up the fight for victims of human trafficking in Taiwan.
Read on and find out why we at VPS deem this cause of utmost priority and are honored to contribute to this fight for humanity and dignity for our people. We hope you join us.
About Us:
The Vietnamese Professionals Society (VPS) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit membership organization of Vietnamese professionals. VPS membership comprises hundreds of professionals from various fields such as education, law, finance, medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, accounting, physical science, engineering, computer sciences and business. VPS also welcomes university students to become associate members of the Society.
Since its inception in January 1990, the VPS receives tremendous support and encouragement from Vietnamese Americans including other Vietnamese throughout the world. As of 2000, VPS has chapters throughout North America, Europe, Australia and Asia. VPS is a forum for Vietnamese professionals to meet and to extend their social and professional networks.
Please visit the VPS Southern California Chapter website for more information.
About VietAct:
The Vietnamese Alliance to Combat Trafficking (VietACT) is a grassroots organization dedicated to eradicating the global problem of human trafficking of Vietnamese victims through collaboration, advocacy, and education, for the purpose of supporting, protecting and empowering victims. Acknowledging that trafficking of Vietnamese men, women and children is a universal concern, VietACT’s current focus is to outreach to victims in Taiwan, the young children - who are as young as 5 years old - in Cambodia.
The immediate attention lies in Taiwan, where there are 100,000 Vietnamese brides and 95,000 Vietnamese laborers. VietACT provides direct financial and emotional aid to Taiwan’s Vietnamese Migrant Workers and Bride’s Office. Please visit www.vietact.org for more information.
The Event:
Saturday, October 8th, 2005
Doubletree Hotel: 100 The City Drive South Orange, CA 92868
Reception starts at 6:00pm:
Hors d'oeuvres ~ Art Exhibit ~ Silent Auction
Programs starts at 7:00pm:
Dinner ~ Entertainment ~ Dancing
For more information, please visit:
http://www.vps.org/namcali/gala2005
TICKET INFORMATION
$100 Per Seat Pre-sale
$125 At the Door
Reserve your tickets now: http://www.vps.org/namcali/gala2005/ticketinfo.html
Thank you for your support.
“A journey of a thousand begins with a single step.” -- Lao-Tzu |
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