Volunteer Service

“Volunteer service is a simple charitable gesture that helps everybody actively push limits in a positive direction. It enriches the lives of all involved in a way that reduces suffering and makes our lives suddenly meaningful.”  – Isabelle Müller

How do we react to injustice? Do we look away, or do we look for useful solutions? Social engagement is a way of life. It is also a learning process that involves the communication of values and the expansion of boundaries. As the founder of the LOAN Foundation (LOAN Stiftung), I would like to consciously help shape our world and contribute my strengths where they are needed. I help children in need so that one day they might have the opportunity to take their lives into their own hands; for the disadvantaged children of today are perhaps the founders of tomorrow. This fills me with enormous joy.

In this spirit and in the memory of my beloved mother’s life philosophy, I founded the LOAN Foundation (LOAN Stiftung) in May 2016.

Thank you for your visit and for your support!

May 2016

“If we are to reach real peace in the world…we shall have to begin with the children.”– Mahatma Gandhi

A few years ago I met Isabelle Müller for the first time, and her positive energy and immense sense of purpose made an immediate, strong impression on me. Since then, a deep friendship has developed between us, and I was fortunate enough to be a part of the LOAN Foundation (LOAN Stiftung) from its very infancy.

As a wife and as the mother of two children who are now nearly adults, it is particularly important to me to do something meaningful above and beyond my career: my volunteer activities with the LOAN Foundation (LOAN Stiftung) gives me the wonderful feeling of doing something that is very important and good. The disadvantaged children in the north of Vietnam should have the chance to develop their abilities and gifts and to find their way in life. They should feel that they are important and that there is help to offer them the best possible development. In keeping with the idea that sometimes the smallest deeds can have the most powerful impact, my support of the LOAN Foundation (LOAN Stiftung) is a matter of the heart.

Since I studied marketing and photography is a great hobby of mine, I contribute by overseeing press and public relations. In the words of Erich Kästner: “Do good and speak about the good things you do.” This sums up why actively helping the LOAN Foundation (LOAN Stiftung) and its projects is such a pleasure for me.

July 27, 2016

“The children of today shape the world of tomorrow.”

Long before the publication of her book Lo-Anh – From the Life of a Phoenix, my mother told me about her desire to one day support schools in Vietnam so as to give children access to the education that her mother Lo-Anh (Loan) did not have. A few years later, the LOAN Foundation (LOAN Stiftung) started to form and I decided to accompany my mother on her first trip to Vietnam in autumn 2015. I’m an amateur photographer and I documented our trip, and in the process I learned about the northern part of the country, its breathtaking landscape, and the poverty of the rural areas.

In Germany, access to education and knowledge is a given for many people, while in other countries it is still a privelege. For me, as a student, education makes it possible to follow one’s dreams and to discover oneself. My conviction is that education not only positively and decisively shapes children’s lives but is also essential for the development of society, since the children of today shape the world of tomorrow. For me, it is especially important to provide children with education so that they may develop their own abilities and interests. For this reason, I will continue to support my mother and the LOAN Foundation (LOAN Stiftung) to the best of my ability as a photographer and translator.

August 3, 2016

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”– Nelson Mandela

We have been lucky enough to be born and raised in a world where our parents did not have to consider how to fund our basic education. In Vietnam, on the other hand, the educational system is a precarious one. If parents are financially and emotionally able to separate themselves from their children, their sons and daughters must assume great responsibility as they move away from their family, friends, and home to then receive instruction in buildings that are often run-down and to eat and sleep in a large group under challenging conditions. In some cases, especially for children from the countryside, the path to school is long and extremely dangerous.

Yet basic education should not be a privilege but rather a given. Only through proper schooling can free-thinking, reflective individuals create a better and more fair society. I didn’t have to think twice about supporting the LOAN Foundation (LOAN Stiftung) and, by extension, the creation of future centers for knowledge. Providing direct, on-site support helps people to help themselves, which I believe is the most promising, forward-thinking charitable work.

September 9, 2016

Education is empowering…

… from dependency and lack of mobility, from economic and mental prisons. No matter the social problem or danger – from poverty and hardship to political populism, from overpopulation to religious fanaticism – a lack of education is always an essential, underlying problem. It is for this reason that initiatives such as the LOAN Foundation (LOAN Stiftung) are so important and worth supporting.

I met Isabelle Müller several years ago over the course of an interview about her biography “Phönix Tochter” and was delighted when her long-standing desire to create a foundation to promote education in Vietnam came to fruition. For when family history, a knack for making contacts, and energetic determination are combined in one person, as is the case with the founder of the LOAN Foundation (LOAN Stiftung), the prospects for the practical and sustainable implementation of an idea are very high.

I’m pleased to support the LOAN Foundation (LOAN Stiftung) as a filmmaker and journalist and hope that the documentation of the lives and needs of the children in North Vietnam will promote general interest in this country often overlooked by the West and also generate further support.

March 18, 2017

“Helping together and giving hope”

I have known Isabelle Müller personally for many years and I know with how much passion and dedication she stands up for the disadvantaged children in the north of Vietnam through the LOAN Foundation.

As a mother of two adult children I am aware of how important education is for a healthy development in life and a peaceful world.

Besides the implementation and maintenance of the sustainable projects, leading the foundation is a big challenge for Isabelle Müller and brings numerous tasks with it. I am proud and happy to support Isabelle Müller in some of these administrative functions as a back-office volunteer.

I am constantly motivated by seeing how schools and kindergartens are built on the other side of the world, how hundreds of children get a better basis for life and to see the hope for a better future appear in the eyes of those children. For me, this is genuine aid.

August 2017

I was born and grew up myself in a poor region of Vietnam. The school war 10 kilometers far from our village. We children had to drive daily on old bicycles on tiny paths, as hungry as we were. This is why I really understand how hard it is to fight against the situation and how brave you have to be in order to realize your life’s dream. More important is getting the awareness that a high education level is the only way for a sustainable development and the best method against poverty.

My deepest wish is that the children of my country get better access to education than me before. This is the reason why it is an honor for me to support this selective aid with my contribution. It makes me happy and gives my life a sense.

August, 2018

Mrs. Nguyễn Thị Hương Diệu teaches at USSH (University of  Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University in Ho Chi Minh city) and supports the LOAN Foundation (LOAN Stiftung) with translations (German-Vietnamese)

„A child miseducated is a child lost.” (John F. Kennedy)

I could have been that lost child if my parents had not been wholly persistent with their life´s dream: to send all their 6 children to university. I do volunteer work for LOAN Foundation (LOAN Stiftung) as, on the journey, I can imagine happiness of many people and myself being created, which I believe is the meaning of this life.

August, 2018

Mrs. Lâm Ngọc Trúc is alumni at the VGU (Vietnamese German University) and supports the LOAN Foundation (LOAN Stiftung) with translations (English-Vietnamese)

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”– Nelson Mandela

“I want to be together with the LOAN Foundation (LOAN Stiftung) in order to do good things for poor ethnic minority students in the northern areas of Vietnam. I contribute with my small part, bringing them better chances, helping them to fulfill their dreams. Their smiles are my happiness in life. It is so wonderful to be a member of the LOAN Foundation (LOAN Stiftung)!”

October 10th, 2018

Mr. Tran Quang Phu works as a driver at the DoFA in Ha Giang province. Since we met and with a lot of experience, he always brings us safe to the sites we have to survey.

Knowledge cannot be the universal key to all problems in the world. However, knowledge brings its worth to the ones who can seize it. For me, educating people, especially educating children – future generations – is the most practicable und realistic way to bring a better present as well as future, not only for the children themselves but also for the community, and more widely for the world itself.

Furthermore I really believe in equity, that everyone, regardless of the social background and living conditions, should be benefited with equal basic education and living conditions. However my worldview is certainly not the actual reality, as education for children in some parts of the world is still a desired luxury, especially in difficult areas such as the northern, mountainous regions in Vietnam.

Working with the LOAN Foundation (LOAN Stiftung) will open a new door to my life’s longing goals, helping me to see the world from different perspectives, seeing life from much deeper aspects. Personally, I truly believe home is where we feel happy. I volunteered since early stages of my life and developed since then my way of life. Therefore I will be very happy when I contribute something for other people and the world.

August, 2021

Ms. Bùi Hoàng Phương Oanh is a student at the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, National University of Ho Chi Minh City. She supports the LOAN Foundation  (LOAN Stiftung) in the field of online marketing and design.

Education has always been the basis for children’s later life. To be able to be part of the LOAN Foundation (LOAN Stiftung) makes a lot of sense to me. In this way I can help society and especially children from disadvantaged backgrounds, to gain access to education.

August, 2021

Ms. Trần Thị Quỳnh Như is a student at the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, National University of Ho Chi Minh City. She supports the LOAN Foundation in the field of marketing.

When I was a kid, I didn’t like going to school. I didn’t think school was important. Even so, I still went because that’s what my mother wanted. Now I am a student and I am already beginning to be aware of the important role of a basic education in life. The education system not only offers a repertoire of future professions, but also the freedom to lead an independent life. That’s my luck, but unfortunately not all children get the same chance. By getting involved in these voluntary activities, I hope to be able to contribute to the lives of others, create equal opportunities for them and thereby also bring a meaning to my life.

August, 2021

Ms. Lê Anh Thư is a student at the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, National University of Ho Chi Minh City. She supports the LOAN Foundation (LOAN Stiftung)  in the field of German-Vietnamese translations.