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No.
25 April 2010
Dear
friends,
Spring
is in the air! It started already in February at the
beginning of the Vietnamese New Year. Endless songs have
been written about this new beginning and everyone seems
to be energized. At Solar Serve we are also excited.
First of all the shape of our Center has been
transformed and slowly we see the third floor coming
into existence. You will read more in this letter.
Another excitement will be our tenth anniversary. We
would like to celebrate this event. We are also happy to
have some new workers. So we have enough news to tell
you in this letter.
The
birth of a new
floor
In our last letter we told you about our
desire to build another floor on top of our center. We
made the decision in January and asked our staff to
remove the roof tiles first. It was a hard job, but it
was our first visible step for us to be serious. We
could not go back anymore. The contractor started on
Jan. 26. It was like a birthday for us. We were so
happy. It was very strange to see our center without a
head (roof), but very soon the first pillars were put
into concrete and walls were built.
  
A big
day
In Vietnam it is a special day when you
finish the foundation or another floor. On March 10th
was our big day. All the iron bars for the ceiling were
fixed together and the electrical wires were laid
between.. Cement-trucks were backed up to a crane for
carrying the cement to the top. Almost 30 workers worked
hard to get the job done. It took them around four hours
to finish the whole floor. The weather was perfect and
at the end of the day everyone was happy and satisfied.
We were amazed!
  
Coming
and going
We often see workers coming and going.
Many times they can't see our future goals and move on
to another job. We would like to see a change in this by
having a stable group of people working for the same
goal. Another young man came to work for us last month.
One of our deaf workers came back after he had left six
months ago. Also the department of labor approved a work
permit for three years for Hans. He is now 'officially'
working as a technical advisor for Solar Serve.
Process of
change
 In our last newsletter we have not told
you so much about our work in building and helping
people with solar cookers. We are in a process of
change. We would like to move to another level of
helping people. It requires adjustments and rethinking
our plans for the future. We would like to develop our
projects more but also establish the business side of
Solar Serve by selling solar heaters. solar panels and
even small wind mills for electricity. We also need to
help and train our staff
better.
Central place
 When you enter Danang by plane and fly
above the Marble Mountains you can see our Center. This
area was used as a place for graves near a small
village. In this village they are cutting and shaping
marble. Thousands of Buddha statues and other gods are
created there every day. There are also many temples and
pagodas located in this area. On our new floor you can
overlook this whole area. A great place to take your
stand.
10 years Solar
Serve
 On
May 22 it will be 10 years ago that we officially
started Solar Serve. With the backing of the Danang
University we were able to help many people throughout
the country. During the Environment day in June we would
like to remember those good years by giving 10 parabolic
cookers away during a special display in Danang. We
already contacted the University and they also want to
display their equipment. We hope that local authorities
will give us the right place for this
celebration.
Finally
•
We received the news that Fred one of our
handicapped sponsors is not able to (sponsor) walk this
year because of problems with his legs.
•
Another seminar will be held for small
entrepreneurs. This will be part of a business course
spread over two years.
•
In May we will have a Solar Serve display in Hong
Kong during the 50th anniversary of an organization
•
We are trying to organize another celebration of
10 years Solar Serve for friends like you in August.
Please contact us for the date.
•
Both of our Katu workers left, one for a course
in building ships and the other one for study in Saigon.
•
In February all our workers had a two-week break
for meeting their families and friends during the New
Year.
•
At the moment we are building the roof on top of
the third floor again and also a new balcony.
•
We often have contact with the parents of our
deaf workers. It is very important for them to know us.
•
One mother told us that she was very happy
because her son changed so much.
•
We already posted four updates of the new floor.
Open our website
That is all for now.
Thanks for your interest. Please keep in
touch.
Greetings from
Danang,
Solar Serve Team
For more information write to: solarserve@yahoo.com
Called To
Serve
See
also: No.1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9|10|11|12|13|14|15|16|17|18|19|20|21|22|23|24|25| | 
