This year 2001 we are celebrating the 10^th anniversary of the establishment of the group Japa Vietnam. When we started in 1991 we were not sure how long we could continue our efforts to cooperate with communities of Vietnamese people in need, but we made the decision to visit them often. Since that time members of Japa Vietnam in small groups of six or seven visit our Vietnamese acquaintances every year, no matter they are in the Northern regions of Cao Bang or all the way south in Soc Trang. Each year we meet hundreds of people in our way. All I can say is that we have learned a lot from them.

Several people who know us well have written this Newsletter. We have asked them their feed back of the work done with them. We were not looking for any kind of praise, but for their opinions and the opinions of the communities with which we came across. We thought that it could be important for future cooperation programs. At the same time we hoped to learn more about the realities in which people on the fringe of society were living. In all, we were able to obtain some valuable material, worth of further reflection. Nevertheless, there is still much to learn in the future.

We let our Vietnamese counterpart to express their views, although we decided not to give the names of the ones who wrote the articles or reports. Our Vietnamese friends know that we are a volunteer group of Japanese private individuals.

Common people in Japan support the Vietnamese programs we present them. We do not have access to public funding, though, sometimes in the past, groups of other foreign countries have also helped us to fund some rural development programs in Vietnam. Japa Vietnam funds are like a well that dries up every July, when we distribute them, and gets little by little filled during the other months of the year.

Finally, we feel happy that for the past 10 years we could make many friends in Japan and in Vietnam, thanks to the activities promoted by Japa Vietnam.