THEY BROUGHT ONE CHILD FROM VIETNAM. NOW, THEY'RE WORKING TO SEND BACK HOPE.

Fresno Bee, The (CA)

Author: Shirley Armbruster The Bee

HANFORD COUPLE MINISTERS TO ORPHANS

Dateline: HANFORD

When Rhonda Smith watches her 14-month-old daughter giggling and playing in the living room, her heart is full of hope for a bright future for the child she met almost a year ago in a Vietnamese orphanage.

But at the same time, Smith's heart is breaking because she remembers other children she saw in Vietnam - the ones living on the streets and begging for food or money because the orphanage had no room for them.

"I felt really bad; we were told not to give to these children because there were so many destitute children that they would continue coming," she said.

"It was difficult emotionally because these little children were standing there - maybe hungry - and I couldn't help them."

Their image was so powerful that when Smith returned to Hanford with 4-month-old Susie last May, she was determined to do something to help those homeless children.

After much planning and prayer, Smith, 40, and her husband, Mickey, 44, developed a project with a goal of raising $10,000 to help the orphanage expand.

They are preparing to publish a Prayer Journal, with all proceeds going to Susie's former home, the orphanage run by Amerasian Network Inc. in Phu Yen, a central coastal village in Vietnam.

Smith made her first public pitch for the project Thursday when she was the speaker at the Christian Business Men's Committee breakfast in Hanford.

She has a prototype ready to go and said she now needs about $4,200 in business sponsor/advertising support to meet printing costs of the 100-page, hardbound journal. Josten's Printing in Visalia will produce the books. They will sell for $12 each, and Smith has set a goal of selling 1,000.

Why a journal as a fund-raiser?

"I've been asked to speak to different groups, but I'm really not a speaker and have been turning them down," she said. "I knew I needed something to hold onto and something to leave with them.

"I believe the Lord gave this [idea] to me. This journal is a hands-on thing that allows me to be able to talk to them."

Smith, who attends Christ Believer's Church in Dinuba, said she has seen the power of prayer before and expects it to make a difference in this project.

"I really believe the Lord hears our prayers," she said. "I believe in this prayer journal. . . . There are a lot of things that are going to happen with it."

Smith's husband, a Fresno police officer, said he has backed the idea since the beginning.

"I said, "Let's do it.' I knew she had a direction she wanted to go, and I was in full support," he said.

In addition to blank pages for journaling, the book also will feature pictures of 25 children who live in Amerasian Network orphanages. Rhonda Smith said the children need prayer support and sponsors who will commit $20 a month toward their living expenses.

Amerasian Network founder Mary Payne Nguyen said the Smith's project could raise half the money needed to add a second story to the orphanage in Phu Yen. The facility houses 25 children, from newborn to 4 years old. If a second story is added, the orphanage could take up to 50 older children.

Nguyen, an American who lives in Vietnam, was in California on business earlier this month. She founded Amerasian Network in 1990 after working for more than 20 years in Southern California in refugee and Amerasian resettlement, as well as teaching English to refugees.

Amerasian Network runs five orphanages housing 300 children in Vietnam.

"If we had space, we could help thousands," Nguyen said. "These are children that are just out there."

Nguyen said sponsors for the children and fund-raising efforts by people like the Smiths are vital to her work in Vietnam.

"Every single penny - 100 percent of what we get - goes directly to the support of the children," she said. "I wanted something where a Brownie troop or a Sunday School class could sponsor a child."

Amerasian Network pays no salaries and has no overhead - everything is donated, she said. Nguyen supports herself through her separate work of facilitating adoptions - like Susie Smith's - through several agencies.

The Smiths said that with Nguyen's help, their adoption of Susie last May went relatively smoothly.

That was in stark contrast to their 1993-94 experience in adopting two Russian children. After several false starts and disappointments, they brought Kharis, now 10, and her brother, Gavriel, now 7, to the U.S.

The Smiths also have two biological daughters, Trisha, 21, and Juanita, 15.

In addition to helping scores of orphans in Vietnam with the prayer journal project, the Smith family has its eye on one particular child - a 3-year-old girl named Lannah.

The Smiths had started the adoption process, but it was halted by the Vietnam government because the child didn't have the necessary papers.

They still hope to add Lannah - and perhaps other orphans - to their family, Mickey Smith said. "I never say "No' anymore," he said.

How to help

Anyone wishing to donate to Rhonda Smith orphanage project may write to her at Amerasian Network Inc., 1820 W. Lacey Blvd. #178, Hanford CA 93230.

Caption:

Photos by Diana Baldrica - The Bee At left: Mickey and Rhonda Smith with their 14-month-old adopted Vietnamese daughter, Susie. The couple has a project with a goal of raising $10,000 to help Susie's former home expand. Above: The Smith family, from left clockwise, Gavriel, Mickey, Rhonda holding Susie, Juanita, Trisha and Kharis. The BeeMAP - Vietnam orphanage