On December 17, 2007, representatives of Henkel and SCC opened a new schoolbuilding in Tay Ninh, The schoolbuilding was built by Saigon Children’s Charity (SCC) with a 10.000 EUR sponsoring program of Henkel’s world wide Henkel Smile initiative.

In February 2007, Henkel Smile committee approved the sponsoring of a new schoolbuilding in Boi Loi 3 Primiary school, in Trang Bang district, Tay Ninh Province. The construction work started in August and in November, the whole work was completed well! The two new classrooms serve total 120 children each year. Before sponsorship was taken in place, these classrooms, which were built by villagers in the early 1990s as a temporary structure without a foundation, were in dire condition and dangerous for children to study.

A delegation of Henkel, Mr Lutz Mehlhorn Representative of Henkel Germany, and Mr Frank Willemars, GM of Henkel Vietnam Co., Ltd. traveled to Tay Ninh together with representative of SCC for the opening ceremony. The ceremony was attended by representatives from local and provincial government, as well as teachers and students with their parents, totally around 175 people.

At the beginning of the ceremony, spectators were welcomed by a singing performance of students. Also in the ceremony, Mr. Frank Willemars sent a gift including a set of computer and a printer to the school. Henkel hopes that this gift can help the teachers with managing the school. After several speeches, representatives from Government, Saigon Children’s Charity and Henkel cut the ribbon to open the new classrooms.

The 2 classrooms, which were opened this morning, are a very good example for the great co-operation between SCC and Tay Ninh authorities and partners. SCC plans to build 9 more classrooms in Tay Ninh in 2008 together with rewarding the sponsored schools with toilets, fence, school yards, … whatever the schools need for children to develop and study in a very good and healthy environment.