Sandy Hook Woman

Part Of A Catalyst For Change

By Nancy K. Crevier

Sandy Hook resident Tatiana Cook wants her three children to understand that there are people out there “who need help, and that giving back is important.” And while her 6-year-old and 4-year-old twins do not quite grasp the details of what their mother will do come August, they understand the concept that she is going to “save the children.”

Ms Cook will travel August 13 to 20, with a group of 75 others, to Vietnam, under the umbrella of the Catalyst Foundation, a CNN Freedom Project. The Catalyst Foundation addresses some of the root causes of child trafficking, and provides educational and economic opportunities. It has provided humanitarian relief to Vinh Long (1999–2002), Binh Thuan (1999–2002), Saigon (2003–2004, 2007–2009), Dong Thap (2005–2010), and Kien Giang (2007–present).

“This is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time,” said Ms Cook. “We have always supported charities, but I wanted to do something more intimate,” she said, a desire that rises from her father’s own experiences.

“My father was sponsored in the late 1960s, when he was about 18 years old, to come to the United States from Hong Kong. It relieved him from a situation just somewhat above the situation of these children [supported by the Catalyst Foundation],” she said. Her father grew up at the poverty level in Hong Kong, crowded into an apartment “about the size of a large closet” that also housed his parents, a grandparent, and three siblings. The assistance her father received was life changing, she said, and it is her hope that her efforts will add to positive changes in the life of even one child in the Mekong Delta, outside of Ho Chi Minh City, where she will volunteer.

“I did a lot of research to find a charity to support,” Ms Cook said. “When I came across the Catalyst Foundation, it really spoke to me. These children are being raised in a dump. They pick through garbage for food, and many have no shelter. I looked at the pictures of these kids, and saw my own children in them. Being a parent, I felt an affinity toward these children, and I knew I wanted to help,” she said.

Because the families of these children have no education and no hope for better lives, trafficking of children into lives of sex slavery is common. “Sometimes parents inadvertently send their children into these situations, not realizing it’s trafficking. They think they’re giving their children to someone who can give them a better life,” Ms Cook said.

Through donations and time given by volunteers, the Catalyst Foundation has built a school and a playground for the children living in the dump, she said, and provided the children with uniforms and books. “We are teaching the children the basics of education, plus safety skills to avoid slavery situations. I can’t even imagine it for my own children,” Ms Cook said, “but these children have to be taught not to go with strangers who promise better things, to run away if someone tries to grab them. And it’s not just the children. The basic education is so lacking in the adults, too.”

By educating both adults and children and giving them economic opportunities to rise out of poverty, the Catalyst Foundation is a grassroots movement to build the community up, said Ms Cook.

As a Catalyst Foundation volunteer, Ms Cook has collected items such as backpacks and flip-flops that she will bring with her when she flies to Vietnam next month. Thanks to the generosity of those she has approached, she is at her capacity of what she can pack. She has also agreed to fundraise, a first-time experience for her. She has set a goal of raising at least $1,000 by the end of July. Already, just by informing friends and family, she has raised over half of that money, and the company for which she works, Prudential Financial, has agreed to match dollar for dollar, up to $5,000. All of the money will be used by the foundation to purchase supplies, said Ms Cook. She will meet her own travel costs of approximately $2,000.

“I weighed what I could put off personally, things like buying furniture I want, in order to support this charity, and I thought about what my dad has gone through in his life. My doing this feels inconsequential, next to what these kids [in Vietnam] go through every day,” said Ms Cook.

She is unsure exactly what she will do as a volunteer, but is certain her responsibilities will be quite different from what she experiences in the office environment in which she works.

“I have traveled a lot. I’ve been to China, Korea, Japan, Europe, and Turkey. I have seen the poverty that exists, but I have never been immersed in it. I’m not sure how to emotionally prepare for this. It will be,” she said, “a very different experience for me.”

Donations to this Catalyst Foundation mission can be made at crowdrise.com/tatianacook. For more information on the Catalyst Foundation, visit catalystfoundation.org.