Making the Dream Reality

by James Kang, Country Leader, Vietnam

Building people to build nations is a mission that REI started in Vietnam more than 30 years ago. In this time, we have seen the positive impact of our contribution on the country’s development through short-term professional team volunteers and long-term resident staff.

Ms. Lien laughing with a colleague in Vietnam

Now, you have the opportunity to hear directly from the field about how REI has and continues to work toward our mission. We hope you enjoy what Ms. Lien has to share, as she’s the Vietnamese lady who’s been working with REI and directing our Vietnam office since 1993.

2025 was filled with many highlights. One of them is simply our team – a small office staff in Vietnam that works well together because of James’ support, not only in work but also in spirit. He is responsible for everything related to the REI Hanoi Office and REI HQ in the U.S. He helps our Vietnam staff see the work more clearly and understand the partnership with REI HQ better.

The HQ team and short-term team leaders as well as all the short-term team members have become great friends who care for one another and contribute greatly to REI's success in Vietnam. REI’s name in Vietnam is even more valuable thanks to everyone's contributions. We find ourselves less busy and tired, working more enthusiastically, being more creative and connecting regularly with partners in Vietnam and the U.S., as we expand our work on multiple fronts. 

Another important highlight is the excellent reputation and partnerships we have with the government, the major teaching medical institutions, universities and partners. Our U.S. and Canadian medical teams and individuals serve at hospitals as teachers and mentors, and Vietnam hospital leaders enthusiastically organize seminars, short-term classes and invite REI experts to consult and perform surgery for difficult cases. Universities also have turned the REI business team’s training programs into an official curriculum, calling "REI Inc. Week." And more universities have reached out to us to come to their schools, and the schools where we’re already at are asking us to expand our curriculum.  

 James Kang (front taking the selfie) with part of the Vietnam Business Team (l-r): An Ly (REI Vietnam office), Terry McHugh (team leader and REI board member), a Vietnamese student, James Kang, and David Stott

As you can see our local Vietnam partners welcome REI's programs, because they are highly valuable to them and to Vietnam's emerging young generation of educators, businesspeople, doctors, and nurses.

Our third highlight in 2025 is the infrastructure and partnerships we are planning to put in place for 2026. We want to continue growing our short-term medical and business teams while also developing long-term projects.

Part of the Vietnam ENT team teaching and performing a cancer surgery, featuring Dr. Brent Senior, team leader

• An artificial intelligence project that Dr. Walter Lee is doing with the National ENT hospital.

• A successfully built and operational Temporal Bone Lab (TBL) with signed agreement between Hough Ear Institute/REI and Hanoi Medical University (NOH). We hope to launch the TBL that will be located at NOH. This will be the first temporal bone surgery room in the three Indochinese countries (Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia).

• Building a Palliative Care model at Bach Mai Hospital: This program is not currently available in Vietnam, but the Ministry of Health is very interested and encourages hospitals to implement it soon. We hope REI’s short-term medical teams will support Vietnam in implementing this Palliative Care project at Bach Mai Hospital. After that, the hospital will expand this project to other hospitals in the country. 

Our fourth highlight is that we sent five exchange fellows (on J-1 visas through the U.S. State Department) who were all carefully selected Vietnamese professionals to go to the U.S. for training and cultural exchange. They are committed to learning and absorbing the core values of the Exchange Fellowship program and the host families with whom they stayed. They returned to Vietnam, bringing new professional knowledge and a new vision. They say they are always proud to be "members of the REI family."

Many International Non-Governmental Organizations (INGOs) are surprised to learn that REI in Vietnam is the only one who must refuse new invitations (due to the high volume) from Vietnamese institutions to implement more programs and reach more places. We are very proud that REI's programs in Vietnam are so well-received and bring true value to the Vietnamese people. This is the greatest reward for REI in Vietnam. In fact, in Vietnam, some INGOs have asked us to help them build their own volunteer programs like we have, but we simply don’t have the capacity to that do now.  

Dr. Brent Senior with Dr. Scott Hardison and Dr. Heidi Martini-Stoica and others of the VN ENT Team in a Hanoi hospital with Vietnamese medical partners

Vietnamese officials, medical directors and university directors have all told us that our team –the Hanoi Office, the REI HQ, our short-term team leaders and team participants – seems like family to one another, and they are correct. In Vietnam, the sense of family, rooted in belonging and caring for one another, is important. 

Ms. Lien’s update makes it clear – the transformative impact of our work is real. Each person who helps with our work in Vietnam has made a meaningful and significant contribution toward making the dream of building people to build nations a reality.