Who We Are
 

Armed with a Paintbrush is a young and growing charitable non-profit organization established to raise funds for organizations working to better the lives of disadvantaged and displaced youth in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Funds are raised through the sale of paintings created by the children served by these organizations and go directly towards improving their care and education. Armed with a Paintbrush volunteers give freely not only of their time, but have also assumed all overhead expenses involved in starting the organization.

History    

Armed with a Paintbrush was founded in 2003 by Sarah Beck, an American student then studying and volunteering in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.  In the first month of her study abroad experience, Sarah began teaching English to the displaced and orphaned boys at Thao Dan orphanage. Sarah was immediately enamored with the playful students at Thao Dan. As her love for her students grew, so did her desire to take active steps towards bettering their disparate situations. What began as a 3 month-long study abroad program evolved into a year-long stay in Ho Chi Minh City that would eventually give root to Armed with a Paintbrush.

As a full-time volunteer, Sarah, became deeply engaged in the lives of Thao Dan’s boys.  Sarah learned the boys’ stories—the tragedy and unfortunate circumstances that lead them to Thao Dan. She witnessed the anger, fear, and sadness that came with their sense of abandonment and observed the displays of verbal and physical aggression that those feelings yielded, outbursts that served as the boys’ only forms of emotional release.  Sarah realized that helping her students develop the ability to express their emotions in more productive ways was just as important as teaching them English.

Although counseling resources are available to the children, their pain-ridden pasts make it difficult for them to trust anyone.  Their distrust creates a psychological brick-wall—significant time and effort is required to dismantle the wall brick by brick in order to counsel them effectively.  Sarah recognized that the children were emotionally stifled and believed they might benefit from the opportunity to express themselves quietly, privately, and non-violently…through art! 

Founders

Executive Director

Sarah Beck, founder of Armed with a Paintbrush, has been working with street children in Ho Chi Minh City—both directly, and indirectly from the U.S.—since she founded Armed with a Paintbrush in 2003.  Sarah is continuing her work with disadvantaged youth in the U.S. as a 2005 Teach for America corps member.  She lives in New York City and is teaching 6th and 7th grade special education in the Bronx.  Though she is currently thousands of miles away from those smiling faces that first inspired her, Sarah continues to develop Armed with a Paintbrush and has returned to Vietnam each summer to reconnect with the source of her inspiration—the children of Thao Dan.

Program Administrator

Nguyen Minh Phuong, co-director of Armed with a Paintbrush since its founding in 2003, has played a critical role in the continued success of Armed with a Paintbrush.  Phuong’s dedication over the past 3 years has ensured not only the maintenance of Armed with a Paintbrush while Sarah is in the U.S., but its continued development and expansion.  In addition, Phuong—fluent in English, Japanese, and Vietnamese—serves as the cultural and linguistic bridge between Armed with a Paintbrush and the Vietnamese and Japanese volunteers and customers. When she is not working to better the lives of disadvantaged youth in Vietnam, Phuong teaches a Pre-Law course at Ho Chi Minh City’s Open University.