binh rybacki aka co binh

Greetings from Loveland,

I am binh rybacki, Founder and Executive Director for Children of Peace International (COPI).

It is my honor to welcome you to Vietnam as members of our medical mission team March 2016.  We will serve at seven clinics in four provinces: Phu Tho, Quang Nam, Binh Duong and my beloved city, Saigon aka Ho Chi Minh City.  Joining this team with us will be our 19 Vietnamese team members, some are veterans and some are first-timers.

Your leadership team are Co Cuc (our advisor in Saigon), Raina Zeeh (Utah) and Mike Kirchner (MA). Our primary function is to serve you, our team members well, so you could, inturn serve our patients well. 

My husband, Jack and I started COPI in 1993 with the intention to care for orphans and street children in Vietnam.  Since then, COPI has expanded our scope of services to building schools in poor communities, awarding scholarships to indigenous children, medical and dental cares for poor communities (just as in this mission), provide scholarships to nurses for acute cares training, prevent human trafficking and provide shelters and training to remake the victims lives.

Jack and I live in Loveland, Colorado (the town which stamped your Valentine cards).  Our youngest son, Spencer lives and works in Chicago.  Our oldest son Preston and his wife Shannon are living and working in Vietnam since 2005.  You will meet them at the end of your journey.

On behalf of our patients and our children in Vietnam, we thank you.

Peace to our journey

mike kirchner team march 2016

Hello Team!  My name is Mike Kirchner and this will be my seventh trip to Vietnam.  Like Bob, my first two trips were courtesy of the US Air Force between 1968 and 1970!  I then returned 40 years later with the spring COPI mission team in 2010 and have been back several times since.  I have been a member of the COPI Board since 2013.  On December 31, 2014 I retired from Harvard University, having served as the Director of Safety and Security at the Harvard Art Museums.  

I am also a retired Chief of Police from the small town of West Stockbridge, MA, where my wife Sherry and I continue to live.  We also have a home in Southport, NC and hope to soon relocate from the cold, ice and snow of the New England Winters.  

I was in Vietnam just a month ago on the annual COPI Li Xi tour and am looking forward to seeing old friends and making new ones on this spring mission trip.  I am going in a couple days early and will meet you in Hanoi, with the Vietnam team.  The attached photo is me and my grandson, Josiah as we prepare to head off to the Gettysburg Battlefield last fall.  We have two grown daughters and four grandchildren, and on our small farm here in western MA we have two cats, a horse, and a mule!  

donna & brick thompson team march 2016

donna

 Hello!  I am so excited for our trip.  I graduated from nursing school (University of Kentucky:  March Madness anyone?) in 1976 and became a Family Nurse Practitioner in 1985.  My nursing career has been primarily in ICU and ER.  I worked in Critical Care until I obtained my FNP.  In 1985, I began teaching Critical Care and working part-time as an FNP.   Nursing is the best profession in the world and I love it!  I began traveling with COPI in 2002.  I’ve been very fortunate to go on a mission trip once or twice a year until 2011.  I developed a Study Abroad program for nursing students in 2005 and brought students to Viet Nam with me until 2011.  There were not enough students in 2012 and 2013 for my employer to offer the Study Abroad.  I retired from the college in December and now co binh is in trouble!  There’s nothing to stop me (except finances) from tagging along whenever i get the chance!

I was born in Kentucky and moved to Utah after college.  I am incredibly fortunate to have married the most wonderful man in the world!  Brick is the love of my life and my best friend.  We were not able to have children of our own, but God blessed us with COPI’s children to love.  I love animals almost as much as children!  Right now we have two cats named Tucker and Romeow.  In addition to traveling and camping; I love to quilt, knit and crochet.  

This is going to be a great adventure and I can’t wait!    

brick thompson

Hi everybody.  My name is “Brickell”, but I go by BRICK.  I was born in Oregon, but grew up in Montana.  My family moved to Utah when my Dad became the Director of the Utah State Health Department.  He was a pediatrician and my Mom was a nurse. Medical things were second nature in our house.  I have always loved airplanes and had more credits for aeronautics in college than the business degree I received from Westminister College.  I love anything mechanical; cars, trains, planes, etc.  My brother is a builder and we are both retired now.  It’s given us a chance to work on building and mechanical projects over the past year and I have thoroughly enjoyed it.  I also love the outdoors.  Camping and traveling are two of my favorite past-times. I also love to read.

I became involved with COPI when Donna decided to go on her first mission trip.  I went with her the next year and we have been making it an annual event since.  I wasn’t sure there was much I could do without a medical background, but quickly learned there is plenty of work for everybody.  I especially love watching the kids and grandmas at the clinics.  I have learned you don’t really need any special training to speak “love”.  Can’t wait to meet everybody next week.  Safe travels! 

the goldsteins team march 2016

Hello! We are the Goldstein family  - currently in month 7 of a 10 month family gap year.  I am Gail - mom, dermatologist, and chief keeper of the passports.  I've been planning this family sabbatical for a long time, and we are thrilled to be a part of COPI.  Andrew - dad, gynecologist, and chief bag schlepper, has been busy this year with our various volunteer projects, including cervical cancer screening in the Amazon, primary care in Ecuador and Peru, and work in the hill tribes of Thailand.  Our three daughters were initially dragged along on this adventure, but are now hooked to the thrill of travel and volunteerism.

Julia, age 9.7598, is currently Gail's best homeschool student, and Gail hopes she is Julia's favorite 4th grade teacher (this year).  Mimi, 15, is a rising sophomore at Mcdonogh School is Baltimore, and enjoys playing with kids and  working on the perfect photo for her Instagram (or Finsta, or VSCO).  She has worked as a scribe in clinics in Ecuador with Timmy Global, as well as working as a medical assistant in Coya, Peru, and a pharmacy assistant in Thailand.   Lena, 16, is fluent in Spanish (like her sisters) and continues to manage our family blog (www.GoldsteinsGoGlobal.com) while doing online school, auditioning for opera programs, and keeping her daily journal.  

We are excited to be doing this as a family, and we can't wait to join the group! The kids are looking forward to some new people to talk to...not that they are sick of us or anything.

David and Garrett DeHart team march 2016

Hello Team!
My name is Garrett DeHart. I like to play soccer, football, and basketball. I am 8 years old. I am in 2nd grade. I have 2 brothers and they both went to VietNam. I am looking forward to finding friends in VietNam.
See you soon! Garrett DeHart 

Greetings!
I am David DeHart from Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin where I work as a Family Medicine physician. This year will be an exciting trip for my son, Garrett, and I. I have been on previous COPI missions and look forward to seeing the country again, while sharing the experience with Garrett. My first trip to Vietnam was in 2003, and I have enjoyed all the opportunities I have had to return since then.
I am married to my wife, Julie, and we have 2 other sons, Spencer 12 and Xander 9. We are active in our community youth soccer program, Sunday school and church youth events. We enjoy hiking and camping in the state parks and national monuments along the Mississippi River where we live. Julie and Xander were born in Vietnam and after this trip, all three of our boys will have had the privilege of serving on a COPI medical trip while learning about their heritage.
Garret and I are looking forward to meeting you all while serving the wonderful people of Vietnam. 

erica tran team march 2016

Hello!  My name is Erica Tran.  I recently graduated from University of Colorado at Boulder in December 2015 and received a Bachelors in Integrative Physiology.  I am working as a physical therapy aide and currently in the process of transitioning into PT graduate schools.  I love the health field because it is a way to enhance the human experience, medically challenging, and personally rewarding.  

I have been in Colorado my whole life and I absolutely love the people and the outdoors.  Some activities I enjoy include hiking, snowboarding, rock climbing, road biking, photography, piano and acoustic guitar, etc.  This is my first time participating in a COPI trip along with visiting Vietnam.  I can’t wait to medically serve and explore new places with everybody!  I look forward to meeting each of you.    

nancy & scott schiff-slater team march 2016

My name is Nancy Schiff-Slater.  I live with my husband, Scott, in Hallowell, Maine which is a small, old New England river town in central Maine.  

I work as a staff attorney for the state-wide poverty law organization here in Maine which provides civil legal services to Maine’s low-income community.  My interests include yoga, runnning, meditation and the arts and love spending time with those love. I’ve  had the good fortune of traveling to Honduras, India, and Ethiopia on various medical trips doing a variety of tasks from helping out in the operating room to using my crude and informal skills assessing for and handing out eye glasses.  

This will be my second COPI trip to Vietnam and I'm thrilled to be joining the March medical team. I stand ready, willing and able to help out in whatever way I can.

This is Scott:  I am a 58-year-old family practitioner in Maine, and will be coming on the mission with my wife Nancy.  I work in a small two physician private family practice, about 4 blocks from our house, which was built in about 1800.  I can walk to work almost as easily as driving to work (though embarrassingly I usually drive!).  

We have been on a number of other volunteer medical trips together, including with COPI 2 years ago.    I worked in New Orleans as a volunteer physician after Hurricane Katrina, and we have both worked number of  times in Honduras, then in India, Ethiopia, Mexico, and Haiti.    It is my goal to spend more time on these activities as I continue to age. 

We have a talented wonderful 24-year-old daughter, who graduated art school about two years ago, has traveled to Honduras and Mexico with us, and now lives in Brooklyn, New York.   And, we have an adorable but sometimes needy Portuguese Water dog, who is staring intently at us right now as we write this, and waiting for us to take him for a walk, already! 

I, Scott, am obsessed with the outdoors, and a little bit with exercise, and I spend whatever free time I have, hiking in the mountains, bicycling, skiing, snowshoeing, etc.     I enjoy my work as a physician, as well as my role in the local community.  Family is important to me, and I spend a fair amount of time driving back and forth to Boston, visiting my elderly mother, taking her out to the grocery store, etc.   

We are thrilled to be going back to Vietnam with COPI, meeting everyone on our team, and being able to take care of, and learn more about, the people of Vietnam.   

kate forrester team march 2016

Hello! My name is Kate Forrester, and I am from St. Louis. I am a physician in my last year of residency in pediatrics, and I will be starting fellowship training in pediatric emergency medicine this summer. This will be my first trip with COPI and my first visit to Vietnam, and I very much look forward to meeting all of you!

michael douglass team march 2016

Greetings Fellow COPI Team Members!

I am Michael Douglass and live along the banks of the Mississippi River in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. I was born and raised in Des Moines, Iowa but have lived here in Wisconsin since 1982.  For thirty years I directed a historic site complex owned by the Wisconsin Historical Society called Villa Louis.  I retired in 2013 and have spent the summers since then working as a Park Ranger at Effigy Mounds National Monument  - a beautiful Park Service site of 2500 acres with 14 miles of hiking trails….…. I will return this summer as lead ranger.

I enjoy collecting and restoring antiques and live in a 100-year-old craftsman-style house.  Recently, I acquired a small house on an adjacent property that I am restoring as a vacation rental property.  

I am active in my Lutheran church and am currently serving as Council President.  I also teach seventh-grade confirmation and sing in the choir. I garden, camp, hike, cook and still do some historic re-enacting -  attending late 18^th and early 19^th century fur trade events.

This will be my second COPI mission. Last spring, I had the privilege of participating in the team and teaching a lot of kids how to brush their teeth….I look forward to meeting you all and returning to a truly remarkable place…..  it is, indeed, a privilege to serve. 

betsy pitlick team march 2016

I am an Emergency Department nurse in Seattle, Washington. Nursing and healthcare is a relatively new career for me. I was previously an Assistant Vice President at a large bank, managing web content for the Commercial Group and Home Loans intranet sites. Deciding I needed a change, I quit my job and spent several months backpacking alone through Southern and Eastern Africa. Upon returning, I decided I wanted to be a nurse. It was something that combined my love of people and helping others. I was an Emergency Department Technician for four years and have been a nurse for almost a year and a half.

I love to travel and explore, meet new people and experience new cultures. I also love cooking and all things food-related. So far, I have traveled to 23 countries, with many more hopefully to come. This will be my second trip back to Vietnam, with my first trip being a month long solo trip in 2006. I fell in love with the country, visiting Hanoi, Ha Long Bay, Sapa, Hue, Hoi An, Kon Tum, Ho Chi Minh City and then traveling through the Mekong Delta to Rach Gia and then Phu Quoc Island. I regret not learning Vietnamese after my last trip so I can communicate more effectively (I am terrible at foreign languages), but look forward to revisiting some of the same areas, meet more wonderful people and see new areas. I will be joining the Spring 2016 mission before heading off on a 5 day hiking excursion into Son Doong, the world's largest cave, located in Central Vietnam.

While I have lived in Seattle for about 18 years now, I grew up on the East Coast in Maryland. I was actually born in Vietnam and was left on the stairs of a hospital in Saigon before being adopted as a baby to my wonderful parents in the United States. Part of my career switch to nursing was with the eventual goal  of volunteering on medical missions to give back to some of the countries I have previously visited and fallen in love with.These are a few of the main reasons that this COPI medical mission really appealed to me. I am extremely excited to be part of this team and this trip!

tara ford team march 2016

Hello! My name is Tara Ford. I live in NYC and work as a Physician Assistant specializing in women's sexual health. I have been to Vietnam twice before, once with my father in 2000 and again with friends in 2012. I was deeply moved by the generosity and care shown to me by the Vietnamese people during both of my trips. After my last trip 4 years ago I vowed I would not return again simply as a tourist. I also vowed I wouldn't return without my father. My father served with the US Marine Corps during the Vietnam War from 1968-69. I have been fascinated with Vietnam since I was a young girl and I'm thrilled to return this time to provide medical care to those in need. I am also thrilled that my father and mother will join me at the end of the mission in Saigon! We plan to travel around to the different areas where my father served. A trip like this is a dream come true for me and my family and I am grateful for the opportunity to be of service to the Vietnamese people throughout the country. I look forward to meeting everyone real soon!

bob mckinnon team march 2016

I am Bob McKinnon from Atlanta, Georgia.  I am a CPA by profession and specialized in not-for-profit colleges and universities for many years.  I retired last year as Vice President for Finance and Administration for a small private university in Georgia.  I still do a bit of consulting work with colleges and universities on financial and accreditation issues.  I also continue to serve as a finance evaluator for the Southern US accrediting commission.

This will be my third trip to Viet Nam.  The first was in 1969 – 1970, an all-expense-paid excursion courtesy of Uncle Sam.  I served as a weapons control officer at a radar site on top of Nui Son Tra, better known to some as Monkey Mountain just outside of Da Nang.  You can still see the radar site from Da Nang city or the beaches – looks like three little golf balls on top of the mountain. 

My second trip was last year when we traveled with Vets with A Mission (VWAM), another NGO which conducts medical mission trips to Viet Nam on a regular basis.  We worked in two clinics in Hoa Bac, a small hamlet in the mountains west of Da Nang.  We saw 1,102 patients there, and would have had more had the weather cooperated. We also formed friendships with a number of our translators (mostly recent college graduates), and remain in touch with them via Facebook and email.  They are a lively bunch and we enjoy hearing about their adventures.

 

We’re looking forward to meeting and getting to know each of you.

nancy mckinnon team march 2016

I am Nancy McKinnon and travel is something I love! Back in my single days I traveled the USA and also lived in London where I was able to easily travel throughout all Europe.  The best travel was for pleasure but I always tried to make sure I had a lot of fun on business trips!! 

This will be my 2^nd trip to Vietnam, Bob and I went last year with a group called Vets with a Mission.  It was a Medical Mission trip and we helped in a couple of clinics near Da Nang meeting so many extraordinary people in such a beautiful country.

Before retiring last year, from the US Government, I worked in Financial Management at the CDC and before that for the IRS, which is a “travel” experience to a different world.

Bob and I have been married just over 16 years and have 3 children and 8 grandchildren – who have seen more pictures and heard more talks about Scotland and Vietnam than they feel entitled to.  We are just trying to make sure they really understand – “it’s a small world after all”.

frani jenkins team march 2016

Frani Jenkins -  I am a Physician Assistant in a Community Health Center in Craig, Colorado although I live in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.  

Being a PA is actually what I call my “3^rd life”.  I taught high school physical education and coached gymnastics and track.  

After 10 years, I got a master’s degree in Sports Medicine and have been a certified athletic trainer for 32 years.  In 1995, I switched gears again and went to PA school.   This will be my 8^th COPI trip.  I love the people of Viet Nam.  They are gracious and appreciative and it is a privilege to serve them.

raina zeeh team march 2016

Hello, I am Raina Zeeh. I feel blessed to know each of you a little bit because we have spoken on the phone. I look forward to learning more about each of you.
I first went on a mission trip with binh in 1994. On that trip I fell in love with the Vietnamese people and country. With binh's help, my husband, Curtis, of nearly 23 years and I adopted our two children, Thane age 17 and Nina age 14 from Tam Binh Orphanage (also called Good Shepherd Home) in Saigon. Since 2006 Curtis or I have served as mission team leaders for the Spring mission trip. This will be my 14th trip to Vietnam and my 9th time as a leader. My salaried job is as a nurse clinical coordinator in cardiology at the University of Utah. In my spare time I volunteer in many aspects with COPI throughout the year and am a COPI board member.
I am very excited to lead another mission team. We will all work hard, have our fair share of fun and hopefully gain 35 more friendships from both sides of the world. I look forward to serving with each of you.