Calix L. Vu-Bui has been selected as VietACT 2009 Intern

Calix completed her Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from the University of California, San Diego in 2005. This year, she received her Master of Science in Counseling degree from San Diego State University. Her interests in refugee, immigrant and exploited peoples stem from her family’s personal experiences in the U.S. as survivors of the Vietnam War.

Calix started out as a therapist at both the SDSU Center for Community Counseling and an inner city school through the Price Entities School Project (PESP). These were transformative experiences where her interest in grassroots, community-based social services grew. Currently, Calix actively engages with underserved/underrepresented communities through the Cultural Access and Resource Enhancement (CARE) program. To increase Asian Pacific Islander (API) mental health access for youth and their families, Calix serves as an outreach specialist and family support partner at CARE. True to her roots as an organizer, she co-founded the Asian, Asian-American, Pacific Islander Network (AAPIN) for Community Research Foundation (CRF), CARE’s overseeing agency, to enhance the services CRF provides to APIs in San Diego County.
Committed to serving the Vietnamese community, Calix is the Community Relations Coordinator for the Vietnamese-American Youth Alliance (VAYA) and hopes to helps organize their first Asian Youth Conference.

Inspired by a friend, Calix became aware of VietACT, which she saw as an opportunity to continue her interests in social justice, human rights advocacy, and mental health work in traumatized and immigrant groups. She joins VietACT as an intern interested in using her passion and education to advance the rights of exploited Vietnamese trafficked into Taiwan and to create healing experiences for these resilient survivors. In her spare time Calix likes to surf, dance and write non-fiction pieces.

Dear VietACT Members and Supporters,

Thank you to ALL that applied to this year's VietACT International Internship Program. As with previous years, we had more qualified applicants than space allotted and regret that we were unable to send more talented interns to Taiwan. After a thorough review of all the application materials and answers gathered during many tele-interviews, VietACT would like to congratulate and recognize Calix Vu-Bui as our Official 2009 VietACT Intern. Please refer to Calix's biography (in another post) for more information about her community organizing background and her experience in the mental health and social service field.

When asked about her thoughts in being selected for the internship, Calix stated, "I'm really excited to be given an opportunity where I can utilize my education to participate in a project that combines humanitarian effort with social advocacy. I'm also interested in the global aspect of human trafficking, an issue that is on-going and pervasive. On a sociopolitical and human rights level, my background and interests in social justice and community healing work are greatly aligned with VietACT’s mission. One can create policy and advocacy on this matter, but in the end, human trafficking effects the core of its survivors’ mentally, spiritually, and emotionally. It is the intrinsic right of every human to be of sound, functional mental and emotional health. For me, it is an honor to be selected to work on this issue."

Calix will be departing for Taiwan in early September 2009 and will stay there for five months until February 2010. She will participate in the start up of a new detention center project that will utilize therapy under the guise of a "recreational program". In response to her upcoming projects and assignments as the new intern, Calix stated "I anticipate a rich and salient experience, an opportunity for me to be impacted by the survivors’ resiliency as we learn from one another through mutual understanding and solidarity. I predict that the survivors will give more to me than I can ever give to them."

We at VietACT welcome Calix into our family with open arms and wish her the best in all the opportunities that lie ahead of her.

For more information about our International Internship Program in general, please visit our official web site at http://www.vietact.org/. Calix will soon be updating her initial thoughts on our "VietACT Intern Blog" at http://vietactintern.blogspot.com/, so be sure to give the blog a visit. A reminder to everyone that while there is a need for assistance at the shelter in Taiwan and other countries abroad, we must not neglect the fact that there is also MUCH work to be done HERE in our very own local community. If you would like to be more involved with VietACT and our mission, please contact us for information on some of our domestic opportunities and campaigns. If you have any further questions or concerns about VietACT or our International Internship Program, please let me know.

On behalf of VietACT's Board of Directors and Volunteer Staff, thank you for your continual support.

Anthony T. Nguyen
International Internship Program Coordinator
Vietnamese Alliance to Combat Trafficking (VietACT)
internship@VietACT.org