It is said that at the end of a rainbow is a pot of gold.  A waste disposal site that had been in existence for many years was turned into the clean, spacious Rainbow Village in Rach Gia City of Kien Giang Province, South Vietnam , bringing a pot of gold to rubbish collectors. New life atRainbow Village. View of the former rubbish dump. Children who once lived near the dumping area can go to school now. Vinh Quang Primary School can facilitate more than 200 pupils. Children can read books in the village’s library and have clean water for daily use. Van Thi Hoa and her daughter in their new house at Rainbow Village. Sendy Forman (right) from the US Habitat for Humanity and a local work at the construction site of the Rainbow Village. Vocational training courses are open at the Rainbow Village. A local resident comes to the Project Management Board to fill in the form for a new house ownership at the Rainbow Village.    In the downtown of Rach Gia City in Kien Giang Province, South Vietnam , there was a huge rubbish dump which had existed for dozens of years. Hundreds of poor families, mostly the Kh'mer ethnic people, earned their living by collecting and trading discarded materials from that dump. That unstable life causes various diseases and many social evils for the local people. The existence of that dump became an urgent health matter for the local authorities, including Le Van Hong, who is President of Kien Giang Province's Union of Friendship Associations. Hong contacted the office of an American non-governmental organization, the Habitat for Humanity, headquartered in Hanoi, and asked for support to a charitable project on relocating the residents of the dump and improving their living conditions. Hong's project, titled the "Rainbow Village" received approval from the authorities and has been co-sponsored by the Habitat for Humanity and the Catalyst Foundation, both from the United States. Tran Tuyet Phuong, a specialist of the Project Management Board said: "The full name of the project is ' Rainbow Village – A model to improve the community's capability for its development'. It aims to improve the living conditions of the poor residents living around the dumping area in Vinh Quang Ward of Rach Gia City . Under this project, a new village will be established with new houses built, clean water and environmental hygiene ensured, vocational training courses opened, scholarships awarded to primary school pupils and community education, credits for saving provided, and education courses held to enhance awareness of health care and skills to live. In addition, the project is of special significance in terms of minimizing the risk of women and child abuse in the dumping area." Initial investment for the project was 500,000 USD that will be used to build 92 houses (each house costs more than 70 million VND) and infrastructure work, including electricity and a water supply network. A centre for vocational training was established for hundreds of youth and women and a primary school that has enrolled more than 200 illiterate children. At present, phase 1 of the project has been completed with 24 houses built plus Vinh Quang Primary School and a vocational training and support centre are operating. Total investment for the project has now increased to 875,000 USD. Visiting the Rainbow Village , we met and talked with the villagers, seeing their faces brightened with happiness and smiles. During class time at Vinh Quang Primary School built by the Catalyst Foundation, we saw Kh'mer ethnic children sitting at the desks and learning under their teachers' guidance. Prior to the reality of the village they had to rummage through the dump with their parents to earn their living. Van Thi Hoa, a 27-year-old Kh'mer woman, her face filled with tears said: "In the past our life on that rubbish dump was so hard. Now we have a new house. My husband, after graduating from a training course on carpentry, now works for a company with a fair income." Elder Tu Coc, 85 years old, said: "I had lived on the rubbish dump for more than ten years. Due to close and regular contact with the garbage, flies and the bad odour coming from discarded matter, I used to get sick. Now, living in the new house with a better environment I feel much better." For the people from here, Rainbow Village in Rach Gia City is a dream that has come true. Story: Huu Thanh Photos: Kim Son – Minh Quoc