Charity's CEO stuck in Vietnam waiting for drill that may never arrive

PORTLAND, Ore. - Ron Gough sits helpless in his office, wondering about his friend, Francis Betz, who is an ocean away in Vietnam.

Betz runs a charity called the Vietnam Children's Assistance Program, which helps villagers drill fresh water wells.  He traveled to Vietnam, where he was supposed to receive a new drill he had ordered from Rockmaster Drills based in Troutdale.

"They kept putting him off and they said they need this one part or they don't have it quite set up," said Gough, whose friend is now stuck in Vietnam with no drill.

Gough has an invoice showing the charity paid for the drill months ago.  But every time he calls Rockmaster Drills, he is told it's almost ready to go.

"Yeah, they're working hard on it.  They've got it on the pallet and there's just one thing they're waiting for and it'll ship," said Gough.

We dropped by the company's offices in Troutdale to see if we could figure out what the holdup was.  No one was there and no one returned our phone calls.

"They haven't closed their doors," said Gough.  "They've got multiple company names, multiple phone numbers and stuff like that."

Meanwhile, the charity is out more than $5,000 for a drill it does not have and the charity's CEO is stuck in Vietnam with thousands of people to help and no way to do it.

Betz doesn't know what he's going to do.  He's been barely getting by while waiting for the drill to ship.  He was told it would be there months ago.

Rockmaster Drills appears to be a legitimate company, we just have not been able to reach them.  And the charity has had difficulty reaching them as well.