Compassionate Hands Vietnam Charity Trip 2019: From Bến Tre to Huế

From 21 March 2019, the Compassionate Hands team traveled through Bến Tre, Vĩnh Long, Hậu Giang, Kiên Giang, Đồng Nai, Bình Thuận, Phú Yên and Huế, giving rice, wheelchairs, bicycles and scholarships at each pagoda.

From 21 March 2019, the Compassionate Hands Foundation (Hội Từ Thiện Bàn Tay Nhân Ái) team from California traveled through southern and central Vietnam, stopping at one pagoda after another to hand out rice, gift packages, wheelchairs, bicycles and scholarships to poor families, elderly people living alone, people with disabilities and hardworking students. The video, about 80 minutes long, follows the stops from Bến Tre to Huế, with talks by monks and thanks from the people who received gifts. This post retraces the stops in the order the video shows them.

Setting out in Bến Tre

The team left Ho Chi Minh City and drove about 80 kilometers to An Lộc Pagoda in Bến Tre Province, the first stop. A team representative recalled that almost ten years earlier, a few representatives of the foundation went to Liên Hoa Pagoda with Venerable Minh Chánh and visited, house by house, the people who received monthly rice. From monthly rice for elderly people living alone, the foundation learned that many poor students lacked tuition, school supplies and bicycles for the long walk to school, so it asked Buddhists in the United States to fund scholarships. The team said its help does not depend on religion.

Almost ten years ago, our foundation sent just a few representatives to Liên Hoa Pagoda with Venerable Minh Chánh, going from house to house to the people who receive monthly rice.

Team representative

In Bến Tre, top students received a 2 million dong scholarship each year, a school bag with notebooks and pens, and some also received a bicycle. In total the team gave out 237 regular rice packages and 25 wheelchairs, plus one-time gifts.

Vĩnh Long and Hậu Giang

On 22 March the team crossed Rạch Miễu Bridge and drove more than 40 kilometers to Chánh Niệm Pagoda in Vĩnh Long. The visiting lecturer spoke about the four kinds of people in the Buddha's teaching, then reminded the poor that they can still share. He gave the example of picking up a nail from the road so no one steps on it, or splitting half a box of noodles with a neighbor who has even less. Here the team gave 56 regular rice packages, 90 one-time gift packages, 5 wheelchairs and 7 bicycles, 188 packages in all.

The next day, from Cần Thơ, the team took Highway 1 over Cần Thơ Bridge and turned back toward Hậu Giang. At the ceremony, the foundation's chairman, Venerable Thích Minh Nhựt, said the country is developing and tall buildings are going up in the big cities, but in remote areas there are still elderly people living alone in thatched houses with mud walls.

In remote areas like this, there are still many people in great hardship, especially elderly people living alone.

Chairman Thích Minh Nhựt

The team gave 45 regular rice packages, 5 bicycles, 17 packages for students, and 123 one-time packages for poor people, 207 packages in total.

Kiên Giang

On 24 March the team drove about 96 kilometers on Highway 61 through Giồng Riềng, Châu Thành and Rạch Sỏi to Vĩnh Phước Pagoda in Châu Thành District, Kiên Giang. A representative of the pagoda said Venerable Minh Nhựt has supported it for more than ten years: each month the pagoda gives rice to poor villagers, and delivers it to the door for those too old to come. Each gift package was worth nearly one million dong and held cooking oil, sugar, MSG, rice, soy sauce, cookies, soap, toothbrushes and noodles. The team also gave 17 wheelchairs, each worth over a million dong.

The pagoda also announced that two statues of Quan Âm Bodhisattva would soon be consecrated. Vĩnh Hòa Hiệp commune presented the team with a certificate of merit and a bouquet. A total of 203 packages were given out here.

Đồng Nai and Bình Thuận

On 26 March the team drove 92 kilometers along Highway 1A to Đồng Nai and gave gifts at Pháp Linh Pagoda and Bảo Huệ Pagoda in Sông Nhạn commune, Cẩm Mỹ District. According to the presentation there, the foundation has supported poor households here for over ten years. This time 46 households received rice, 12 wheelchairs were given, along with 8 scholarships, 186 packages in total.

On 27 March the team reached Tường Xuân Pagoda in Bắc Bình District, Bình Thuận. A local high school student stood up to thank the monks of Quan Âm Pagoda in California and the other donors, and promised to study hard so he could one day help people in need. The foundation also gave each elderly person an electronic Buddha-chanting player and prayer beads. Here there were 63 regular rice packages, 100 one-time packages, 29 wheelchairs, 20 scholarships and 7 bicycles, 222 packages in all.

Phú Yên

From Phan Thiết, the team drove another 450-plus kilometers to An Ninh Pagoda in Phú Yên. At the ceremony a team representative said the visitors from the United States had cut back on their own spending to help the poor, and hoped villagers would work to rise out of poverty and chant the Buddha's name every day. The abbess and Buddhists of the pagoda have handed out monthly rice, 10 kilograms per person, for almost ten years, and also give scholarships to poor students. The Venerable noted that nearly 60 people had come from the United States, so the meeting was a rare blessing.

The team gave 44 regular rice packages, 3 wheelchairs, 20 regular and 21 one-time student gifts, 5 bicycles and other one-time gifts, 209 packages in total.

Huế, the last day

Phú Yên, Quảng Ngãi, Quảng Nam and Huế were the places the team passed through in central Vietnam. On the last day of the trip, gifts were handed out at Diệu Viên Pagoda in Huế city. People came from Phú Lộc, Quảng Điền, Hương Thủy town and nearby districts, many in vehicles hired by local organizers. A team representative said the trip usually goes to remote villages, but even in the city of Huế there are very many people with disabilities, and many small children were carried in their mothers' arms.

We don't understand why, in cities like this, there are people in such hardship, especially people with disabilities.

Team representative from the United States

A representative of the recipients stood up to thank the team, saying the gifts eased the sense of inferiority felt by the less fortunate and helped them join the wider community.

What remains

At every stop the same figures repeat: regular rice, wheelchairs, bicycles, scholarships, one-time gifts. Behind them are the words of team members who say they miss their homeland, and the elderly people living alone and the poor students they meet each year. The foundation keeps its familiar way of working: monthly rice through local pagodas, then a direct visit with extra gifts each spring.