Vietnam Charity Trip No. 8, 2015, Part 1: Southern Vietnam

In spring 2015 the Compassionate Hands team traveled through Bến Tre, Hậu Giang, Sóc Trăng, Bạc Liêu, Cà Mau, An Giang and Đồng Nai, giving rice, wheelchairs, bicycles and scholarships.

In spring 2015 the Compassionate Hands Foundation (Hội Từ Thiện Bàn Tay Nhân Ái), on behalf of donors around the world, returned to Vietnam for its 8th charity trip. Part 1 of the trip, a little over two hours in the video, covers southern Vietnam: Bến Tre, Hậu Giang, Sóc Trăng, Bạc Liêu, Cà Mau, An Giang and then Đồng Nai. At each pagoda the team gave rice, gifts, wheelchairs, bicycles and scholarships. The narrator says the whole trip passed through about 20 pagodas.

Bến Tre and Hậu Giang

The first stop was Long Khánh Pagoda in Bình Tây commune, Ba Tri District, Bến Tre Province. The team gave gifts to 227 members who receive monthly rice, plus poor families and poor students. Three siblings from Ba Tri, Minh Thông, Diệu Ngọc and Diệu Châu, send 400 US dollars a month from the United States to buy rice, 10 kilograms for each person.

Although we live far away, we are luckier than you, so we share a little to turn back toward our homeland.

Minh Thông, visiting from the United States

In Bến Tre the team gave 88 regular rice packages, regular scholarships to 29 students, one-time scholarships to 20 more, one-time gifts to 80 people, 10 wheelchairs and 5 bicycles.

Next came two pagodas called Long An in Long Mỹ District, Hậu Giang. A team representative said the foundation provides monthly rice to 44 struggling households living alone, scholarships to 16 students and one-time gifts to 79 people. An 11-year-old boy received a new wheelchair, and an elderly woman received a wheelchair, rice and cash. The team gave 10 wheelchairs to elderly people with disabilities, donated by a Buddhist family in the group.

Sóc Trăng, Bạc Liêu and Cà Mau

On the 7th the team reached Khánh Anh Monastery in Thạnh Quới commune, Sóc Trăng, where a Spring 2015 banner was still hanging. Here there were 16 scholarships, 53 people receiving monthly rice, 80 receiving one-time rice and 20 students receiving gifts.

The team continued to Long Quang Pagoda in Vĩnh Lợi District, Bạc Liêu, where people had been waiting since early morning. The banner at the pagoda read Welcoming Spring with Maitreya, and the monk who spoke said the team's work follows Maitreya's compassion. The foundation gave 30 wheelchairs, 59 regular rice packages, 6 scholarships, 20 student gifts and 80 one-time rice packages.

On the 8th the team traveled over 400 kilometers to Kim Sơn Pagoda in Cà Mau city, a pagoda built almost 100 years ago. An elderly woman who had suffered three strokes was glad to have a wheelchair for the first time. The team gave regular rice to 53 households, 18 regular scholarships, 30 wheelchairs and 12 bicycles. In the afternoon the team visited Phước Linh Pagoda in Thới Bình District, where more than 50 Buddhists from California and other US states offered two gifts, a Dharma talk and material help: 75 monthly rice packages, 23 scholarships and 80 one-time gifts.

An Giang

At Huỳnh Quang Pagoda in Tịnh Biên District, An Giang, elderly people receive 10 kilograms of rice each month. A monk said the foundation has helped local people for 7 years in a row. Each package held rice, noodles, soy sauce and cash, worth about 1 million dong. The team gave 44 wheelchairs, 50 regular rice packages, 23 regular and 20 one-time scholarships, 11 bicycles and 80 one-time gifts. A student stood up to thank the team and promised to study well so she could help people worse off than herself.

I promise to keep studying hard so I can help people who are worse off than me.

Student scholarship recipient, Tịnh Biên

The next day, at Hội Đức Pagoda in Thoại Sơn District, the team gave rice to 26 households, regular scholarships to 7 students, 7 wheelchairs, 2 bicycles and 80 one-time gifts.

Đồng Nai

Leaving the Mekong Delta, the team spent the night in Saigon, then reached Bến Nước Pagoda in Phú Cường commune, Định Quán District, Đồng Nai, at 10 in the morning. People here belong to several ethnic groups, and some used to live by Tonlé Sap in Cambodia before moving here. The team called it a special place among the more than 20 pagodas on the trip, and said it helps people regardless of religion. Over 20 wheelchairs were handed out, and five students also received bicycles. A young woman who had a fever at age 3 and has been disabled since received a wheelchair for the first time.

What remains

Even though it is not enough to cover the hard days, we hope that 10 kilograms of rice eases some of your hardship.

Team representative

This part of the video ends in the south, before the team heads to central Vietnam in part 2.