Vĩnh Thái An Pagoda, Bạc Liêu 2026: Rice and Cash Offerings for Villagers

On March 12, 2026, the Compassionate Hands team reached Vĩnh Thái An Pagoda in Bạc Liêu, listened to a Dharma talk with the villagers, then handed out gifts and cash offerings.

In the early morning of March 12, 2026, with the mist still hanging over the fields, the Compassionate Hands Foundation team (Hội Từ Thiện Bàn Tay Nhân Ái) got back on the bus and drove on to Vĩnh Thái An Pagoda in Bạc Liêu. It was the second stop of the spring charity trip, one day after the distribution at Khánh Anh Monastery.

A small pagoda by the river

The bus crossed small bridges over the river and followed narrow roads between green fields. It was quiet, with only the engine and the morning chanting inside the bus. At the end of the road stood Vĩnh Thái An Pagoda, small, plain and calm beside the river.

Villagers had arrived very early and were sitting in neat rows in the yard. They came to receive gifts, and also to meet one another and the visitors from far away. Before anything was handed out, everyone listened to a Dharma talk.

A talk on gratitude

The lecturing monk spoke about two things: gratitude and practice. He said gratitude begins with very close things, such as looking at a bowl of rice and remembering the sweat of the farmer, or remembering that each breath is a gift. The villagers listened quietly. Some had tears in their eyes, some pressed their palms together.

Words from the foundation

A representative of the foundation spoke about the people who had paid for the trip. The team includes doctors and people who live fairly comfortably, and also many who had to save for a year, or even two or three, to afford the journey to Vietnam.

Some of them saved for two or three whole years before they could come here and meet you in person. That is the truth.

Representative of the Compassionate Hands Foundation

He also described the people the foundation helps: disabled people who do not yet have a wheelchair, and students who, because their families are poor, leave school early to help earn a living. The foundation sees itself as a bridge between the goodwill of Buddhists far away and those who need help.

Vĩnh Thái An is one of the places where the foundation has supported many people for a long time. Some received 10 kilograms of rice every month for more than ten years. After the pandemic, the foundation's funds dropped, so it temporarily cut the amount to 5 kilograms. In the past year it restored 10 kilograms for some pagodas, but could not yet do so here.

Five kilograms does not last a month. After this trip, we will try harder to restore the 10 kilograms of rice for you.

Representative of the Compassionate Hands Foundation

He added that in a large family, 10 kilograms can be gone in a few days. He asked the villagers to be understanding if the gifts felt short, since the foundation gives as much as it is able to.

The gifts and those who gave them

Each package held rice, instant noodles, salt, soy sauce, cooking oil and seasoning powder, with warm blankets added for the cold nights of the delta. These are ordinary items from a poor family's kitchen.

Team members handed over the gifts by bending down, taking people's hands and looking them in the eye. The villagers held their gifts tightly with wrinkled hands, out of respect rather than fear of losing them. They knew that behind each package were months of saving by people they had never met.

What remains after the morning

Near the end, the narrator recalled a line from Buddhist teaching: what is given stays. What the team planted in Bạc Liêu that day, in the narrator's words, would remain in each meal and each smile of the villagers.