Today, my usual supervisor, Vinh Huyen, was away visiting another site of the NGO, so I went on family visits with Nguyen Thuan, who speaks some English.
The first family we met has faced many challenges. The parents used to live in their own house, apart from their youngest son, but after all three of them fell seriously ill, they were forced to sell the house to cover medical expenses. Mrs. Hong, the mother, suffers from liver cirrhosis, her husband has spinal problems, and the youngest son has had kidney issues for more than ten years. He has been on a transplant list all that time. The family spends between 80 and 120 USD per month on medicine, which makes daily life extremely difficult.
Seeing their struggles, some neighbors lent them dragon fruit plants so they could try to earn a bit more from agriculture. Mrs. Hong also does occasional small trade to support her family. Thien Chi shared their story on the Give Asia platform, and thanks to the generosity of donors, the family received 4,000 USD to cover dialysis for the son, who needs treatment twice a week. However, the money quickly ran out.
Today, the son works as a collaborator for Thien Chi, writing short posts and articles for social media. He earns between 50 and 60 USD per month—modest, but still a helpful contribution for the household. The NGO has also provided capital to expand their dragon fruit business, giving them a chance to improve their income and living conditions.
The second family we visited was Mrs. Luan and her two daughters. She remarried recently, but her new husband also left shortly afterward. Her younger daughter is studying Chinese at university in Ho Chi Minh City, while her older daughter suffers from neurological problems that often cause severe headaches, so she had to stop her studies. She now works in a shoe factory.
Mrs. Luan herself makes a living by selling onions, garlic, and other products, usually earning between 4 and 8 USD profit per day. Unfortunately, she hasn’t been able to work for the past few weeks because of heavy rain and strong winds, which keep people from going out to buy. To support her younger daughter’s studies, she sends her between 80 and 120 USD each month to cover rent, food, transportation, and school expenses. In the past, Thien Chi also awarded scholarships to her daughters, and today the NGO continues to support the family with funding to strengthen her small business.
Finally, we visited the family of Mr. Le Thi Cham, who lives with his wife and their two daughters. The parents work in dragon fruit fields whenever work is available, earning between 3 and 7 USD per day. Their daughters are in grade 7 and grade 4. The younger one suffers from a heart condition and requires regular medical check-ups.
Every year, Thien Chi provides the girls with scholarships so they can continue their education, and the family also receives financial support to develop their household economy. They have been supported by the NGO since 2022, at a time when they were living in a very run-down house and struggling to make ends meet. Thanks to the support of both the NGO and the local community, they have since been able to build a new and more stable home, giving their children a better environment to grow up in and hope for a brighter future.
In the afternoon, I kept looking for potential donors, wrote my blog and looked at social media.
Leticia