Today, I travelled from Phan Thiết to Tánh Linh district, about two hours by bus. Before leaving, my colleague had told the driver where I should stop, so when someone signaled for me to get off, I trusted the process. I called the Thien Chi director in this district, and someone came to pick me up right away.
Once I arrived at the office, they told me that this office is pretty new and it shows. The team here consists of seven staff members who work closely with 23 village workers and support around 1,000 families in the area. They’ve been operating in this district since 2007, building strong relationships with the local communities.
Every Friday afternoon, I’ll be teaching English here, focusing on vocabulary related to family and projects, so the staff can better introduce their work to visitors.
After dropping my things, we started our afternoon visiting families. I was accompanied by the fundraiser, who will stay here until Friday, the director, two staff members, and one village worker. The fundraiser speaks English very well and helped make sure everything went smoothly during the visits.
One interesting thing I learned today is that, since 2024, all family monitoring is now done through a mobile app. Each visit is updated directly on the phone, and village workers can instantly share any new information. It’s a big change from the old paper notebooks, more efficient, but also a bit challenging for older workers or those with older phones.
This year has been particularly difficult for local farmers. Just like the dragon fruit, rice prices have fallen sharply, nearly half of what they were last year (around 4,000–5,000 VND per kilo). The market is heavily influenced by China, which makes income uncertain.
The first household has seven members, the parents, four children, and the grandmother. The father works as a daily laborer, while the mother sells products she collects from farmers at the market and also dries wood at home for extra income. Their eldest son receives a scholarship from Thien Chi (300,000 VND per month during the school year). The second child is hyperactive, and the third has a severe physical disability and cannot speak. The family recently moved in with the grandmother after she suffered a stroke, her house was in better condition. They’ve been with Thien Chi since 2022 and currently borrow 5 million VND to support their small business and rice field. Despite their difficulties, I was struck by how many neighbors came by to help, a real sense of solidarity in the community.
The second family we met has five members. Their eldest daughter studies at university in Ho Chi Minh City, the second is in high school, and the youngest in primary school, receiving a one-time scholarship at the beginning of the year. The father works as a welder, while the mother stays home to care for the children, the family’s cow (provided by the government), and works seasonally in the rubber plantations (often from 2 a.m. to 8 a.m., about 10–15 days per month). She also helps with the rice harvest four times a year, although recent flooding might destroy this season’s crop.
This family has been working with Thien Chi since 2019 and has a 5-million-VND loan for rice farming. However, inflation and global supply chain issues have made things difficult. Fertilizer prices have increased by 50%, while rice prices have dropped by nearly the same percentage. On top of that, education remains costly despite new policies, around 1 million VND per child per year for basic school expenses. Their daughter’s university tuition is over 300 USD annually, and the family supports her living costs with great effort.
The last family we were supposed to visit wasn’t home, they sell bánh mì.
On the way back, a heavy rain started (as usual!), so we stopped in a café to evaluate it as a potential venue for an upcoming “Back to School” event on November 1st, organized by Thien Chi in collaboration with HSBC Bank. Over 400 students and 70 bank staff will attend, a big day ahead for everyone.
Leticia