On Monday morning, we left at 8 a.m. to visit three families supported by Thien Chi.
The first family is composed of five members: the grandmother, parents, and two children. They benefit from Thien Chi’s net model for agriculture. A large net covers their entire vegetable garden, protecting it from insects and heavy rain. This system eliminates the need for pesticides, which helps safeguard both the farmers’ health and the environment. The net costs around 10 million VND and must be replaced every three years. Thien Chi contributes 3 million VND to help each family install it, and currently, five families benefit from this model.
The family also took a 10 million VND loan from Thien Chi to invest in their garden and repays 1 million each month. They cultivate about 200 square meters of vegetables, harvesting small quantities every evening and selling them at the market at 2 a.m. when it opens. As their vegetables are grown without pesticides, they sell well, at the same price as conventional produce. The family earns a monthly profit of about 6 million VND and can cultivate all year long, unlike most farmers who can only produce for eight to ten months during the dry season. They also raise around thirty chickens for their own consumption. They have been supported by Thien Chi for one year and are proud to show their progress.
The second family is a single mother and her two children. Her daughter, now in grade 10, receives a monthly scholarship through GiveAsia, while her son is in grade 5. The mother manages 2,000 square meters of rice fields, raises chickens and cows, and works as a daily laborer, carrying bricks or working with rubber trees.
During the rainy season, she can only work about eight days a month, compared to ten to fifteen on average. As a single parent, she accepts any available work, even at night, from one to five in the morning, with only a flashlight to guide her. She earns about 250,000 VND per day, around eight euros. The family has a 4 million VND loan from Thien Chi for their poultry and rice activities and has been supported by the organization for seven years. Their house was recently rebuilt, with 30 million provided by the government and 15 million by Thien Chi, for a total cost of 60 million. They also take part in a sustainable farming initiative that uses earthworms, raised with cow dung, to feed their chickens.
The third family belongs to an ethnic minority group and includes five members. The husband takes care of about 300 ducks, while the wife works from home cleaning cashew nuts because of her fragile health, earning around 35,000 VND per day. They received a 4 million VND loan from Thien Chi to support their duck farming. Their daughter, who receives a 300,000 VND monthly scholarship, recently broke her arm in a motorbike accident, and the family had to borrow 15 million VND at a 20 percent interest rate to pay for her treatment.
This family has been supported by Thien Chi for seven years. In 2019, their income was around 583,000 VND per person per month, and by 2025, it had risen to 1,072,000 VND, almost doubling in six years.
Leticia