Charity Work In Vietnam 2021

Writer: Dr. Wiliam Trinh, Mr. William Cheng

AHHA carried on its charity work in Vietnam in 2021 in response to the desperate need for humanitarian aid during the COVID pandemic. Despite the challenges brought on by the Delta, AHHA was able to contribute to the following initiatives in Vietnam.

Food Parcel & Meal Donations

AHHA was fortunate to have very dedicated local Vietnamese volunteers led by Ms. Truc Do to organise the delivery of food parcels which consisted of rice, instant noodles, dry food, and canned foods to 1800 poor families in District 6, District 8, Tan Phu District, Cu Chi District, Binh Chanh District, District 4, Binh Tan District, Phu Nhuan District in Ho Chi Minh City HCMC, Dong Nai Province, Binh Duong Province, and Tien Giang Province during the strict lockdown. AHHA is very grateful to the local volunteers who in spite of their own personal challenges, managed to purchase food for packing, acquired travel permits from the Vietnamese government, and traveled long distances to distribute food parcels door to door.

AHHA also worked with a local Vietnamese charity group called Viet Nam Oi Co Len (VNOCL) in Ho Chi Minh City. VNOCL director, Ms Ngoc Anh Tran, with a group of young local volunteers in collaboration with several local restaurants organised free meals delivered to frontline health workers and to patients at many hospitals during the peak of the pandemic lockdown from May to August 2021. Given the severity of the pandemic during this time, AHHA was glad to support VNOCL with the delivery of 5000 free meals to both frontline health workers and hospital patients.

Oxygen Machines

AHHA understood that many hospitals in HCMC were poorly equipped with oxygen machines to meet the extraordinary demand to care for COVID patients during the peak of the pandemic. AHHA was able to coordinate with Rotary International Saigon to source scarce oxygen concentrator machines. We are glad that AHHA managed to donate 30 oxygen machines to local hospitals and we believe many lives were saved from COVID.

Water Filters

From August to October 2021, Central Vietnam was hit with heavy rain causing severe flooding and damage to livestock, crops, and property. Cleaning and safe drinking water were difficult to find in many poor remote villages during the food. Fortunately, AHHA had in the previous year purchased 2000 water filter units from the USA which had been stored in Phnom Penh to be used for a 2021 field trip. AHHA managed to urgently transfer all water filter units from Phnom Penh and distribute them to 2000 families in Central Vietnam during the food for clean drinking water to prevent illness.

Hue Community Building

Central Highland Vietnam is very predisposed to food every year during the August to November wet season from heavy storms and rain due to geography close to the Pacific Ocean and annual typhoons. AHHA believes one of the best ways to assist people in poor, remote villages during the food is to build an evacuation centre to temporarily house a number of families in need of shelters for safety and food storage. The evacuation centre can be used as a community centre for education, health care, and other general purposes throughout the year. The Evacuation centre is currently near completion, built on the land of a nearby local Buddhist temple in Pho Nam village, 50 km from Hue City, Vietnam. From June to August, $80,000 AUD was raised and donated to the creation of this project. 130 people can comfortably reside in the building during an emergency which has access to clean water from a water tank that provides fresh and clean water for the house. Key amenities and spaces within the community are the common room, kitchen, two separate halls, four classrooms on the first floor, three female toilets, 2 male toilets, and two showering units AHHA is very grateful for the generous donations from our donors and volunteers. AHHA also wants to especially thank Mr. Michael Luong who is an AHHA management committee member for his architectural design, and project management, and Ms. Thuy Nguyen who is our very dedicated volunteer for her coordination of this building project.

Cu Chi School Scholarships

Despite the COVID pandemic and school disruption in 2021, many schools worked hard to keep schools open and minimise the disruptions. AHHA has been providing scholarships to poor students at a Christian school in Cu Chi district 44 km from Ho Chi Minh City. Each scholarship valued at $250 is to assist poor students with school fees, books, and uniforms so that they can continue schooling for a brighter future. AHHA was glad to provide 35 scholarships in 2021 to the poor students who were identified by the Cu Chi School.