Building Charity Houses

OPEN LETTER

Dear Buddhists, Anathapindikas, business people, benefactors

On January 19, 2017, Hoang Phap Pagoda’s charity committee visited two communes of Tan Hoa and Suoi Ngo in Tan Chau District, Tay Ninh Province to give Tet gifts to the elderly and poor families. Following the local authority’s guidance, we arrived at the house of Giap Thi Nhoi, a 66-year-old woman in Tan Thuan Hamlet, Tan Hoa Commune. She was living with her four little grandchildren in a corrugated roofed house made of cob, built over thirty years ago.

Mrs. Nhoi and her family were facing extreme difficulties in life. Daily work as a strap vendor, she struggled to bring up her four grandchildren. Up to now, the house was so heavily damaged that she could no longer afford to fix it. The storm two months ago collapsed the poorly-built house and Vo Thi Y Nhi, a granddaughter, could not evade when the wall fell down, resulting in the contusion of her spleen. She had to borrow money from thones she had known to cure her. Since the accident, the family had still risked their life living in that house. On rainy nights, they went to their neighbors’ house and asked to sleep on the shed. The cost of subsistence pushed them into daily struggles, let alone the cost to fix the house. While other families were busy with buying new clothes and decorating their house to welcome Tet Holiday, Mrs. Nhoi and the four kids had not been rid of yearning for two meals per day under the shabby roof.

At the moment, the local authority has not given an effective support to Mrs. Nhoi’s family due to the fact that there were still many households with difficulties in the area. Most of the local residents were back from Tonle Sap Lake, Cambodia and have not settled down yet.

Having the problem stated, the charity group from Hoang Phap Pagoda sincerely hope that Buddhists, together wth anathapindikas, business people, benefactors, corporation donators could express the humanistic spirit of “the good leaves protect the worn-out ones” by offering Mrs. Nhoi and her four grandchildren a secured shelter against heavy weather. The costs of construction and furniture were VND 40 million and VND 5 million, respectively; but the amount of money to be donated will be left up to your generosity.

All donations would be handed in person at Hoang Phap Pagoda’s office or transferred to the bank account of Reverend Thich Tam Hue, chief of the charity group.

Account holder: Nguyễn Văn Huệ

Account number:6140.205.527521

Branch: Agribank Hoc Môn, Hochiminh City.

Please indicate your deposit in the notes field as: Donation to help build charity house for Mrs. Nhoi.