Patient's Roof
For more than 2 years now, the Thien Tam free boarding house located right next to the Oncology Hospital 2 (Tang Nhon Phu Ward, Ho Chi Minh City) has become a familiar, free place to stay for hundreds of cancer patients. 3 months ago, when taking her child to Ho Chi Minh City for chemotherapy, Ms. Tran Khanh Ha, a resident of Bac Lieu Province (now Ca Mau Province) searched online for a boarding house and saw information about the Thien Tam free boarding house, so she contacted them to ask for a place to stay.
According to Ms. Ha, when she talked about her situation and asked for a place to stay, she received immediate consent. Not only did she get free accommodation, she and her children also received free meals every day. For Ms. Ha, the boarding house helped connect her with other families and this place has brought light, faith and hope to many lives facing difficulties due to illness.
Talking about the opportunity to establish this boarding house, Mr. Nguyen Dang Hoang (Chairman of Thien Tam Red Cross Society, Ho Chi Minh City) shared that after more than 38 years of volunteer work, he witnessed many cancer patients suffering from illness, lack of food and treatment costs, and no place to stay, so he built this boarding house. In addition to providing accommodation for patients, Mr. Hoang and his colleagues also considered free meals. So, regularly, at 2 a.m., Mr. Hoang and the patients' families wake up to cook hot porridge, and during the day, they cook meals to give to patients and their families.
Mr. Hoang also bought 3 motorbikes with full gas to take sick children to the hospital for examination and medicine. “When I founded the boarding house, I only wanted to create a warm home for cancer patients in difficult circumstances. Since its inception, the boarding house has received the support of many people to be able to maintain its current operations, because I alone cannot take care of it,” Mr. Hoang shared. Over the past time, the shared house has taken care of many children and relatives who unfortunately suffered from terrible diseases. And Mr. Hoang has always been a kind grandfather to the children who used to live in this happy house.
In addition to operating Thien Tam Guesthouse, Mr. Hoang is also the main chef at a free vegetarian meal service point serving thousands of meals to poor workers (in Binh Thanh Ward). At the age of 74, with nearly 40 years of volunteer work, Mr. Hoang and his colleagues have donated more than 300 schools, thousands of concrete bridges, thousands of bicycles, scholarships... to disadvantaged cases across the provinces and cities.
When young people devote themselves to the community
Nearly 50 years older than Mr. Hoang, Mr. Phan Trung Hai, a member of the Youth Union of Quarter 28, Phu Thuan Ward (HCMC) also devoted all his efforts to community activities and disadvantaged children. Mr. Hai is one of 444 exemplary models honored to attend the 8th National Congress of Advanced Youth Following Uncle Ho's Teachings in 2025, which took place in HCMC last May.
7 years ago, Mr. Hai volunteered to be the head teacher of a charity class in Phu My ward (now Phu Thuan ward). Since starting the charity class, he realized that his passion and strength waseducation, even though he had previously studied traffic. So he decided to take the exam and study pedagogy to have a better teaching method for the children. "I silently thank the children because during the time I spent in class with them, I realized that studying is important and saw how meaningful life is," Mr. Hai confided.
In 2019, when he was admitted to the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union, Mr. Hai did not fully understand his value as a youth union member. But the more he was involved in local community activities, and the more he was guided by his seniors, Mr. Hai gradually realized his goals and ideals in life. Especially when he saw poor children learning to read and write, and the hardships they faced in making a living, Mr. Hai thought that in addition to teaching them life skills, he also needed to support them in learning a trade and starting a business. So Mr. Hai connected with teenagers to learn hairdressing, car repair, mechanics, etc., and helped many young people start their own businesses with take-away coffee carts, bread carts, and banh gio carts. Along with that, thousands of gifts for disadvantaged children during the holidays were also done by Mr. Hai with all his heart.
Talking to Mr. Hai, we can see the enthusiasm of a young person for community work, especially caring for disadvantaged children. It is because of his love for disadvantaged children that when doing scientific research at Ho Chi Minh City University of Education, Hai immediately chose the topic "How to support disadvantaged children to develop more comprehensively". "During his lifetime, Uncle Ho devoted a lot of love and special attention to children. Learning from him, I myself try to be diligent and hardworking to improve myself and devote some of my energy to supporting the surrounding community. Especially in the new development stage, I understand that I have to be more active and dynamic to make more practical contributions to the locality and children", Mr. Hai expressed.
Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/cho-su-chan-thanh-nhan-niem-hanh-phuc-post803471.html
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