Ty Quang Pagoda’s Philantrophy

By Jia Wei Low

Photos by Lim Fei Xiang     

On Day Five of the trip, the students made their way to Chuong Trinh AIDS, a NGO that helps the HIV/AIDS patients of Ho Chi Minh city through multiple channels. Having ties with a number of organizations and sub-groups, we met Mr. Pham Thanh Van, the co-ordinator, whose organization liaises with community efforts to collectively come together as one and aid HIV/AIDs patients. It was into these community efforts that the students were then divided into for the day’s session. While some were assigned to visit the Pagoda’s community effort, others went to see how individual community members had taken on leadership roles to aid others within the community.

The common thread binding all four groups is the social pandemic HIV/AIDS, showing just how ubiquitous the disease has become and how various walks of life have incorporated it into their community efforts to deal with it as effectively as possible.

This particular account has been written by a student who was part of the group that visited the community service being provided by the Ty Quang Pagoda. -Editors' Note

In the Govap District of Ho Chi Minh City lies the 72 year old Ty Quang Pagoda, a Buddhist temple that impresses visitors with its picturesque garden and many statues. Upon entering, we were greeted by the deputy head monk of the pagoda, Thich Thien Binh who gave us a tour of the pagoda.

Behind the main hall which houses Buddha statues is housing for children affected with disabilities such as sight impairment, Downs Syndrome and birth deformities, orphans and abandoned children.

The tour began with a look into their dormitories. A total of 10 rooms house 150 children, many abandoned because of their disabilities. Each have their own cot but at night, the rooms are crammed with more than a dozen children each. Though some are free to roam the grounds of the pagoda as they pleased, many others are confined to their beds, cared for and nursed by volunteers and monks of the pagoda because of their disabilities. One such example is of Tiny, a 17 year old teenager with the body of a toddler.

 Tiny, the 17 year old child

The pagoda also provides the disabled children with physiotherapy, teaching them how to move about and feed themselves. There is also basic education rendered by volunteer teachers for those capable of learning.

Some of the disabled children in physical therapy

Many are perfectly healthy children, but have been orphaned or abandoned. Many of these children eventually become monks themselves though some go on to do other things in life.

A free clinic is also situated at the pagoda site where many people from the surrounding communities get their healthcare. However, in place of Western medication and drugs which is costly, traditional medicine is given to the people of the clinic.

The free clinic provides accessible healthcare to anyone

The pagoda also helps those afflicted by HIV by providing counseling and support groups, to help them manage their condition and learn coping skills for living with HIV. Most affected by HIV have contracted the disease needle-sharing while doing drugs while some of the women were infected by husbands unaware that they were HIV positive.

Volunteers play a major role in the pagodas- they teach, feed and play with the children as well as clean the rooms and prepare meals for the children along with the monks. Young adult university students can be seen at the pagoda, helping out and playing with the children, giving them much needed love and attention. Some foreign volunteers can also helping out the disabled children, sent by NGOs such as the Volunteers for Peace Vietnam.

University students playing with the children

The Ty Quang Pagoda provides an important community service to the marginalized poor and disabled people of the community. Those rejected by society find solace and a safe haven here at the pagoda where they are cared for. The care and compassion shown by the monks and the volunteers of the pagoda is truly inspiring.

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Jia Wei Low, 23, is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Arts degree majoring in Writing and suffers from chronic Internet addiction.