Philanthropists find joy in helping the poor

Helping hand: Pham Duc Quang (left) hands over gifts to poor Cambodias on the Great Lake of Tonle Sap. — VNS Photo Dao Van Su

13th September, 2009

by Dao Van Su

Impoverished Cambodian citizens and Viet kieu (overseas Vietnamese) in Cambodia have recently received help from a friendship and charity delegation led by veteran Pham Duc Quang and philanthropist Huynh Tieu Huong.

Quang, the owner of the Nam Truong Son enterprise, served as a volunteer soldier in Cambodia for years. Twenty years ago, at the Siem Reap front, he suffered from several wounds. Though his days as a combatant are gone, his affection for the Cambodian armed forces and Khmer people remain.

Being a successful businessman, Quang had always dreamed of linking his business activities with Cambodian entrepreneurs.

After the war ended, Quang went back to Cambodia several times for charitable purposes.

Last May, during a business trip, he led a number of fellow comrades to visit their former battlefield.

"The trip really brought joy and happiness to my former comrades," he says.

Earlier this year, during his visit to Cambodia with a military delegation, Quang recognised that the Cambodian people were still poor, so he pledged US$70,000 to support the Cambodian Fund for the Poor. This fund was launched by Prime Minister Hun Sen.

"The visit caused me to be deeply moved, when I met many poor Viet kieu living in hard, poor conditions at the Great Lake of Tonle Sap. We visited a small fishing village belonging to Siem Reap City, where 400 of the 1,000 local households were Vietnamese. Some of these families have lived in poverty for many generations.

Quang told his comrades: "If this situation continues, many local children will be illiterate, devoid of a bright future, and will not remember the Motherland, Viet Nam. Compared to other overseas Vietnamese in the world, these people are the poorest. We should help them."

"I think that, to help the poor we should focus on practicality. So I transported 700kg of rice, 700kg of monosodium glutamate flavour enhancer and some scarves from Viet Nam to Cambodia."

Quang says he could buy Cambodian products instead of transporting these products from Viet Nam, which would be cheaper. "[But] I want Cambodian people to see the products made with affection by Vietnamese labourers, with Vietnamese trademarks. Although this was more expensive, this was highly effective."

Most of the gifts for the impoverished Cambodian students were provided by philanthropist Huynh Tieu Huong.

Record

For the past several years, Huong has held the record for "the woman with the highest number of children in the world". She now has 322 adopted children. The youngest is just two months old and the oldest is 20.

So far, Huong has fed and taught thousands of impoverished children.

Huong does charity work to help people, but not so many people know that she also has to buy milk to feed hundreds of babies.

She now suffers from cancer and cardiac valve insufficiency.

Huong was abandoned by her mother at birth, so she never knew her real age or homeland.

She estimates that she was born between 1965 and 1968 in a province in Central Viet Nam.

She was named by a family from the southern province of An Giang.

During her childhood, Huong lived as an outcast in the streets, markets and bus stops, and she was beaten many times by gangsters. She’s been raped, and forced to use drugs. The gangsters also cut her hands and legs in order to create scars to force her to be a beggar to earn money for them.

Huong spent 22 years homeless, living in the mountainous areas of Ha Tinh, Nghe An and Thua Thien-Hue following gold diggers.

On December 10, 1989, she was helped by a Taiwanese man, who gave her enough money to buy a house. Since then, she has remained industrious and affluent. In commemoration of her good fortune, she chose the day she was given the gift as her birthday.

With the sum of money she earned, Huong established the Que Huong Charity Centre in 2001 to feed and raise disabled children and orphans, with the hope of helping them overcome poverty. Several infants, most of whom were found in dumping sites, markets, and spaces under bridges have been admitted to her centre. She also established a plant to process purified water.

Huong says she was inspired to help the poor Cambodian children from a dream.

"I dreamt about children, who lived on floating houses on rivers. They were so poor and in rags. For three nights I dreamt about this scene.

"I felt anxious, but I did not know where the scene was. Suddenly, I met Quang Huu, a reporter from the Bao ve Phap luat (Law Guardian) newspaper, and he said perhaps the scene was at the Great Lake of Tonle Sap in Cambodia.

"He told me that Quang was preparing to go to Cambodia to help Vietnamese people there. I met Quang, and he agreed to allow me to join his charity delegation.

"With Quang’s approval, I quickly bought supplies."

Huong transported to Cambodia: 100 wheelchairs, VND60 million ($3,243) in order to build two charity houses, VND50 million for instant noodles, VND30 million for clothes, VND15 million for school supplies, VND12 million for hygiene products, and $2,500 for 50 scholarships.

Quang paid for the transport fees and expenses for the delegation.

The charity voyage in Cambodia by Pham Duc Quang and Huynh Tieu Huong has been praised by the Cambodian newspapers, authorities, military officers and people.

During the visit, General Dieng Sarun, deputy chief of staff of High Command of Gurards of the Cambodian Royal Army, voiced his appreciation for Quang and Huong.

The general made a proposal to the King of Cambodia to grant a friendship order to Quang. The general also asked that the 4km road linking the office of High Command of Guards to a National Highway to An Giang Province of Viet Nam be named after Quang. — VNS