December 2007/January 2008
Even thought the cost of building supplies continues to go up and we have increased the amount we pay our contractors to $125 per house, we were able to build eight houses, two in Tan Thanh Tay, two in Phu Son, two in Thanh Ngai, one in Tan Phu Tay and one in Hoa Loc, all in Ben Tre province in the Mekong Delta.
Welcome home Tam, Hung Cu, and their daughter
Tan Thanh Tay is a new town for us, and we turned down the first two suggestions of the Peoples Committee. After giving them a clearer understanding of what we were looking for, we were introduced to two families that met our guidelines and we built houses for both of them.
Tam, 38 and Hong Cu, 39 have a two year old daughter. They have very little in the way of material goods and barely make a living tending their neighbor’s orange tree saplings. They were very pleased with their new house.
Roi's old house
Roi is a 30 year old single mom with a four year old son. Their house was one of the worst we’ve seen, with many openings in the roof and walls, giving them very little protection from the rain. Roi does garden work for about $1.25 to $2.00 per day when available. She often takes her son to work with her, sometimes her neighbors watch him. Their new house gives them a safe and dry place to live and sleep.
March/April 2007
House under construction.
We built ten houses for families with inadequate housing on this trip. The cost of building supplies has continued to increase and our cost per house was $634.
One of the houses was for Do Van Tan, Nguyen Thi Hoa and their three children. Relatives in Phuoc My Trung gave them enough land to build a 32 square meter house. Prior to this they had been living with relatives in another town. They said that without our help they would never have had a house of their own. The dedication of this house was shown on local television. For more about this family, see the May, 2007 Dispatch.
This house was dedicated to the memory of our friend and long time supporter, Joan “Duffy” Newberry.
July/August 2006
We built four houses this trip, one in Phuoc My Trung, one in Vinh Hoa, one in Tan Phu and one in Long Thoi, all in Ben Tre province. The families were referred to us by the Peoples Committees in each town.
Building supplies have again gone up, primarily because of the increase in fuel and transportation costs, and our average price for these houses was about $560. Also, we have increased the amount we pay our contractors from $63 to $94 per house.
The family in Tan Phu is typical of our house recipients. Miss Tha, the head of household is 77 and unable to work. Also in the home are her daughter, age 39, and her grandson, age 17, who earn their living by doing casual labor when it’s available for about $1.00 to $1.50 per day.
January/February 2006
We built five houses, one in Thanh An, one in Tan Phu, two in Phuoc My Trung, and one in Chau Thanh district, all in Ben Tre province. Because of higher fuel prices, building materials are now more expensive, and the average price of our houses was $472, about 25% higher than last year.
The first four families were referred to us by the Peoples Committee in each town. The fifth, Nguyen Thi Dung, was referred to us by Mr. Le Huynh, Director of the Society to Support Poor People and People with Disabilities of Ben Tre Province. We have been developing a relationship with him for about a year and think he will be a valuable partner and source of referrals for us. Le Huynh has devoted his life to public service. He is the former President of the Ben Tre Province Peoples Committee (something like Governor in the U.S.) and two years ago founded the society. He works full time as a volunteer and does not receive any compensation or tangible benefits. He has his hand on the pulse of people in need in his province, and works to help people in need in many of the same ways that we do. Our childrens heart surgery coordinator, Miss Yen, uses him as her primary referral source for Ben Tre.
Now to Miss Dung (pronounced Yoom). She’s a single mother with one three year old boy. On learning that she was pregnant, her boyfriend left her and she has raised her son alone with the help of her aunt. She had no land and no home. Additionally, her son had congenital heart disease. Heart surgery was arranged by Le Huynh and the boy is doing well. Dung has been living in Saigon because she found housework there for about $20 per month, and her son has been living with her aunt. When the possibility of having a house came up, her aunt gave her enough land to put a house on and she has now moved into her new house with her son. She makes a living doing occasional labor when it’s available at the standard rate for this area of $20,000 Viet Nam Dong – about $1.25 U.S. per day.
July/August 2005
Mrs. Bay in her old house
Building “compassion houses” has now become a regular part of our work, as it is in Vietnamese society in general. We built three houses this trip, two in Phuoc My Trung and one in Thanh An. Due to a favorable exchange rate, recycling some materials and/or small design changes, we were able to build these houses for $378 each, slightly less than in January.
Several factors affect the cost of these houses and we expect to have to pay about $450 for a standard design 32 square meter house on our next trip. We have been building these houses with one brick wall and the other three walls made of coconut wood planks. The price of coconuts has tripled in the last year and a half (to about 10 cents per coconut) and consequently fewer people are willing to cut their trees for wood. Because of this we are now building all four walls with brick. Also, the cost of any construction material that has to be transported has increased because of the increase in fuel prices. Labor costs remain low.
Mrs. Bay is helped to the dedication of her new house
One of our recipient families is 84 year old Mr. Tam and his 76 year old wife Mrs. Bay. Living with them are their son, daughter-in-law, a nine year old granddaughter and eight year old grandson. Earlier this year their home was damaged and Mrs. Bay severely burned in a house fire. Mr. Tam has very poor vision and finds it difficult to get around. The family has income when their son or daughter-in-law can find work. The house was dedicated and presented to them along with gifts from the Peoples Committee of a tea set and blanket.
January/February 2005
We built two houses on this trip for families that did not have adequate shelter, both in Phuoc My Trung. The cost of each house was $386.
1. Le Kim Chan is a single mother and has a 14 year old daughter. She makes her living by selling snacks, candy and cigarettes from a small stand in front of her house. Her total inventory, all she can afford, is about six dollars, and her average daily profit is about 20 to 30 cents. She occasionally has work at another family’s home business processing coconuts, and this gets her a dollar a day, sometimes a little more. Her house was about four by six meters, dirt floor, walls and roof of palm frond panels over bamboo frame. We built our standard house: four by eight meters, tile floor, brick front wall, coconut plank side and back walls and metal roof.
Mr. Tan's house is almost finished
2. Vo Van Tan is 85 and the head of household of our second house. Also living there are his son, 43, who is mentally disabled and unable to work, and his grandson Nha, age 14. This house was made of brick, but two walls collapsed when pushed and a third was unstable. Because there was one intact wall, an old but serviceable tile floor and some roofing material that was reusable, this house cost us slightly less than our budgeted amount and we used part of it to buy a bed and mosquito net for Mr. Tan.
Mr. Tan's grandson Nha at work
Nha, the grandson, goes to school in the mornings and works for a neighbor in the afternoons making rope from coconut husk fiber. He is paid by rice – two meals a day. We also heard that he is an excellent student in grade eight and confirmed this with Mr. Huu, the principal of the middle school. Nha has received school supplies and textbooks when we purchased them for his school last year, and we are making arrangements to see that he continues to have adequate school supplies. We also paid the balance of his school fees, about three dollars, and gave the family 40 liters of rice.
June/July 2004
We have successfully continued our compassion house program and it is being very well received by the community. This form of charity is very important in Vietnamese society and our willingness to engage in it is welcomed and seen as an affirmation that we are willing to address their needs as they see them.
We built one house on our own for $383.00 and agreed to the Phuoc My Trung Peoples Committe request to share the cost of another with them. They had $230.00 and we provided the additional $153.
At the completion of one of the houses, there was a dedication which included us, neighbors, PC officials and a newspaper and televison reporter.
As before, Phuong's brother personally purchased all construction materials and contracted the labor.
