Đức Hạnh Pagoda, Bù Gia Mập, Bình Phước: Wheelchairs, Gifts and Charity Houses, 2025

On March 17, 2025, the Compassionate Hands team gave 8 wheelchairs and 200 gift packages to ethnic-minority families at Đức Hạnh Pagoda, Bình Phước, and funded three charity houses.

On March 17, 2025, the Compassionate Hands Foundation (Hội Từ Thiện Bàn Tay Nhân Ái) visited Đức Hạnh Pagoda in Bù Gia Mập district, Bình Phước province. That afternoon the team gave out 8 wheelchairs, 20 gift packages for students and 200 packages for ethnic-minority families, and funded three charity houses in Đức Hạnh commune.

The first stop on the road to central Vietnam

After finishing the distributions in three southern provinces, the group returned to Saigon to rest and then headed toward central Vietnam. The drive from Ho Chi Minh City took more than three hours to reach Đức Hạnh Pagoda, the first pagoda on this leg.

Most of the people around the pagoda are ethnic-minority villagers who make a living picking cashew nuts. Some years the harvest is good and some years it fails, and according to the pagoda's abbot this year's cashew harvest failed, making a hard life harder. The video's narrator says some households had not a single bowl of rice to eat.

Monthly rice for forty households

An organizer at the pagoda explained the rice program to the villagers. Forty households now receive monthly rice, and have done so for over ten years. Before covid each household got 10 kg, and since the pandemic it has been 5 kg. The pagoda saves it up and hands it out every two months, along with gifts from the pagoda itself.

The organizer said they visited each home together with a colleague. Some people were affected by Agent Orange, some are paralyzed, and some simply have no way to climb out of poverty, which is why the foundation sponsors monthly rice for them. The organizer added that the foundation sends funds not only to Đức Hạnh but to many pagodas across the country, and that villagers should value it.

The organizer also urged them to work hard, stay away from crime and drugs, and keep their children in school so they can rise above poverty.

Three charity houses

The team announced the day's results: 8 wheelchairs, 20 packages for students, 200 packages for ethnic-minority families in Bù Gia Mập district, one-time gifts for people not on any list, and funding for three charity houses (nhà tình thương) in Đức Hạnh commune.

Earlier, a foundation member surveying the area had visited a family whose house was built of bamboo and leaked in wind and rain. The member asked the head monk and the supporters to consider helping.

If the president and our supporters see that this family qualifies for a charity house, please grant them a warmer home.

A foundation member on the survey visit

The team thanked supporters in the group who contributed to the construction. According to the narration, one member builds one house every year and also gives monthly rice to the ethnic-minority families.

A closing song

The narrator says the team learns from the practice of deep listening and compassion of Quán Thế Âm Bodhisattva (Avalokiteshvara), as taught by the monks and nuns. The closing part of the video plays a song by Zen Master Thích Nhất Hạnh, whose lyrics speak of brothers and sisters from the four directions and five continents, regardless of skin color or religion, coming together to build the homeland and to love.

The narrator's last words are a wish for good health for the elders and members of the team on the 2025 journey across Vietnam.