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The compassion of Mr Từ Truyền and Mrs Từ Đạt has led the Sangxane storm relief mission to An B́nh village in Quảng Trị Province. The mission was also sponsored by esteemed Buddists of Pháp Vân, Viên Quang, Hương Đàm, and Bát Nhă Pagodas in Canada.
Prior to our departure to Việt Nam, we received US$ 500 from Mr and Mrs Truyền, who asked us to build water wells for An B́nh village. They highlighted the fact that, the village’s intoxicated water sources has resulted in an alarming number of cancer patients here.
An B́nh village is in Cam Thanh commune, Cam Lộ district, Quảng Trị province. It has 6 scattered hamlets. Being located in a low-land area, it is flooded for many times in a year. As a result, all types of wastes and pollutants from other areas flow in and stay here. The toxins penetrate into the ground; therefore water from all the local wells is seriously intoxicated.
Since all floodwater flew here and waterlogged the paddy rice, the villagers lost the whole summer-autumn crop in 2005-2006. The village has 326 families, totalling 1,220 people; 80% of its labour force is farmers; and as many as 148 households are categorised as poor ones. In 2005, out of 46 fatal cases as many as 28 people died of cancer. A newspaper even has an article about the water source here, and dubbed An B́nh “the cancer village”, which made villagers worry and panic. 4 relatives of Ms. Hoa, including her husband, have been killed by cancer. She is now living with 6 small children still at school-age and a nearly-collapsing cottage (She will be helped with our compassion house scheme in our Sangxane storm relief programme).
To start with our clean water provision scheme, Mr Lê Văn Diêu brought me to An B́nh village to find facts about its water supply and people’s life. Only with the first few water supply systems, we were shocked at the alarming amount of toxic residues at the bottom of the containers. Some villagers believe this is the major cause of rampant illness, especially cancer. Ms. Ái Liên, working at Quảng Trị VTV, told us that the press and television have covered this problem over the past 10 years. Some organisations have showed some concerns and even visited the village, but did not return to help villagers solve this serious problem.
The non-profit organisation “Plan International” has funded for water-filter tank for almost all poor households here. Every family digs a well and installs a pumping system to feed water into the filter tank. The filter tank consists of many layers of rock, gravel, sand, and nylon bags. Mr. Nguyễn Tiến Lợi and Mr. Nguyễn Việt, villagers’ representatives, guided Mr. Diêu and me to every family and explained to us in great details all problems and challenges that the villagers have to face. From the filter tank, they gripped some residues, which were tiny metal dusts that flew into the water from the well to the filter tank. The filtered water flew to a lower, smaller tank, from which clean water will be used by family members. Many families, afraid of the intoxicated water, have to walk over several kilometres to buy every 20-cubic meter barrel of clean water for daily cooking and drinking. The villagers showed us the nylon bags, aluminium basins and glasses that have turned to yellow after some time’s being used. An old woman gripped our hands to show us her newly-built yard that has turned to yellow only after a few times’ being washed.
The impact of the toxic water supply is not simple at all – it has driven many families to a deadlock. The villagers lead miserable life because most of them have acquired severe illness. There are many families where the young couples have lost their physical ability but have many mal-nourished children to care for. Here and there in dilapidated cottages, Diệu discovered many small packs of medicines supposed to treat several illnesses for the poor people, who cannot afford food, but cannot do without medicines when tortured by diseases. Healthy villagers have left their home place for southern areas to earn a living and pay their debt – the legacy of so many successive crop failures.
Walking in the village, we had chances to chat with some elderly people who live alone and earn their living by selling their little, hard-grown vegetable in their garden. Everyday they earn around 5 – 7,000 VND (5 USD cents). They all have brought up their offspring, but the latter have left their birthplace for southern areas and working there. Earning just enough for their living, for many successive years their offspring do not return home just to visit their parents. Many even cannot return to bury their parents when the latter pass away. After talking with some of the elderly, we thought of giving some Sangxane storm relief presents to them, who have to lead a lonely life at such an old age.
Nguyễn Thị Tư, 15 years old, is another story. Her father died of a work accident, and her mother alone has to work exhaustedly on a small patch of land to afford life for both. This year, the whole village lost crops due to Sangxane storm and its sequential pouring rain and flood. Tư’s mother was not an exception. She therefore had to leave her only child home and went southwards to work for a street food pub, after asking Tu’s grandmother and uncles to give her a helping hand when necessary. Tu said that every month, her mother earned 600,000 VND (US$ 40), and would send her 100,000 VND. We asked “why does she give you only 100,000 VND while she can earn as much as 600,000 and does not have to pay her meals and accommodations?” She replied timidly “Mom had to borrow money from the cooperative to buy seed and fertilizers. But we lost two crops, so Mom had to work far away to earn enough to pay the debt”. We continued to ask “how can you have enough money for your meals and study every month?” Tu said “Mom told me to cut bananas in the garden and sell in the market; pick up vegetables for meals; and if I run out of money at month-end, I should go to ask my grandmother and uncles for food.
With Tư’s story in mind, at the sight of sacks of fertilizers and seed when we returned to the cooperative’s office, it occurred to us that we could finance fertilisers and seed for those poor families that cannot afford these inputs, so that they can start their crops in time. 77 poor families received this kind of finance for a total area of 231 sào (equals to 83,160 square meter; one sào equals 360 square meters), with 130,000 VND for every sào. Also from Tư’s story, we came up with the scholarship programme for poor but studious pupils.
Knowing the root cause of poverty at present and its possible wider repercussion in the future, we asked An B́nh village to contact Quảng Trị water supply factory to work out a tap water supply scheme for the village. Quảng Trị water supply factory will build a pipeline to the village to provide water for 159 families in phase I, to be completed by June 2007 (Phase II will be considered conditionally on the performance of phase I). We will cover the cost of about 2 million VND (about US$ 115) per family on average to bring water from the main pipeline to each household. Because the living standards of villagers vary, we asked the organisers to make a highly selective list of poor people to be targeted by this water supply scheme. In summary, 40 families can pay the total cost, 25 can contribute 1,500,000 VND, 19 can contribute 1,000,000 vnd, 29 can contribute 500,000 vnd and 46 will be given the pipeline for free.
On 23 January, to join our An B́nh compatriots in preparation for a Peaceful Tết holiday after the storm, on behalf of Monk Thích Tâm Hoà at Pháp Vân pagoda in Mississauga, the one that initiated the Sangxane storm relief programme, nuns Minh Bảo, Minh Tuệ, Hải Liên, Diêu Tŕ, Huệ Hạnh, and Như Minh brought the gifts to the villagers. Everybody was so glad to receive the cordial gifts for Tết.
After meeting twice with the people in Cam Thanh commune’s authority, at full presence of our colleagues in the Buddist Charity Board of Quảng Trị province, we agreed to implement 8 assistance programmes for the compatriots in the areas that have been heavily stricken by the storm. Everybody at the meeting was so amazed and deeply touched at our announcement of the assistance programmes, especially the decision to bring tap water to poor families. They told us that, for so many years now, so many charity and authority groups had come to study the situation and even made a list of beneficiary families, but nobody returned. Every time group came and made a list, the villagers were again hopeful, but then confused for a long time at the continual silence. Therefore, when we came here and asked the authority to make a list, they were so much hesitant. They revealed: “If we made a list without being able to return and help, the fellow villagers would be doubtful and might think that we had taken the charity money and shared among us; but if we do not make the list as required, we also fear that a good opportunity may be missed”. The news that a Buddist charity group from Canada would pay for tap water scheme spread throughout the village. The villagers were so excited and looking forward to the day when the clean water runs to their place. It is expected that by this June the clean water supply will run to each villagers’ house.
By now, at An B́nh village we have been carrying out these following programmes (totalled at 235,230,000 VND, or Can$ 16,810)
1) Fertiliser and rice seed grant for 44 families (covering 236 mẫu), totalling 30,680,000 VND.
2) 30 cement sluices (100,000 VND each) for 8 wet roads to the rice fields, totalling 3,000,000 VND
3) Gifts (150,000 vnd to 200,000 vnd each) for 27 children with disabilities, agent orange, cerebral palsy, and epilepsy, totalling 4,550,000 vnd.
4) Gifts (200,000 vnd each) for 20 helpless elderlies, totalling 4,000,000 vnd
5) Scholarship (200,000 vnd each) for 20 poor but studious pupils, totalling 4,000,000 vnd.
6) 3 compassion houses that replaced those damaged in the storm; among which 2 are worth 8,000,000 vnd each, and one worth 5,000,000vnd. The houses were made by professional workers, their family members and villagers. Total cost: 21,000,000 vnd.
7) A tap water contract with Quảng Trị water supply factory to bring clean water to 159 households, to be complete by June 2007
Those are our programmes in details for An B́nh village – I would like to present to our esteemed benefactors as a small gift in the first days of the new lunar year.
Respectfully,
Tôn Nữ Diệu Liên
Early spring 2007
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