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NEPAL PROGRAM
One of the Vietnamese charity organizations which helps the poor in India is the Linh Son pagoda. The pagoda is still in its development stage, but due to the urgent needs of the local population, the pagoda has decided to implement programs of rice distribution, free medical examinations and free medicine. Master Linh Quang, the spiritual leader of the pagoda is also in charge of these programs.
The pagoda's charitable programs are in their fifth year, and include the following:
1) The Linh Son Free Clinic is open 4 days a week, and takes 30 patients a day. Each month, 500 patients are treated. To date, after 5 years of operation, this program has taken care of 30,000 poor patients in Lumbini, free of charge. The western medicine that is supplied to the clinic costs US$450 per month.
2) The Linh Son Rice Box program provides 8 kgs of rice to 20 poor families, twice a month, at a cost of US$4 per family per month.
3) The Linh Son Orphanage started operations in May 2005 with 22 orphans. They all go to public schools and are provided food and shelter as if they were living at home. They all follow school programs in English and they all study hard. The best student in the orphanage is the second best student in his class, with an average grade of 93%. Some orphans have lost their parents. Others come from poor families who could not provide for them. Some children are there because their single parent could not bring up their own child when they remarried. All the orphans have been referred to the pagoda by the government of Nepal. The funds for the operation of the orphanage come from donations by Vietnamese sponsors all over the world.
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