Join hands to help people in need

Mr. Hon is called Mr. Ba or Uncle Ba by many people in the charity community. Neighbors often call Mrs. Phai Mrs. Hon. Mr. Hon used to be a worker at the Da Nang Bicycle Factory. Mrs. Hon opened a hair salon in her house, specializing in serving middle-aged and elderly customers. For a long time, Mr. Hon helped his wife raise pigs to sell to earn money for their children's education.

In the late 1980s, the economic situation was still difficult. At that time, most of the people in the village were poor laborers, street vendors. Many people drove cyclos or motorbikes. I knew that there were people who worked hard but still could not escape poverty.

Faced with this situation, although not well-off, but moved with compassion, Mr. Hon and his wife sometimes bought them a bowl of noodles or vermicelli. "We helped them in times of hardship and misery, sometimes a warm coat, sometimes a loaf of bread, sometimes a package of sticky rice and corn. When someone died, the family did not have enough money to hire a car to take the neighbors to the funeral. I let my son take them. Never mind, it was like doing a good deed. Back then, no one talked about charity or volunteering!", he confided.

- Ảnh 1. — Mr. and Mrs. Hon came back from giving gifts.

Join hands to do good deeds

The couple and many fellow Buddhists from Vinh An Pagoda (formerly Vinh Trung Ward, now Thac Gian Ward) cooked porridge and vegetarian meals to help the poor who were being treated at the hospital. Ms. Dieu and Ms. Chi from the neighborhood came to the house to help pick vegetables, peel tubers, etc. They brought bread, vegetarian meals, and porridge to help patients at hospitals in the city, and to centers for orphans, the disabled, and lonely elderly people in Tam Ky, Hoi An, and Hue .

When the city had a policy to limit the rampant pig farming in residential areas, causing environmental pollution and affecting the health of families and the community, the couple gradually sold all their pigs, dismantled the barn to make room, and built an additional roof for processing and cooking.

Seeing that the couple often did charity work, some people in the neighborhood joined in. They contributed rice to cook rice and porridge, helping the couple bring it to Da Nang General Hospital and the city's Mental Hospital to distribute to poor patients.

By the early 2000s, the number of people joining the couple gradually decreased. However, the couple still quietly did charity work. Mr. and Mrs. Hon's children registered to contribute money every month for their parents to continue their charity journey. Neighbors and friends of the couple's children also contributed their efforts and money over the years. Each person contributed 50,000 VND, 100,000 VND, some contributed 500,000 VND. Every Tet holiday, the couple gave gifts to the elderly in the neighborhood, who lived alone or were seriously ill and bedridden.

- Ảnh 2. — Mr. Hon (in white hat) and Vinh An pagoda charity group

Passionate about volunteering

Later, when they were nearly 80 years old, the couple changed their way of doing things instead of cooking themselves. "As I got older, it became difficult for my wife to cook. So we discussed with our children and their friends to hire someone to cook for us to make things easier. They all agreed. The children hired someone to cook soy milk and bring it to the hospital first. Then they hired someone to cook porridge. Early in the morning, they drove their motorbikes out to leave some boxes of porridge at the end of the alley. We drove by in our cars to pick it up and take it away. At 4:30 a.m., someone brought bread and left it in front of the house. Before, I was also the one who took the initiative to carry it. Now, our children, in-laws, and young friends... take it all. My wife and I have become assistants," Mr. Hon laughed.

The 7-seat car of Mr. Nhon and Ms. Hanh, who sell shoes at Thanh Hoa Shop (No. 20 Ly Thai To, Da Nang), has been transporting porridge, milk, and bread for many years.

On the morning of May 27, 2025, I met Mr. and Mrs. Hon on their way back from charity work. They brought boxes of porridge and milk home to wash, after giving gifts to people in difficult circumstances at the Da Nang Maternity and Pediatrics Hospital (also known as the 600-bed hospital).

Each time, the gifts included 6 boxes of porridge, 8 boxes of soy milk, 500 loaves of bread, with a total value of more than 6,000,000 VND. The grandparents often gave gifts once a month on the 1st or suddenly on Vu Lan and Buddha's birthdays... Occasionally, the grandparents went to give gifts with Mrs. Hon's younger siblings (both are teachers).

"In the past, my husband and I used to bring porridge and milk to distribute to patients at the Da Nang Oncology Hospital and the City Mental Hospital in Hoa Khanh. We also went to Dai Loc, Hoi An, and Tam Ky to give gifts to the elderly who had no place to live, orphans, and the disabled. Now, we go with our daughter and her friends to give porridge, milk, and bread to people nearby," Ms. Hon added.

- Ảnh 3. — Mrs. Hon (dark blue shirt) during a gift giving event at the hospital.

Some hospital leaders, social protection centers, centers for orphans and disabled children, hospital social workers or monks of some pagodas in Da Nang, Hue... are familiar with Uncle Ba (Mr. Ba).

In 2023, Mr. Bui Hon's family was awarded a certificate of merit by the Da Nang City Red Cross Society for their outstanding achievements in implementing the campaign "Each organization, each individual is associated with a humanitarian address" in the period 2019 - 2023.

Mr. Le Tan Hong, Director of the Vocational Training Center for Children with Disabilities (now the Red Cross Center for Elderly and Disabled Care in Da Nang City) shared: "Mr. Ba and his wife are very enthusiastic and have been involved in the center's activities for a long time. He and his wife, their children and young people often come to give rice, fish sauce or organize meals for the children."

"I think my life is very short, so I do whatever good I can. Giving a gift is not big, but I feel peaceful and happy!", Mr. Hon confided.