Those who go through the alley 96 (Phan Dinh Phung Street, Ward 2, Phu Nhuan District, Ho. Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam) will surely be surprised with the images of the “charity medicine cabinet” hung at the head of the alley. Besides, there are also many other FREE things in this special alley such as “free drinking water pots”, “free travelling fees by motorbikes”, “free patching for vehicles ”, “free funeral service” . All of those things are clearly labeled on big posters with the word "MIỄN PHÍ" (free). Thanks to those free things, the poor and the disabled have been helped to have a better and more heartwarming life.
This medicine cabinet has been appeared in this alley for more than 10 years until now. People at this alley have been creating this medicine cabinet together by raising funds or contributing blister packs, medical tapes, etc. Despite the simplicity, many road users have been timely helped and saved thanks to this medicine cabinet.
This medicine cabinet is hung at the beginning of the alley to help those who unfortunately have an accident or get symptoms of illness like dizziness or weariness.
Free drinking water pot for everyone and the poster of free patching for vehicles of disabled people.
Every day, many passersby stop here to drink water. Long, (16 years-old) said: "I have 5 brothers. Each day, my brother and I ride bicycles to sell lottery tickets to earn for our living. Many times are we so thirsty, but we do not dare to buy any bottles of water at the shop due to our fear of the waste of money. We have to save money to take care of the kids at our home Therefore, since this free drinking water pot appears, we have felt so happy. It means that we don’t have to pay for our drinking water."
In spite of the fact that the majority of people in this alley have difficult lives, the spirit of "the poor help poorer ones" has been absorbed into their blood. At any time when the medicine cabinet is becoming nearly empty, they voluntarily add more medicine to the cabinet.
Mr. Nguyen Minh Hung (mechanic at this alley) smiled and said: "Everyone living here is still poor but very generous. They try to support the medicine cabinet as much as they can. Especially, they are ready to give up some meals to spend their money on buying some blister packs to fill the cabinet.
In this valley, the value of the love among people, the spirit of solidarity is many times higher than the material values.
Uncle Phuc - motorbike drivers at the alley 96. During 30 years of working as motorbike driver, he has worked in free for many disabled people. He said that he loved his work because it is the biggest mission in his life.
Uncle Hung – the man whose job is to patch the wheels of vehicles at the head of the alley. He is also responsible for looking after the free drinking water pot. Every day, he repairs vehicles in free for many disabled people.
The sign of the poor man who is rich of charity
Also in this alley, many people are surprised and curious of a sign with the content: "Van Phuc – the place to support free charity coffin and free burial assistance 24/24 hours, including weekends, Tet holidays and even Sundays ".
On account of our curiosity, a resident here enthusiastically took us to meet the "owner" of that sign. It is Nguyen Van Uc who is currently working as a motorbike driver.
Thanks to the sign of Uncle Uc, many poor people are given a dignified "resting place" after their death.
When we mention about the sign, he said: "Many years ago, on the way driving my motorbike to take my guests home, we met some robbers. They hit me and I was fallen down. As a result, there were blood clots in my brain. Then, because of my family’s poverty, I had no money to go to hospital and I left my living on my destiny. However, my head was so hurt that I could not do anything. My family tried to borrow money from friends and relatives to go to hospital. The doctor concluded that my brain was hurt and that I could survive had been a great luck. Since then, I have voluntarily dedicated my lifetime to do good things to help others. "
Uncle Uc also added that:
“At this area, the homeless or poor people come to work as beggars and they sleep on the sidewalks or on the road. There are many cases of sudden death at midnight without kinship arrangements for their funerals. I was unhappy to see environment companies bring the bodies of those people away, so I came up with the idea of arranging their burials.
Uncle Phuc works a motorbike driver every day to earn for a living. Although his life is still hard, being able to bring happiness to others is a great pleasure.
Because of his poor finance, he comes to many facilities of coffin to ask for support. Due to his sincere attitude and great compassion, many facilities agreed to help him. Since then, he has finished burial jobs for more than ten cases. For the elderly, disadvantaged and homeless people, he helped them with the coffin and even burial service to help them have a peaceful resting.
He said: “They have lived in too difficult living conditions all their lifetime; therefore, when they pass away, they need to rest in peace to return their motherlands. I think that I am doing such normal thing because those who have the spirit of charity also do what I am doing. Although I am carrying just little things, I touch the peacefulness of my heart and my soul. I will pursue this work until the end of my life”.
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And other charity activities at this alley
People at this alley always contribute their old clothes and other necessary things for those who need them without any financial requests and purposes. Every month, on the 1st and the 15th day, all people at the alley raise money to cook free vegetarian meals and deliver them to the poor and the disabled. They are the reasons why this alley is always full of happy smiles and sincere love. Everybody here lives friendly and dedicates their life for the community around them. And the spirit of charity is being spread out day by day here.
One day, when you come to Sai Gon, Vietnam, remember to come to this alley, see some FREE posters mentioned in this post and help the poor and disabled people by contributing some medicine into the charity medicine cabinet, raising some funds for maintaining free drinking water pot for them if you can.
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Do you see your awareness of life is beginning to change a little after reading this post? For me, I did!
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The contents and photos of this post are taken and translated from Vietnamese into English from the sources:
http://kenh14.vn/xa-hoi/con-hem-nho-dac-biet-giua-sai-gon-noi-cai-gi-cung-duoc-dung-mien-phi-2014120109561747.chn
http://doisong.vnexpress.net/photo/nhip-song/con-hem-nhieu-dich-vu-mien-phi-giua-sai-gon-3115651.html
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