Dinh Thi Thai


When other 20-year-old girls are going to college and hopping on Facebook and Twitter, Dinh Thi Thai is selling vegetables in a market by her house. When her mother died a few years ago, their father left and never came back, leaving the care of the 4 children in the hands of their old grandfather who is too feeble to work.

That was when Thai had to quit school to find a job so as to support her old grandfather and her siblings, 17-year-old Quynh and Thuan as well as 13-year-old Khanh who are all of school age. Everyday the children come home to their grandfather in a small house with 2 beds.

Since meeting the family in 2004 the Humanitarian Services for Children of Vietnam (HSCV) have been helping this family to make ends meet through direct sponsorship and family assistance. Thai has even received a bicycle as part of the donation to make her vegetable hawking life easier.

The family also receives a medical insurance card form the local People’s Committee, as well as some rice seeds and fertilizer for farming as part of its assistance plan to help needy residents in Vietnam. However the medical insurance card only covers basic medical expenses, the family still needs some money to rent a plot of land to start a small rice plantation.

The family is also currently in need of direct sponsors so that they can receive monthly rice donations and the educational scholarships to help the children finish grade school. Without sponsorships, the family will be unable to receive rice donations and the children might not be able to complete school.

• The cost to sponsor a family for a year’s worth of Rice Distribution is $320.
• The cost to sponsor a child for an educational scholarship is $80 per year.