Thien An Orphanage

Last week we visited Thien An Orphanage in Ham Tan District in Binh Thuan. The orphanage is run by a group of Catholic* sisters, headed by Sister Mary Thanh Mai.

The orphanage has approximately 35 children, and also takes care of pregnant local women who would otherwise abort their pregnancies. The orphanage appears to be well managed, although it suffers from the usual lack of resources.

It was very hot on the day that we visited (it usually is hot there) and the electricity was out across the region. Apparently the electricity doesn't work for a number of hours every day, so the children have to suffer in the extreme heat. The orphanage is trying to raise money to pay for a generator so that they can runs fans all day in the nurseries and elsewhere. We were told that they need a 10 kilowatt generator which will cost about $USD1200. We are looking to raise the money for this generator for the orphanage. If you would like to contribute, please email us at vietnanon@yahoo.com and we will co-ordinate with the orphanage.

The orphanage also is looking for funds to help take care of the pregnant mothers and babies. It costs $200-$300 to see each pregnancy through to the end. It costs $30/month to care for each child in the orphanage.

We plan to visit Thien An Orphanage again in the next week or so.

We told Sister Mary that we would write about the orphanage on the blog and she sent us a personal message to be posted here, describing the activities of the orphanage and some of her needs. You can read the letter here (PDF). You can see some photos of the orphanage and her residents here and here.

(* For the record, we do not endorse any religions on this blog, and we have reported on our visits to Buddhist, Catholic and Government orphanages and organizations)