MOTHER HUONG’S FOUNDATION

The Mother Huong’s Foundation (MHF) is dedicated to loving children and taking care of the unfortunate. Our founder and role model, Mother Huong, says, these children are not orphans but are her children.” She loves and cares for them as any mother would. A wise man once said that true religion is caring for the orphans and needy. Mother Huong leads us to live this out as a gift of love. Some say believers in God are not measured by the love they have but the love they give. The MHF is not just a charity organization but is a conduit for pouring God’s love out to humanity. Mother Huong has dedicated her entire life to homeless children and people with disabilities to symbolize God’s love

Mother Huong’s Foundation is currently nurturing 340+ homeless children in Vietnam.

Join us on the walk God has called us to travel together. Let us love and support the children. To love those that need,  is to love God.

Step into my shoes and let us start from the beginning, when everything from my own birthday to my hometown, was a distant memory. I will show you my journey from being a mere homeless girl to becoming the mother of 350 children, going against the odds to bring a smile to children that have the same fate as I once had.

1968

MY BIRTHDAY:UNKNOWN

Sadly, like many homeless kids, I did not have the privilege to know when or where I was born. My Identity Card states that I was born in 1968, since I could not prove otherwise, I decided to accept that as the start of my life. I may not know my exact birthday, however, the ones who help me through the early hardships of my life, I am eternally grateful for them. An old lady, whose name I could not recall, took me in and taught me the ways to beg food from strangers even when she was homeless herself. I hope she is somewhere on heaven now and proud of the homeless girl she once took care of.

1978

GROWING UP AS A CHILD

It was in 1978, war had just ended, but for the Vietnamese, this meant rebuilding the country with little resources, and even fewer crops. The old lady’s health was deteriorating and it was not possible for her to raise a then growing child. However, it just so happened that she encountered married couple from Vinh Phu who was looking forward to adopting a kid. Out of the goodness of her heart, she gave me up to the couple with the hope that I have a better life. Had she known what happened afterwards, she would have died of a broken heart. The foster father that the old lady put her absolute trust in attempted to sexually abuse me and that frightful day often comes back in nightmare to haunt me. Fortunately, lady Luck was on my side as several kind neighbours took pity on me and helped me escape to Am Thuong train station. From that moment onwards, the sky became my roof as I bounced from one train to another, struggling to survive. On good days, I nearly fainted due to exhaustion and starvation. On bad ones, I had to outrun gangsters on trains to stay in one piece. Those days were horrific but I choose to remember them rather than to forget in order to make sure that no kid will ever go through the situation that I did.

1984

STANDING ON MY OWN, BARELY

As a sixteen-year-old girl, I did everything in my power to find food and stay alive, even working low-paid job like washing the dishes. But like every homeless kid, I messed up, not to mention that I was acutely sick at the time. All it took was one pile of dirty dishes, which I failed to clean, for Tu to lose his temper. Most kids my age would get a telling-off at worst, I on the other hand, lost my hearing to the left because of his hitting. The pure cruelness in his eyes that moment has scarred me for life.

1986

JOURNEY TO SAIGON AND FOUND MY SURNAME

The next thing I know, I was riding the bus from Mien Dong station to Saigon to escape Tu. I washed cars for a living but no matter where I went, gangsters were inevitable so I was always on my guard and suffered many sleepless nights. A few months later, I meet the man who changed my life forever for the better. He came across as an average man, just an everyday bus driver goes by the name Huynh Van H. He was kind enough to adopt me as his foster daughter and blessed me with his surname, Huynh. His wife also had a big heart and loved me as if I was her own. Their other kids, my foster brothers and sisters, however, did not see me as their equal and would often bully me and call me names. I knew this home would not last and with a heavy heart, I bid my farewell.

1987

BEGINNING OF SERVICE TO THE HOMELESS

As fate would have it, I found a baby girl on my doorstep one morning. Refusing to take her in would mean subjecting her to the fate I once had so naturally, I welcomed her like a sister and named her Anh Dao. I then moved to Bach Dang port and did various part-time jobs like selling coffee, gum and cigarettes at quays to keep both of us financially afloat. Suffice to say, I was treated badly by passers-by coupled with working myself to exhaustion, many a times I was tempted to take my life. The thoughts of leaving Anh Dao all alone to fend for herself stopped me from doing anything irrational, she was what kept me going even when I was at the lowest point of my life.

1989

HOMELESS TO HOMECOMING

I had the chance to pick up some Chinese whilst working at Bach Dang port, which help tremendously with my later job as a tour guide. I stumbled across a tourist who went by the name Chao Lai and told him my life story. Upon hearing my story, he offered to help by lending me enough money to rent a flat on Nguyen Hue street and taking in Anh Dao as his own. He was my life saver, and with his share of twenty ounces of gold, I bought my first house. That day was December 10, 1989, coincidentally the day I consider my birthday, as good things do happen on birthdays. Later on in my life, I went into business and pursue humanitarian causes with the hope of helping those who need it most.

1993

HUONG TO MOTHER HUONG

Joined Vietnam Relief Society I played an active role in humanitarian programs, helping orphans, lonely old people, ethnic minorities, victims of floods; buying wheelchairs for the handicapped; creating jobs for the unfortunate, providing free meals to the homeless. People started calling me affectionately as “Mother Huong”.

2001

ESTABLISHMENT OF CHARITY CENTER

The first charity center was founded at 61/23 DT 743 Street, Tan Long Hamlet, Tan Dong Hiep Commune, Di An District, Binh Duong Province, Vietnam as a home and training center for orphans and disabled children.

Today the charity center is supporting 350 homeless children and disabled for their accommodation, food, health, education, and career.

I want to thank all donors, staff, and volunteers who has done their best for this noble cause of serving humanity and in the days to come, I look forward for continued support from every kind soul to help homeless children and the disabled.