A monk in the southern province of Long An is using his pagoda to provide disadvantaged children with accommodation and education, hoping to give them a better life.
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| Monk Thich Quang Tam, or Ut, is training his learners during a kungfu session Photo: Lao Dong |
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| Monk Thich Quang Tam, also known as Ut, teaches learners a computer lesson |
Monk Thich Quang Tam, also known as Ut, is the head of the Long Thanh Pagoda in Long An’s town of Thu Thu.
He has opened the Kim Chi House in the pagoda for unfortunate children and orphans.
The house was named after a female Buddhist who left all her fortune to the pagoda after she died to help it build more comfortable classrooms and bedrooms for the children.Currently, there are 57 children and orphans living in the pagoda.
The pagoda covers all the schooling fees and other expenses for them to go to school.
The schooling expense for each child is between VND5 and 6 million (USD250-300) a year. With such high expenses and over 50 children to cover, the pagoda is likely to encounter financial difficulties.
But whenever a generation of children leaves the pagoda, Ut is always willing to accept another one.
Other than sending the children to school, he also teaches them informatics, English, calligraphy, Buddhism tenets and martial arts.
The children have to leave the pagoda when they graduate from high school.
But if the children want to pursue higher education, Ut will seek support from charity organisations and pagodas in Ho Chi Minh City.
Ten children brought up by Ut have graduated from university and dozens of others now have jobs.
Whatever they do and wherever they go, those who grew up in the pagoda frequently come back to visit Ut, who has transformed their lives from miserable to happy.
Monk Thich Quang Tam, also known as Ut, teaches learners a computer lesson
