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One Hundred and Ten Children.
There are those that do not have parents.
There are those that grandparents, aunts, uncles
There are those that grandparents, aunts, uncles
There are those with a mother yet no father, father and no mother
but the challenging thing is...
when they are left here to be cared for
on the whole, it is free
we rely on charity like you who come here.
to visit and support the children
I rely on each individual a little bit at a time.
it is like I request for time to time
do you have many who support you in the Pagoda?
well, as you can see, I note down all the people that help us in this book.
so there are other monks that look after the children?
right now, I am always here.
and then there is the secretary, named Dung.
there is also another teacher, three of us here.
The children, do they attend school within the Pagoda or a school outside?
in here... we teach up kindergarten, and first grade we let all of them go to a school outside.
now, in 100 children, there are 10 or 11 children at kinder age
the other children go to a school outside.
they apprentice or what subject do they learn?
I'll let them apprentice when they don't want to learn anymore
there are more than ten are working, about ten are in college
if they want to learn then I'll support them
If they don't want to learn, I'll let them apprentice
when they grow up, they can get married if they want
as I said before, there were three were married
when they have their own family, they can move out, other single ones are still here.
when they go to work, for example they earn 1,000
they give me 400
400 is for saving in a bank account
200 left is for other needs because they eat and sleep here
when they give me enough money, I'll buy them a motor bike so they can go to work
they continue to save and keep that account so they can take care of their own family later.
I have to think what is best for them to settle down.
I already managed three weddings for them.
when they're 18, they will move out or stay here?
in the US they can move out when they're 18 years old but in Viet Nam is different
18 years old in Viet Nam, they don't know much about life
they don't have enough knowledge or skills for working.
they're over 20 years old but they're here with me
I try as much as I can so they have a job, their own family
if they move out so soon, they can be bad, there is too much temptation here 46 00:04:33,50 --> 00:04:39,50 the older children made the drink?
where is your glass?
the water is filtered or just put direct into the bottle?
there is a machine for water filtering, 4 or 5 people bought it for us
it was imported
they helped the older children to learn driving
they also gave us a little truck
we use it to deliver the water and drive the children to school
deliver water to customer
we use water from the city not from the well
so it's safe for you, don't worry
we sell the water outside, right?
we sell to make more money to pay fees
is it easy to sell?
yes, quite good
with this, we also have clean water for the children so they don't get sick
second is we sell
there are many people support us
the business is quite good
in Florida
I became a monk in middle age
I sold jewelry before, I had a shop
my wife and kids crossed the ocean to the US
the new year's eve, December 1981
1982, they sent me a telegraph
1984, they sent me the immigrant paper 72 00:06:37,50 --> 00:06:43,00 I made a promise to myself if they were safe then I would become a monk
they made the papers, I helped but then I became a monk
the master asked me why I didn't go abroad, why I became a monk
I said I made a promise to Buddha
how long have you been here?
I refuge in the Triple Gems here when I was little
in 1960
when I grew up and got married then I decided to be a monk here
I've been here for 18 years
I and other monks and the master - he's 84 years old now
we decided to open an orphanage
At first we were going to accept both genders
but we're going to raise them until they're over 20 years old
if we just raise them until they're 18 then we can raise them both
it will be more complicated when they're too old
in worst case, we may have to raise grand children
then we decided to raise boys only
other people brought the children to you or how they came to you? 90 00:08:16,50 --> 00:08:20,00 as I said before, other pagodas sent them
the government
their relative
from the government, for example they left the child at the pagoda's gate
I gave the child to the government
then the government signed the papers and gave the child back to us
when they leave the child, we cannot take it in immediately
other people can think we kidnapped the child
when they leave the child here, we have to bring it to the government first
if they ask us, we can take the child in
I have to say to you that I'm doing this for charity
not for religion
so the children can keep their hair and they don't have to wear uniform like me
I just help people in needs
I'm not doing this for Buddhist, there are some Protestants here
the sisters brought them here, they gave us the fridge over there
we put meat or fish there, we eat what other people give us
people who help you are almost from Vietnam or other countries?
there are many people from the city
in Vietnam and sometimes Viet kieu like you come to visit and help us
there are many orphanages in Vietnam now
These milk boxes are from a company, they just gave us
they also gave us rice, pens and notebooks so the children can prepare for next semester 113 00:10:31,50 --> 00:10:39,00 they need a lot of notebooks, one child can use over 20 notebooks, so much
the others need 10 or 5, at least 5
it takes a lot of money for going to school, they have to wear uniforms and badges
this morning there were 2 boys, they didn't have uniforms so they didn't go to school
their teacher called to let us know, I asked them and they told me they didn't have uniforms
then I gave them money to buy the uniforms
I brought some clothes, I hope that will help, I will come back so can you tell me what do you need?
we have enough notebooks, we need daily use stuff
such as rice, cooking oil, salt, sugar, soya sauce, daily use stuff
they use 60kgs of rice per day