Sponsor a Child in Chu Hai, Vietnam: Education on Vietnam's Southern Coast

In the coastal commune of Chu Hai, in Vietnam’s Ba Rịa–Vung Tau province, tourism has brought growth, but not to everyone. Behind the beaches and the busy towns, many families still live in real hardship. Your sponsorship can keep one of their children in school and open the door to a very different future.

Where is Chu Hai, and what is life like there?

Ba Rịa–Vung Tau is a province in southern Vietnam with a tropical monsoon climate and two alternating seasons: the rainy season from May to October, and the dry season from November to April. Around 97% of the population are Kinh, Vietnam’s majority ethnic group. The province sits very close to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) and benefits from its economic growth.

Its two main towns are Ba Rịa and Vung Tau. Ba Rịa is a coastal town, separated from Vung Tau by the Co May Bridge. Vung Tau is known in particular for the extraction, refining, and export of oil, both abroad and for distribution within the country.

The regional economy rests largely on tourism as Vietnamese people from all over the country come to spend a few days by the sea. But this development has not erased the significant gaps in wealth that remain, which is exactly why Children of the Mekong’s work here matters.

Sr Agata Nguyễn Thị Diem Thúy

Who runs the programme on the ground?

Sister Agata Nguyen Thi Diem Thuy, born in 1979, is a nun and a member of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd. Her work mainly involves distributing your sponsorship funds, monitoring the sponsored children’s progress at school, visiting their families, and organising the correspondence between you and your sponsored child.

She knows the sponsored children, their families, and the daily obstacles they face intimately. Cheerful and sociable by nature, she has been working with Children of the Mekong since September 2022. In her work she is supported day to day by two sisters from her community, together they form a complementary, dynamic, and highly effective team, whose commitment, honesty, and dedication we can count on completely. Driven by goodwill, they give their time to a cause we all share: the education of the poorest children.

Who are the families the programme supports?

The people of Tan Hai work across a range of sectors: farming (maize, rice, and paperbark trees), market gardening, growing ornamental plants and flowers, and jobs such as driving, warehouse work, mechanics, electrical work, industrial processing, and catering. Most are manual workers, farmers, or self-employed.

The average household income is around 6,000,000 VND per month (roughly US$235). Families generally have two or three children, and the main religions practised are Catholicism and Buddhism.

Children can access primary and secondary education locally. To go on to university, they travel to nearby towns, notably Ba Rịa and Saigon.

Sponsor a child

chu hai family

What does your sponsorship make possible?

The aim of our long-term programmes is simple: to give disadvantaged children access to education, and to guide them, through schooling and vocational training, towards a better future in which they can, in turn, support their families. More specifically, your sponsorship does several things.

It keeps children in school. When a child is sponsored, the whole family is involved. Parents agree to let their child study because the income the family loses (the child can no longer help with farm work) is partly offset by the sponsorship. This takes constant effort from our local coordinators, who work to convince families of the long-term importance of education.

It helps the whole family. Your sponsorship covers school fees, supplies, and extra tuition, and can help several children from the same family attend school. Any surplus is used by the coordinator to create the best possible conditions for learning (food, home repairs, medical costs) all the things that quietly shape a child’s success at school.

It offers emotional support and guidance. A sponsored child is a child supported for the long term. Our coordinators stand alongside the family, follow the child’s progress, and help them shape a plan for the future, whatever their ambitions. Their work also helps the wider community understand the importance of education as a path into today’s world.

How can you sponsor a child in Chu Hai?

Your sponsorship is one of the best ways to help young Vietnamese people escape precarious circumstances, financially and personally, by motivating and encouraging them to excel. By going to school each day, a sponsored child broadens their horizons, grows in confidence, and gains the chance to build the future they imagine for themselves.

A huge thank you for your generosity, which allows these children to enjoy a stress-free education in decent conditions.

The child we care for today will care for their country tomorrow.

Sponsor a child in Chu Hai