VeT Beneficiaries

The following is an article on my trip back to Cat Lai to visit beneficiaries of VeT's project there.

December 9, 2009 – Beneificiary Visit - Narrative

On December 9, Vet VN Project Officer, Bich Ngoc Truong and VeT VN Communications Officer, Sharon Brown visited Cat Lai Ward where VeT has been involved in a six-year, two phase Life Conditions Amelioration Project For Low-Income Households in Cat Lai. The VeT representatives visited a few of the many beneficiaries of the infrastructure improvements and micro-loans provided through the Ward to learn how their lives have been affected by their participation in the project. Accompanied by Ms. Nguyễn Thị Hồng Loan, the project’s Executive Committee Treasurer, Ms. Ngoc and Ms. Sharon visited with eight project beneficiaries at their homes and places of business.

Our first stop was the home and small café of Executive Committee Secretary Mrs. Nguyễn Thị Hoa whose house sits along Alley 11, one of the alleys upgraded by VeT. Ms. Hoa explained that before the upgrades, the alley was covered with loose dirt which often invaded local houses and covered floors and future, requiring families to sweep up constantly to keep their homes clean. She also explained that when it rained, the alley would flood making it difficult for local people to travel to and from their homes. Now with the improvements, the homes and businesses along the alley are no longer troubled by a constant barrage of dirt, nor are their movements impeded when it rains. Both Mrs. Hoa and the customers of her café enjoy the benefits of the alley upgrade.

Our second stop was a the home of Chau Thanh Thuy, whose home lies along Sub-Alley 13, the second alley upgraded through the project. Also provided with a sewer/draining system as part of the alley upgrade, many of the homes along Sub-Alley 13 participated in VeT’s micro-credit program for housing upgrades which allowed them to connect their households to the main sewer line as well as to conduct upgrades to their personal property, including both cementing and raising the level of their front patios to improve drainage and building or improving walls separating their property from the alley. Mrs. Thuy was one of the beneficiaries who took advantage of the housing upgrading micro-loan and said that she was very happy both with the new alley and the upgrades to her home. She recalled how VeT had approached every family in the street to inform them of the project and to ask for their input on the alley upgrades. She also recalled how during the alley upgrades many of her neighbors assisted the workers by providing them with water to drink and sometimes even water to help mix the cement. She said that everyone was happy with VeT’s work and described VeT as an organization that makes people happy by helping low-income families improve their local alleys, and their homes and financial situations through micro-loans.

Along those same streets, we met with Nguyen Thi Thanh Tuyen, a beneficiary of VeT’s micro-credit program for income generation. Mrs. Tuyen was sitting in front of a tarp laid with vegetables outside of a neighbor’s house surrounded by neighbors and customers. She explained that before joining VeT’s micro-loan program for income generation, she had only a small amount of vegetables to sell each day and, to buy them, she had to borrow money at high interest rates of up to 30% from individual lenders. Now, she says, her wares consist of seafood, chicken and a wide variety of vegetables which she buys from a large market and brings back to her neighborhood to sell to her neighbors in a convenient location and only has to pay 1.5% in interest on her loan. She mentioned that her husband had also taken a small part of the loan to purchase handmade brooms which he sells in markets in central Saigon. Mrs. Tuyen learned of the program from Ms. Hoa, the project’s Executive Committee Accountant, and said that now she and her husband and her small son are more secure financially than they were before becoming involved in the project.

The next stop was a small drink stand along the side of a busy road where Ms. Duong Thi Minh Chau and her small daughter sat selling coconuts, coffee and other refreshments to passersby. Ms. Chau explained that she had never taken out a loan before becoming a beneficiary of VeT’s project and was therefore only able to sell the few coconuts that she was able to purchase each day. Now with the help of VeT, Ms. Chau is able to sell a more diverse range of products to a larger customer base and has no problem paying back the 57,500 VND per week that she owes on her 2 million VND micro-loan because of the money she earns each day. Of the 57,500 that Ms. Chau pays each week, 40,000 VND goes to the principal, 7,500 VND goes to interest and 10,000 goes into a savings account that beneficiaries are able to access once they have paid off their loan.

After leaving Ms. Chau and her daughter, we visited Mrs. Pham Thi Bich Lan and her adult daughter, Mrs. Thanh Lan Phuong, both beneficiaries of VeT’s micro-credit program for income generation. Adding to the diverse list of incoming generating activities undertaken by the beneficiaries, Mrs. Lan used her micro-loan to purchase more tables, chairs and food supplies for her small noodle stand, enabling her to serve a greater number of customers and increase her family’s income over the four years that she has participated in the project. Her daughter, Mrs. Phuong, uses the funds from her micro-loan to buys used and recyclable materials to sell to recycling companies and other companies that purchase used goods. She says that with the money provided by the micro-credit project, she and her husband are now able to save and to better provide for their two small children. Both Mrs. Lan and her daughter say that they feel lucky to be a part of VeT’s micro-credit project and that they feel that VeT stands out above the rest because of the fact that they provide loans to lower-income households and immigrants, something not done by other local organizations.

Our last stop was at the home of Mrs. Nguyen Thi Thanh and Mrs. Nguyen Hong Khoa, both living as temporary migrants in Cat Lai. Originally from provinces in the Mekong Delta, both Mrs. Thanh and Mrs. Khoa came with their families to Ho Chi Minh City, where even though they are unable to secure steady work, they are able to secure work often enough on a year-round basis to sustain their families, as opposed to their hometowns where work is often scarce. Both families utilize the funds from the micro-credit programs to supplement their incomes when they experience a lapse in employment and to provide for emergencies both for their families in HCMC and back in their home towns. Both women reported that the funds from the micro-loan program allow them to feel a little more secure during hard times which inevitably come around in the lives of the city’s migrants. When asked if they would change anything about the program, both women remarked that they wouldn’t change a thing and that they were grateful for the manageable amounts of the loans and of the low interest rates, both of which allow them to manage financially without going further into debt.

Overall, all of the beneficiaries seemed to be pleased with both the infrastructure improvements and the micro-loans, as well as VeT’s handling of the project. Each beneficiary had something positive to say about their lives since becoming involved with the project. When asked about VeT, they all broke into a smile and expressed their gratitude for the improvements that VeT has made possible in their lives. They were also all very aware of VeT’s role in the project and their mission in Vietnam.