Vo Van Kiet Families Fire Fund

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

At 3:15pm on December 1st, 2015, 8 homes along Vo Van Kiet Street burned to the ground (and 6 others heavily damaged) due to an electrical fault most likely caused by the city's power supply and now over one hundred people consisting of babies, young children, mothers, fathers, grandparents, and greatparents are homeless and literally living and sleeping with their salvaged belongings in the streets.

Please see this article for more details and additional photos.
http://www.thanhniennews.com/society/fire-breaks-out-in-ho-chi-minh-city-slum-54454.html

I personally know and am very close friends with many of the residents that were affected by the fire. I used to work at the restaurant adjacent to where the fires occured and know how hard these people work and struggle to support their families. Selling coffee, milk tea, noodles, water, and sodas along the river in downtown HCM - just doing what they can each day to get by. And now it is all gone. It breaks me heart seeing babies and grandparents that I would play and talk with daily during my breaks working at the restaurant  - now sleeping on unpadded tarps and wooden tables on the sidewalk in front of where their homes used to be.

Imagine working a full 10 hour day and you're still not able to bring home $10. This is the daily struggle in Vietnam where the average hourly wage for a worker is ~$1USD/hr.  Not enough money to save, and surely not enough to rebuild after a devastating loss like this. No one deserves to live and sleep in the streets after losing their homes.

All proceeds will be divided up and distributed amongst all families that have been affected by these awful fires to help provide for food, medicine, possible shelter, and/or anything else that these people may need as the government will most likely not be able to provide financial assistance until AFTER the New Year. (This has been confirmed as I have visited and spoke with the families directly)

I know everyone posts these fundme's about this or that reason but I want you to know that a bowl of pho soup here costs $1.30USD. A plate of rice with a side of fish and vegetables costs $1.15USD. These people were living there lives from day-to-day with very little - and now they have even less. Any and every donation matters and can help these people more than you could possibly imagine. Even 50 cents can provide a little happiness for maybe a baby brother and sister for at least one meal.

Make it count.