DFC Supports Poor Families w/ Children in Simacai Highland, Lao Cai, Vietnam.

For Vietnam, ethnic minorities make up 15% of Vietnam’s population but account for 70% of the extreme poor (measured by the national extreme poverty line). These minorities mostly live in the Vietnam North-west highland areas, close to the mountain borders of Vietnam and China. Over the past two decades of rapid growth in Vietnam, ethnic minorities have seen their living standards improve across the board, but their gains have lagged far behind those of the Kinh majority. Most ethnic families just do farming on rocky soil to have barely enough food for their families. They can't afford to send their children to schools, but rather have the underage children working on the fields in order to boot their chances for survival.

Donate For Children (DFC) has recently learned the struggles of these ethnic minorities via Youtube videos created by the local Youtubers, one of which was Vang Thi My who lives in the Simacai highland area. My has her own Youtube channel named "Em My TV" (as of today 10/17/2025, Em My TV videos has earned a total of over 21 million views. DFC Management Team reached out to My and asked her to provide assistance in supporting the local poor families with children. As a result, My was happily to join DFC as a local volunteer and officer.

With My's assistance in identifying the local poor families with children, DFC has developed a number of programs to support those in needs: 1/ Providing financial help to poor families to improve farming productivity via seeds, fertilizer, and equipment; 2/ Building a new home for a family of eight (parents & six children who live in their old, ready-to-fall, home; eight of them all sleep in the same bed); 3/ Providing school needs and some cash to the fifty poorest families with children to help the children starting the new school year.

For the program no. 3 mentioned above, CEO Hai Tran had planned to join the local volunteers in this event. Mr. Tran flew to Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi, then took almost a 6-hours trip by car.  Unfortunately, due to bad weather of heavy rain and mudslides on the way up to Simacai highland, Mr. Tran car was unable to reach the destination, and he had to return to Hanoi the same night.

Please click on the links in the photo or the title of this article for more pictures and videos of the event. You would experience the emotions, the joys, and the happy smiles of the parents and the children upon receiving the gifts.