September 2021. Melbourne was dipping in and out of lockdown, making it’s way to become the world’s most locked-down city. I’d fallen back into the habit of spending hours scrolling on Instagram, looking at mainly cat videos and feminist memes. My beautician shared a video that left me uncomfortable and restless.
In video, the old man begs the shopkeeper to sell him one kilogram of rice. He’d been walking around all day, his family without food. She apologised and told him she had no rice to sell him. My heart curled into itself and a sense of utter helplessness washed over me.
Vietnamese cities were in lockdown with poorly defined restrictions. People were only allowed to leave their homes to buy essential foods… It wasn’t defined what is “essential”. This means one police officer can fine you for buying bread, saying rice is the only essential food. Another police officer can fine you for buying rice, saying bread is the only essential food. Shop keepers faced similar restrictions, making it impossible for them to do business without the risk of being completely shut down.
In the villages where my family are from, existing poverty was exasperated.
I knew I had to do something to help, even if it’s small. Growing up seeing and hearing the corruption in Vietnam, I don’t particularly trust Vietnamese officials and organisations to help the people. It’s so important to have someone you know and trust on the ground to feel truly secure about making donations. Several generations in my family had been doing charity work so thankfully for me, I had people I could trust to help the poor. I messaged my sister to translate with my uncle and see what we can do.
Only $15 to feed an entire village? Unbelievable! Upon further inspection, the $15 would only be enough to pay for a few KGs of rice… the villagers were only asking enough to not starve. I knew we could offer them more, especially since my uncle owns a grocery store and can deliver rice directly to the needy,
I made a post to Instagram, inviting anyone who wanted to pre-pay for some rice through my uncle’s store to do so. In less than 24 hours, we raised over 440kg of rice! In the next two weeks, the combination of my, my mum’s and my sister’s fundraising, we raised enough to pre-pay 2,100kg of rice. I focused all of the amount I fundraiser for my grandma’s village, Ap Nhat. My sister and mum sent their rice to different needy communities.
The impact of 2,100kg
In Ap Nhat, one of the common jobs peeling cashews. For one bag of rice, it would cost over a week’s worth of pay.
That week’s worth of pay can now be used to pay for children’s education, medicine or more nutritious food. It can be re-invested to their families.
The people impacted
Steph Lam | DEI Practitioner | Writer 