Local Saigon Charity Work

Before setting out on the Pharmacy/Medical Mission component of this journey, we decide to provide charity work to the locals in Saigon. Through our partnership with Nhat, who provides monthly charity work, we embark on a day of giving back. To start we meet in a remote alleyway arriving to a table and food supplies. We then get tasked with making over 250 Banh Mi (Vietnamese hoagies) and packing for distribution. I guess you never know what to expect during an international charity rotation. (cooking class was not a part of our teams initial training or a stated objective on the syllabus)!!! Once we made 266 Banh Mi, we traveled by Taxi to Benh Vien Ung Buou (Cancer Hospital of Saigon) and distributed sandwiches and water to the poor families who basically struggle to pay for medical bills for their sick family members and live either inside or outside of the hospital with very little access to proper food or conditions. Following food distribution, we changed hats to provide needed clean up services in a local neighborhood, cross intersecting with a railroad system. We exchanged our food making supplies for trash bags, rubber gloves and Tongs to pick up approximately 10 full bags of rubbish just discarded for moving trains etc....