Since its founding, Mai Tam House of Hope has provided shelter and lifesaving medicines within a controlled environment to women and children with HIV/AIDS. It has also helped reintegrate its clients into the community; placed HIV-positive children into schools from which they would usually be denied access; and provided the women it serves with income opportunities through its on-site sewing faci
lity and flower shop. It has achieved all of this even as its population has expanded exponentially. Father John, the director, also established a community HIV/AIDS clinic, pharmacy, education and counseling center with the support of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. The center’s services have also evolved to meet its clients’ changing needs: the center has also created a new ”Independent Living Program” for those children who now have reached early adulthood. Funding
Mai Tam House of Hope is a nongovernmental organization (NGO) that receives no funding from the Vietnamese government. However, since its founding, the center has received international recognition for its work, successfully generating grants and donations, as well as developing self-supporting income streams, over the past several years. Outside funding has included USAID/PEPFAR (President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief)), the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control, The Clinton Foundation, Hope for Tomorrow, San Jose Vietnamese Community (San Jose, California), Caritas Germany, PACTVietnam, Global Community Service Foundation, Knights of Columbus (Vancouver, Canada), St. Mary’s University (Slovenia), Fetzer Institute USA, as well as funds generated through the Mai Tam Project and this website from private citizens all over the world, including from the United States, Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Thailand, Canada, and Australia.
