A  The Buddha of the Poor

More than 26,000 children now have bright (1) _____ faces after receiving free operations. About 173,000 poor people received free treatment to regain their vision, and nearly 3,400 deaf children were given hearing aids. These are part of the (2)  _______  of the Ho Chi Minh Association for Support of Poor Patients, launched and run by Mr. Nguyen Vinh Nghiep.

Mr Nghiep, the former Chairman of the People’s Committee of Ho Chi Minh City, retired in 1992, and (3) ______ his Association two years later. Together with his former colleagues, Mr Nghiep has (4) _____  billions of VND from individual (5)  _______  and organizations to support more than a million poor people nationwide through seven major (6) _____  programmes, such as “For the children’s smile”, “Bringing light to poor blind people and blind children from birth”, “Sound and Voice for Deaf and Dumb Children”, “Wheelchairs for people with disabilities and paralysed children”.

The “Free meals for patients and their relatives” programme has offered over 2.6 million free meals to poor people in 10 hospitals. Mr Nghiep said, “Helping one person to gain their (7)_______ means bringing happiness to him or herself, freeing two or three more people from (8) _____ of the patient, and more importantly, building (9) ________ for poor patients in society.”

In 2002, Mr Nghiep, (10) _______ “The Buddha of the Poor”, was given the national title of Labor Hero in the Renewal Process, and his Association received the title in 2005.

More than 26,000 children now have bright (1) _____ faces after receiving free operations.