Mai Tam House of Hope
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
The Mai Tam House of Hope is a home and center for HIV/AIDS positive widows, mothers, and children that provides shelter, medicine, medical care, education, and referrals for its residents and the many walk-ins it receives in need of support. The children living at Mai Tam are both infected and affected by HIV/AIDS--some are HIV positive or have AIDS and some are the children or orphans of persons with HIV/AIDS.
When Mai Tam was established in 2005, the founders hoped to assist 100 affected women and children, but today Mai Tam--the first and still the only facility of its kind in Ho Chi Minh City--supports more than 500 women and children in need.
Improving Lives
Because of the pervasive stigma of AIDS in Vietnam, many people with HIV/AIDS cannot find work. Mai Tam provides its residents with the opportunity to make a modest income, housing a workshop where many sew clothing,-- diapers, children's clothes, now wedding dresses, and the cloth masks that protect Ho Chi Minh City’s many scooter drivers from the dusty city roads.
Despite the frequent ostracism of those with HIV/AIDS in Vietnam, Mai Tam has also been successful in placing 21 resident children in local kindergartens and primary schools.
In December 2009 the residents moved into a brand new home that includes classrooms where the children receive daily tutoring and an infirmary where the residents receive medication. Additional facilities have been added since: a home for widowed mothers and their HIV/AIDS children, which includes the dress making center; a staffed villa for those residents transiting into early adulthood. This "independant living program" was funded in great part by a grant from Slovenia.; a flower shop in the city for income generation; and a client walk-in medical clinic for exams, medicines, health education and consultations. This center was funded in great part by The Centers for Disease Control an Prevention (CDC , Atlanta , Georgia, USA)
Mai Tam also has an additional site, a hospice for terminally ill AIDS patients. So far the Center has received funds to care for only 14 patients under this initiative.
Financing
Mai Tam supports its activities through donations from individuals, self-financing, and grants, including a PEPFAR grant from the United States government for community outreach programs in HIV/AIDS prevention. Mai Tam receives no support from the government of Vietnam.
Mai Tam is currently seeking funding to provide the following services for its residents:
- HIV/AIDS medicines, estimated at US$1.00 per child/day and US$1.50 per mother/day-
- Food at US$0.75 per resident/day
- Hospital fees
- Housing Fees
- Education fees
- Staff salaries
For information on making a tax-deductible donation to support the Mai Tam House of Hope, please follow the "Contact Us" link to the left.
Last updated March 11 , 2012.
Mai Tam 
