asialife HCMC 1 - AsiaLIFE Magazine

A campaign to raise funds for a home for the elderly saw men ditching their razors
and growing out their facial hair. By Brett Davis. Photo by Huynh Ho Quang.
Growing facial hair to raise
money for a worthy cause
is not your usual charitable
activity. However, some brave
souls at RMIT University last
month took the plunge to bring
the ‘Movember’ campaign to
Vietnam.
The idea was originally
hatched several years ago in
Australia to raise awareness
and support for men’s health,
and now reaches almost every
corner of the globe. Participants
raise money through donations
and sponsorship for growing
a moustache (or ‘mo’) for the
month of November.
Some 20 men, all staff
members at RMIT University,
signed on to sport some lip hair.
Towards the end of the month,
ballot boxes with photos of guys
were placed around the campus
to collect donations and votes
for the ‘Best Mo’.
Ian Handsley, an RMIT Learning
Skills Advisor and one of the
organisers of the local campaign,
said around 20 million
VND had been raised.
He said some of the RMIT
students were initially a bit
perplexed at the idea of growing
a moustache for charity. “Once
they got it the students were
really cool. A lot of students
voted and donated, which was
awesome,” he said.
Because there was no official
Movember chapter in Vietnam,
the group decided to support
other charitable endeavours
rather than the usual men’s
health groups.
“We thought there were more
pressing needs [in Vietnam],
so we looked for something
smaller and more local,” Handsley
said.
With assistance from the
University’s community
engagement office, they chose
to support the Lam Quang
Pagoda rest home in District 8.
A handful of Buddhist nuns at
the pagoda care for almost 100
elderly women who have no
relatives.
RMIT Senior Lecturer Nhan
Nguyen said he was told the
rest home sometimes had to get
by on a food budget of as little
as 5,000 VND per person each
day.
“That was really the inspiration
for me to do something,”
he said.
Nguyen said many charities
supported children or the handicapped,
but the elderly were
sometimes overlooked because
they were traditionally taken
care of by family members.
The money raised by the Movember
effort will go towards
buying essentials for the rest
home such as food, beds and
mosquito nets.
There are also plans for some
small comforts for the residents.
Many of the women are bedridden
and there is little to do in
the way of entertainment.
“One day I was visiting the
home,” Nguyen explains,” and
this old lady said to me ‘Uncle,
please give us TV’.”
If you would like to assist the
Lam Quang Pagoda rest home
contact Nhan Nguyn at nhan.
nguyen@rmit.edu.vn.
42 asialife HCMC