Every Saturday, in an alleyway just off Doan Van Bo Street in District 4, Ho Chi Minh City, 46-year-old Ha Ngoc Lam and his friends spend the afternoon preparing porridge for hundreds of low-income residents.

For the past eight years, Lam and his group have spent their Saturdays cooking servings of porridge atop wood-fired stoves for patients at local hospitals, low-income neighbors, and the homeless.

“I chose porridge because it is suitable for many people, especially patients and the elderly. There are also other groups of volunteers who hand out rice-based meals from Monday to Friday, so the porridge I give away on Saturday is a change [for many of the people I help],” Lam explained.

To finance the meals, Lam uses money from his job leasing audio equipment as well as donations from helpful neighbors.

To ensure that the meals he gives out are both delicious and nutritious, Lam tops each portion with pork bought from a local abattoir and high-quality shrimp.

He takes great pride in the care he puts into cooking the porridge, using coal instead of gas to cook, all the while making sure the fire burns even and the pot is continuously stirred. Each batch is seasoned several times until the taste and smell are just right.

When the porridge is done, a group of women help divide it into small boxes and garnish each portion with chopped spring onions, ginger, and ground pepper.

Lam’s family owns an eatery, but when he began making his weekly batches of porridge, the family decided to move the eatery to a new location and give the space to him.

When he first began cooking porridge for those in need, he had few donors and could only afford to prepare a few dozen portions. Now, thanks to the help of friends and relatives who support his cause, he is able to make hundreds.  His friends not only help with the financial side of his charitable endeavor but they also provide a more literal helping hand.

"I receive significant assistance from my male friends because cooking is physically demanding. Stirring the porridge requires continuous effort for three hours. If the porridge is left unstirred and gets overcooked, it becomes unusable. Due to the boiling water, there are also splashes that can burn those doing the stirring," Lam explained.

Lam’s friends and neighbors are more than happy to help such a good cause.

"I sometimes feel exhausted after hours of stirring the porridge or even get burnt, but when I think of the smiles on the faces of the patients and the less fortunate, all of my fatigue seems to disappear. No matter how busy I am, I make an effort to assist Lam," said Quoc Hung, one of Lam's neighbors.

Ho Van Tai, a dweller in District 7, Ho Chi Minh City and a pilot for a local air carrier, is one of Lam’s faithful helpers.

“In 2021 when the COVID-19 pandemic was at its height, my job was suspended. That’s when I found out about Lam’s porridge kitchen and began helping,” he shared.

By 4:00 pm each Saturday, the 500 servings of free porridge are handed over to a group of volunteers to deliver to those in need, either on the streets or directly at their homes.

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