The Buddhist Sangha of the Mekong Delta province of Soc Trang held its 8 th Congress for the 2012-2017 tenure on Mar. 5 and 6.

Over 700 delegates, local Buddhist monks, nuns and followers, participated in the congress in the presence of Most Venerable Thich Giac Toan, Vice President of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha’s Executive Council.

They elected the provincial Buddhist Sangha’s Executive Board and Patronage Board. Most Venerable Duong Nhon was re-elected as Head of the Executive Board.

In the 2012-2017 tenure, the provincial Buddhist Sangha will continue to boost solidarity among local Buddhist monks, nuns and followers, strengthen organisation and mobilise monks, nuns and followers to follow the Party and State’s policies as well as cultural and social movements in the locality and the country.

Soc Trang province is home to nearly 2,000 Buddhist monks and nuns, who are practising religions at over 180,000 pagodas and places of worship.

Most of those pagodas and places of worship have charitable kitchens and are willing to take care of orphans and elderly people. They also host free healthcare checks-up and provide medicines to poor people.

In the past tenure, the provincial Buddhist Sangha raised over 115 billion VND to build gift houses and over 35 billion VND for other charitable activities./.