Kim Hoa Huynh

Hoa Huynh was born in Sa Dec, a town near the Mekong River in Vietnam, on July 19, 1945. After a nine-year courtship, she married Phuoc Van Huynh on July 27, 1972. Phuoc, a Mechanical Engineer who funded his education through academic scholarships, eventually became a ranking officer in the South Vietnamese military during the Vietnam War. In 1973, Hoa and Phuoc had their first child, Chau Quan Huynh, followed by a daughter, Kim Phuong Huynh, in 1974. Amidst the turmoil of the Vietnam War, Hoa fled the country with her two young children and only the belongings she could carry on her body, eventually joining her husband in the United States after a Catholic family sponsored him there.

However, the journey to the US was treacherous - the small boat Hoa traveled in was only intended for ten people but ended up being packed with 50-100 people. The boat’s weight caused the boat to collapse, leaving them shipwrecked on the island of Bidong, Malaysia. With limited belongings, Hoa had to pawn her wedding dowry to buy cooking supplies - a pair of earrings, a necklace, and a jade bracelet - but she used the means she had to survive with her two small children. She soon started selling fried bananas to local immigrants who were awaiting US sponsorships. As her business took off, she saved enough money to transition to selling jewelry and her banana dessert. Eventually, she was able to purchase supplies needed to build a decent hut for herself and her family and finally earned enough money to buy back her wedding dowry and take care of her children.

After a year of separation,  Hoa and Phuoc were reunited in the United States on May 9, 1979. As newly-arrived immigrants to the US with limited English proficiency, both set out to create their own American dream: Hoa found work as a seamstress, while Phuoc worked as a foreman at NASCO in San Diego, California.

Through their hard work and encouragement of their children’s education, their son Chau became a doctor, and their daughter became an educator and advocated for children and seniors. In April 2012, Phuoc Huynh passed away due to complications related to his diabetes. In October 2012, Hoa devoted her life to becoming a Buddhist nun. She joined the Zen monastery Chan Giac under Master Thich Thanh Tu in Garden Grove.

Hoa now devotes her time to connecting with others to support them in learning the ways of Zen Buddhism. She was able to travel back to her homeland a few times to fundraise to help develop monasteries in smaller rural regions and support nuns and monks in the area to get the materials and manpower needed for construction. In December 2022, in collaboration with others, she developed the Tree of Hope Foundation, which aims to blend Zen Buddhism's compassion with modern medical technologies to alleviate the suffering of those with mental illnesses. 

The foundation’s vision is to educate others through outreach to help alleviate the suffering of mental illnesses and to bring a sense of balance to one’s mind and daily life. Its goal is to support and create policies for screening mental illness as part of preventative care coverage, often by collaborating with policymakers. One of ToH's strategies is collaborating with policymakers, stakeholders, and healthcare professionals who value individual mental health as one of the basic human needs and rights.