Go where you need it

Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Youth Union Ngo Minh Hai (right) presents gifts to the family of Ms. Le Thi Hong (Son Ha commune, Bao Thang district, Lao Cai province) who received support to repair their house - Photo: C.TRIEU

Surely what the youth of Ho Chi Minh City bring is very small compared to the difficulties that people in the flooded areas have to endure. I just hope that everyone will be confident so that their lives can soon stabilize again.

Mr. NGO MINH HAI (Secretary of Ho Chi Minh City Youth Union)

It is said to be special because the team was quickly connected and all the "soldiers" were more or less familiar with volunteer activities. It is even more special when out of the 5 billion VND shared with the people from the contributions of many units and individuals, 2 billion VND was supported by Tuoi Tre newspaper readers.

Dream homes

As soon as they arrived in Lao Cai province, the team began surveying and drawing up plans for the new house of Mr. Hoang Van Toan's family in Bat Xat town (Bat Xat district). Secretary of Bat Xat District Youth Union Nguyen Xuan Hung said that this is a "sustainably poor" household.

Both Mr. Toan and his son are retarded. All the family burdens fall on his wife. The charity house the family is living in was built as a gift and is now even more dilapidated due to the floods. Although it was slow, when he heard the news of a new house being built, Mr. Toan kept asking: "Are they really building a new house for us?"

The neighbor who heard Mr. Toan boasting was also skeptical. "This house is really poor, so when I heard the news that they were going to build a new house, I was happy, let alone him. A house that doesn't leak is a dream, but in their situation, even if they worked their whole lives, they would only be able to fix the foundation" - the neighbor added.

When she received the news that the Ho Chi Minh City Youth Volunteer Team had come to re-roof her house, Ms. Le Thi Hong (39 years old, living in Son Ha commune, Bao Thang district) was stunned for a few minutes. Her husband was seriously ill, her children were still in school, and all her assets were just a house and a few machines and household electrical appliances, but they had been submerged by nearly 2m high floodwaters for a whole week.

Ms. Hong honestly said that seeing everything in disarray, she didn’t know where to start, so she planned to move her whole family to live with her grandmother because she didn’t have the money to fix it. In one day, the volunteers and local youths worked hard to clean up and re-roof the house. The scorching sun, the pungent smell of mud left behind after the flood, and the heavy work made everyone exhausted.

But hoping that the family would soon stabilize their lives, the whole group put in almost all their effort. "Luckily, everything was finished before sunset. After working hard all day, seeing the family gathered together made me feel so sorry, all the fatigue disappeared" - volunteer Le Xuan Sinh shared.

Ho Chi Minh City volunteers help people harvest rice in Chiem Hoa district (Tuyen Quang province) after the storm and flood - Photo: D.QUI

Help our people stabilize soon

The sun has risen, but the mountainous district of Chiem Hoa (Tuyen Quang province) is still facing many difficulties after the storm and flood. Although there were no casualties, the houses, rice and crops of the people were seriously affected. Many landslides have not been cleared yet, and in many places, rocks and soil still block the road.

21 volunteers from the team went to Tuyen Quang to personally deliver gifts, cash, harvest rice, repair houses, and even examine and give medicine to the people. Doctor Dang Quang Toan (Cho Ray Hospital) said that after the storm and flood, the first thing that will affect the living environment will be the people, which can easily lead to digestive diseases and infections.

"After the examinations, many people had symptoms of abdominal pain, diarrhea, and dermatitis. Patients with previous underlying diseases such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and bone and joint diseases also got worse. We gave careful advice combined with medication treatment," said Dr. Toan.

Mr. Nong Viet Quan (64 years old) had to come early in the morning to wait for his turn to be examined because his house is 4km away from the Binh Phu Commune Health Center (Chiem Hoa District). Mr. Quan said that Binh Phu is a remote commune, so the fact that doctors and volunteers came to support the recovery from the consequences of Typhoon Yagi touched the people. "You guys are from Ho Chi Minh City but came all the way to this area to help the people, we are very grateful. And everyone in the group worked very enthusiastically with the people" - Mr. Quan expressed.

With his teammates cleaning up the houses for the people, wiping his sweat, Mr. Doan Kim Thanh - Director of the Center for Youth Science and Technology Development, commander of the team in Tuyen Quang province - confided that most of the teammates did not have to do physical labor, but the emotion and spirit of having to support their fellow countrymen as quickly as possible, so everyone rolled up their sleeves and did it, not hesitating to do anything.

"Although the work was quite hard, everyone was happy and enthusiastic because it was a moment to share the joys and sorrows with their teammates and fellow countrymen," Thanh confided.

Thanks for the volunteer spirit

After two days of the Ho Chi Minh City Youth Volunteer Team visiting Tuyen Quang and Lao Cai provinces, Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Youth Union Ngo Minh Hai also visited and gave gifts to people in flooded areas in some areas of these two provinces. Mr. Hai said the damage and difficulties caused by Typhoon Yagi and the subsequent floods caused to the people were difficult to describe.

While kindly asking about the people, Mr. Ngo Minh Hai also respectfully thanked the volunteers who quickly represented the youth of Ho Chi Minh City to immediately set out with hundreds of tons of goods and necessities to share with the people in the flooded areas. On this occasion, Mr. Hai presented certificates to the volunteers who volunteered to be present on this special mission.

Love remains

Mr. Ma Van Chuong (63 years old, in Vinh Quang commune, Chiem Hoa district, Tuyen Quang province) said he was truly grateful to the young people who came from the city named after Uncle Ho. The flood completely collapsed the buffalo pen and his house next door was also flooded up to the roof, the walls collapsed, and furniture was swept away.

With the help of his friends to rebuild the buffalo pen and clean up the mess after the flood receded, Mr. Chuong was moved: "The family is very grateful for the affection and care of the young people of Ho Chi Minh City when they came to inspect, enthusiastically supported, and then took the effort to help clean up and rebuild the house."

A little bit of Southern warmth has traveled thousands of kilometers to share and hold hands with our compatriots in such a difficult time and will remain forever.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/den-ngay-noi-ba-con-dang-can-20240924100128108.htm