Early Mid-Autumn Festival on the outpost island

Mai Le Bao Ngoc with a sketch of Long Bien bridge standing alone in the flood and images of police and soldiers helping people in danger - Photo: BD

After three hours of marching, Coast Guard ship 8002 not only carried carefully packaged gifts but also experts, doctors, and specialized equipment to examine children and fishermen on the island.

Happy day on the island

Early the next morning, the yard of the Military-Civilian Medical Center on Ly Son Island was packed with people. In addition to elderly patients, many students in uniforms with medical records in hand lined up waiting for their turn to see a military doctor for a health check.

Not far away, at Cau Cave - a popular tourist destination on Ly Son Island - dozens of students, along with the coast guard, border guards, and some journalists from the Military Radio and Television Center participated in a painting contest. With a self-selected theme, one student drew an image of Long Bien Bridge (Hanoi) standing in the middle of raging waters during storm No. 3, which moved many people.

Mai Le Bao Ngoc - class 5C, An Hai Primary School, the author of the painting - said he could not help but be moved when seeing people from many northern provinces wading through the storm. He remembered the image of Long Bien bridge standing alone in the flood, so he sketched the bridge along with the image of police and soldiers helping people in danger.

"I hope everyone can safely overcome difficulties. I dream of becoming a member of the rescue team so that I can help people in need in the future," Ngoc said.

On the night of September 12, thousands of adults and children gathered at the central square of Ly Son island district to attend the program "Autumn Moon on the Border". There was much laughter throughout the more than two hours of the program. Units presented 80 bicycles and 1,000 gifts including moon cakes, school supplies, and toys to children at the festival.

Surprise gifts

Mid-Autumn Festival is not only about candy, lion dance, lantern procession or magic show but also many scholarships for Ly Son students who overcome difficulties to succeed. Colonel Pham Van Tu, Deputy Director of the Military Radio and Television Center, said that the program "Autumn Moon on the Border" hopes to connect kind hearts to help children in remote islands and border areas have a complete and warm Mid-Autumn Festival.

"Bringing Mid-Autumn Festival to the island is the sentiment of the mainland sharing the difficulties of the remote islands. Through that, it encourages students to strive to study hard, create a sustainable future, and contribute to the common cause of building and protecting the Fatherland" - Colonel Tu said.

The family of Le Hoang Phuc (class 12A1, Ly Son High School) is very poor. His parents are often sick but they have to work hard to grow garlic. Phuc's story reached the soldiers and was thoroughly investigated. On the occasion of the Mid-Autumn Festival, a train from the mainland to visit the island stopped by Phuc's house and gave him a 160 million VND scholarship sponsored by Hung Vuong University (HCMC), which is also the tuition fee for his four years of university at this school.

In addition to Phuc, his schoolmate Le Thi Hong (class 11A1) also received a scholarship worth the same amount. Hong also received an additional living allowance of 24 million VND from the Warm Love Volunteer Club.

The program to welcome the Mid-Autumn Festival early on Ly Son Island was assigned by the General Department of Politics of the Vietnam People's Army to the Army Radio and Television Center, the Military Medical Department, the Population - Family and Children Committee (Ministry of National Defense), the Military Region 5 Command, the Border Guard Command, the Vietnam Coast Guard Command, Military Hospital 354 in coordination with local authorities to organize from September 10 to 12.

Ly Son Island currently has more than 4,700 households. Of these, about 60% live on the sea, 30% live on agriculture (mainly growing onions, garlic, corn) and 10% work in other industries. Statistics show that more than 23% of households here are poor and near-poor.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/trung-thu-som-noi-dao-tien-tieu-20240915140050129.htm