Folk culture of sea and island area discussed

The Feast and Commemoration Festival for Hoang Sa (Paracel Islands) Soldiers is held annually in the central province of Quang Ngai.

As many as 38 scientists throughout the country analysed issues concerning the ecology, history and folk culture of people living in the coastal region and on islands - to promote sea tourism and to confirm Việt Nam’s sovereignty over its territory and waters - at a workshop held yesterday in the central city of Quảng Ngãi.

Nguyễn Đăng Vũ, director of local Department for Culture, Sports and Tourism, said that for the past 10 years the province has been one of the leading localities in the country in developing sea and island economics and preserving sea folk culture heritage - including hosting the “Lễ Khao Lề Thế Lính Hoàng Sa” (Feast and Commemoration Festival for Hoàng Sa Soldiers) every third lunar month.

The province has also hosted various national-level workshops on sea and islands, which shows local authorities’ efforts in preserving and developing local sea and islands culture, he said.

Researchers addressing the workshop focused on highlighting local residents’ working processes for thousands of years, which created a diverse folk culture heritage. Local worship and art have much in common with other localities in the central region and the whole country. Quảng Ngãi also has special characteristic folk legends, folk songs and customs.

Đặng Ngọc Dũng, vice chairman of Quảng Ngãi People’s Community, noted that generations of local people have fished, grown sea products and traded with foreigners for thousands of years.

During the workshop yesterday, Việt Nam Folk Literature and Arts awarded the title of "Folk Artist" to four locals.

Short film contest focuses on responsible drinking

The Uống Có Trách Nhiệm (7 Film Fest – Responsible Drinking) contest is accepting films from Vietnamese aged 18 and over in the categories of directing and screenplay writing.

The National Committee for Traffic Safety organised the contest to raise awareness about drunk driving. It aims to discover talented filmmakers for the film industry.

In August, the organiser will announce the seven best directors and seven best screenwriters, who will be paired into seven groups of two consisting of a director and screenwriter.

They will learn about filmmaking from talented directors, and then make their own short films about responsible drinking.

All of the films will be screened for the public at local cinemas, including CGV, Galaxy and BHD, and on social networks like YouTube, in September.

The organiser will choose the winner based on 40 per cent of audience votes and 60 per cent of votes of the judges.

The awards ceremony will be held in late October in HCM City.

The contest’s production manager is a Vietnamese–American director Charlie Nguyễn, who is popular among Vietnamese audiences for his action and comedy films, such as Dòng Máu Anh Hùng (The Rebel), Để Mai Tính (Fool for Love), and Cưới Ngay Kẻo Lỡ (Love Puzzle), and a newly released rock movie Fan Cuồng (Fanatic).

The 7 Film Fest was first held last year, attracting 125 filmmakers who submitted 80 screenplays and 30 films.

Participants can register by July 30 at www.7filmfest.com and submit works at info@7filmfest.com or at the office at 10B Nguyễn Thị Minh Khai Street in District 1.

VN lawyer sells her paintings to raise money for charity

Amanda Huỳnh, a Vietnamese lawyer working in France, sold three of her 40 paintings on Thursday for US$9,000, half of which will be contributed to poor students through her Amanda Foundation.   

The female lawyer, writer and painter also introduced her book Lam, which features several of her stories together with her paintings, in an exhibition organised in HCM City.

The work features stories about her life in France.

Amanda Huỳnh was born in Nha Trang and graduated from the HCM City University of Law in 2005.

One year after, she studied at the Capitole I University in Toulouse and later received her Ph.D degree in economic law in 2010 at the same school. She became a lawyer in 2011.

With her love for art, she has produced 1,000 works of various types and materials.

In 2013, she was named Young Talent of Art 3F in Europe. Her artworks are displayed in several exhibitions and galleries in France and Dubai. —

Tele-medicine helps promote remote health-care assistance

The health department in northern Quang Ninh Province has deployed a tele-health network extending critical healthcare services to rural and remote communities and increase remote connections between doctors and patients.

With the aid of Polycom video collaboration technology, including room-based and mobile solutions, the province's Department of Health provides consultations and follow-up care for patients hundreds of kilometres away, and improved training and collaboration for doctors in remote areas.

Since introducing the tele-health network, 24 hospitals and community health-care centres across the province now have real-time, face-to-face connectivity with doctors and medical staff, serving larger numbers of patients and ensuring ongoing training for staff productively.

"The tele-health network has completely changed our levels of service to communities in the province and reduced the workload pressures on our clinical staff," Vu Xuan Dien, director of the Department of Health, said.

"As an example, for diagnosis of more difficult medical cases, patients had to be transferred across large distances from regional hospitals to either the Bach Mai or Viet Duc central hospitals. What tele-health has done is provided us with that vital link to rapidly administer patient care and diagnose early symptoms," he said.

He added that where health directives and advisories had to be issued immediately, about 300 employees can now dial into a video conference so knowledge is rapidly transferred. This is especially crucial in managing natural disasters such as floods as well as outbreak of diseases. Information, procedures and protocols can be shared and communicated more efficiently and effectively to ensure the right medical support is provided to the affected areas.

In addition, the leadership team no longer has to travel long distances to join important meetings, saving at least 50 per cent on costs and three to four hours per meeting.

Video collaboration has also reduced the burden on central hospitals in treating referral and emergency patients. By linking medical experts in Viet Nam and overseas through video collaboration, and improving coordination among central, provincial and district hospitals, remote populations have access to specialist medical services like never before.

"In 2015, we held 32 online conference calls involving 7,000 staff in 19 meetings for work-in progress updates and guidelines on the management of outbreak control and prevention. That is about 300 people per meeting on average, and 13 online professional training sessions for over 1,000 staff," he said.

"In addition, operating rooms in 10 hospitals have also served for remote consultation, surgery and medical examination, and treatment to our health-care centres.  The Quang Ninh Department of Health is proud to have embarked on this tele-health program in Viet Nam to continue serving our communities and employees better," he said.

Da Nang keen to become major fishing centre

The central city of Da Nang will be developed as one of the six fishing centres across the country, as part of the Master plan on fisheries development to 2020 with a vision towards 2030.

The move aims to serve the logistical demands of the city as well as the regional provinces, contributing to the marine economic development of the central region.

According to Nguyen Do Tam, Deputy Director of the municipal Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the centre will include fishing ports and well-equipped logistics facilities.

They are expected to create impetuses for the restructure and development of the fishery sector, especially the off-shore fishing operation, in a modern way, thus raising the values of farmed and fished fish in the city as well as nationwide, Tam said.

The sector will continue implementing the Government and local policies and mechanisms to provide support to fishermen in building well-equipped fishing vessels with a capacity of at least 400 CV, thus enhancing the efficiency of offshore fishing and product quality and value.

Investment will be made to upgrade the Quang Tho fishing port to a modern and effective fishery centre, with the focus on environment protection and food safety.

Some 20 billion VND (900,000 USD) will be allocated to help fishermen replace their small, near-coast fishing boats with offshore-fishing vessels.

Vice Chairman of the Son Tra district People’s Committee Nguyen Thanh Nam highlighted the contribution of fisheries, saying that the sector has helped the district lead the city in socio-economic development.

Hanoi invests $7.2 million to improve population quality

More than 160 billion VND (7.2 million USD) will be invested in a project to improve population quality between 2016 and 2020 in the city.

The project, which was approved by the People’s Committee, will be carried out across 30 districts and 584 communes and towns of the city in an attempt to help at least 80 percent of local expectant women receive prenatal screenings.

Eighty-five percent of infants will be provided newborn screenings to find defects and 50 percent of newborns will also receive screenings for detecting innate defects related to heart disease. The project will also focus on screening, early detection and intervention of birth defects and disorders of transformation or genetic abnormalities during pregnancy and after birth in order to reduce birth defects and improve the city’s population quality.

Under the project, 90 percent of local pregnant women would have access to professional advice on the issue. The fund would be used to raise public awareness of the importance of prenatal and newborn screenings and further training for medical officials and staff.

Local hospitals and health centres will be provided more equipment to support pre-birth screening, newborn and heart defects.

It will also provide hearing screenings for babies aged 0-60 months and Thalassemia (a blood disorder) tests for primary and secondary school students in disadvantaged districts.

Hanoi accelerates works on wastewater treatment plants

Hanoi is speeding up the construction of the Cau Nga wastewater treatment plant in Hoai Duc district, which will treat wastewater discharged from the craft villages in the communes of Duong Lieu, Cat Que and Minh Khai.

Part of the “Master Plan for Environmental Protection of Nhue - Day River Basin by 2020” , the plant is a model of collaboration mechanism between the central government and localities in urban environmental pollution treatment.

Works on the plant began in November 2015 in an area of 9,397 square metres. Currently, the project is on an adjustment phase to raise its capacity from 13,500 cubic metres per day to 20,000 cubic metres per day.

The plant is expected to be operating on the occasion of the city’s Liberation Day (October 10), according to representatives from the municipal Department of Natural Resources and Environment.

Aside from the Cau Nga project, Hoai Duc district is implementing two other waste water plants, namely Son Dong with capacity of 8,000 cubic metres per day and Van Canh with capacity of 4,000 cubic metres per day.

Hanoi has focused on investing in waste water and solid waste treatment plants in the suburban areas. Currently, all of facilities lying on the Nhue - Day River Basin are certified to completely treat environmental pollution.

The city strives to synchronically construct separate rain water drainage and waste water systems by 2020.

Family doctor model to reach more cities, provinces

The Ministry of Health plans to expand the family doctor model to 80 per cent of provinces and cities nationwide by 2020, participants heard at an online conference yesterday.

"Priority will be given to establishing the family doctor model at the grass-roots level, including in commune health clinics offering family medicine, private family-doctor clinics and family-doctor clinics operating under State-owned general hospitals," Health Minister Nguyễn Thị Kim Tiến said at the event.

“The model will provide continuous basic healthcare services to families, individuals and the community in an effort to improve the quality of primary healthcare and to reduce hospital congestion,” Tiến said.

She said the model had faced several challenges due to a shortage of funding sources and human resources specialised in family medicine. There are still only a few private family-doctor clinics available as the model has not attracted investment from the private sector.

Many people still do not know much about the model and the role of a family doctor in providing primary healthcare for the community.

Speaking at the event, Deputy Prime Minister Vũ Đức Đam said the health sector should strengthen the capacity of primary healthcare, including health exams, treatment, consultations and preventive medicine, at health clinics in mountainous, remote, border and island areas.

Đam also asked the health ministry to develop the healthcare system at the grass-roots level along with the family doctor model and propose financial resources and priorities for the expansion of the country’s grass-roots healthcare system.

At the event, participants agreed that the family doctor model should be integrated with the country’s 14,000 commune health clinic system.

The health sector suggested that provinces and cities should pay more attention and call for further investment in expanding the family doctor model based on their existing commune health clinic system.

Provincial health departments have been requested to study the status of commune health clinics and local demand to develop a strategy for expanding the model in their localities.

Medical universities have also been asked to increase the number of training courses offered on family-doctor medicine. The community should have greater awareness of the family doctor model and its benefits to encourage people to use the services of family doctors.  

Statistics from the health ministry showed that 336 family-doctor clinics, including six private clinics, have been established in six provinces and cities nation-wide by June 2016. They provide basic healthcare services, including services covered by the health insurance fund.

Three years after rolling out the family doctor plan, family-doctor clinics have shown remarkable results in providing services related to health exams and treatment, rehabilitation and patient management for people and families in the community.

Some clinics, such as the Thành Công Private Clinic and the Family Doctor Clinic at the District 2 Hospital in HCM City, have received positive feedback from patients and health managers in the application of e-medical records and clinic management software and the regular provision of online consultations.

Quang Nam promotes sustainable exploitation of terrestrial crabs

Terrestrial crabs (Gecarciudea Lalandii) on Cham Island, in central Quang Nam province has been saved from the brink of extinction thanks to the efforts by a group in charge of protecting and managing crab exploitation since 2013.

The 36-member group works under the supervision of relevant authorities. Members of the group are allowed to catch some 50 crabs with large shells measuring 7 centimetres or more every month. The crabs are then labeled with a specific stamp before they are sold to the customers. Strict punishment will be handed out to any restaurant consuming crabs without the stamp.

From the outset of this year, roughly 3,000 terrestrial crabs with quality stamps have been sold in the market.

Harvest time for the crustaceans takes place from the first month to the seventh month of the lunar calendar. Collection during their breeding season is forbidden.

Previously, local fishermen could catch up to tens of kilogrammes of terrestrial crabs a night, however, each kilogram was selling at a low price, according to Tran Cong, head of the group.

Tourism development on the island coupled with increasing demand for terrestrial crab have driven up its price, he noted, adding that each kilogram is now sold for 1 million VND 44.8 USD)-1.8 million VND (80.7 USD).

In the past, thanks to the steady income brought about by the crabs, crab-catching was once prolific among local residents, resulting in a drastic fall in the crab population.

Le Vinh Thuan, deputy director of the Management Board of Cham Island’s Marine Protected Area, said that the group has made great contributions to protecting the terrestrial crabs, helping maintain biodiversity in Cham Island’s world biosphere reserve.

Terrestrial crabs are dark in colour and have long legs and short pincers. The crustacean is nocturnal and spends most of the day hiding in burrows, which are 400 metres above sea level.

Hà Nội to crack down on dyke violations

The Hà Nội People’s Committee has instructed the city’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to deal with dyke violations strictly.

The order followed a Water Resource Directorate (WRD) report which cited widespread dyke violations in the capital city.

There were 506 such violations since the beginning of last year. Only 45 of those cases have been resolved.

Most of the dyke violations involved the construction of houses and workshops, illegal sand exploitation and storage of building materials, and overloaded vehicles travelling on dykes.

The violations occurred primarily on the Hồng and Đáy Rivers in the Tây Hồ, Long Biên, Quốc Oai and Ứng Hòa Districts.

In the latest incident, the authorities of Long Biên District asked Nắng Sông Hồng Joint Stock Company to stop its activities on the banks of the Red River for violating the city’s flood irrigation corridor rules.

The company was also ordered to demolish all illegal construction and had to pay an administrative fine levied by the city’s dyke management agency in 2012. However, they ignored the 2012 warning and turned the leased land into a recreation and cuisine centre, Đời sống & Pháp luật (Life& Law) newspaper reported.

Punishment currently isn’t strict enough to prevent dyke violations from continuing, according to the Water Resource Directorate.

The Directorate called on relevant agencies and local authorities to take drastic measures to improve the situation because violations reduce dyke effectiveness during the rainy season.

Dong Nai seeks regional traffic link development

The southern province of Dong Nai has proposed the Government, the Ministry of Transport and other relevant bodies develop numerous regional transport links.

Vice Chairman of the Dong Nai People’s Committee Tran Van Vinh highlighted the geographic position of the province as a gateway to Ho Chi Minh City and the southern economic hub, saying that the proposals aim to serve and ensure safety in transportation of goods and passengers.

The province proposes that the Government extends the Ben Thanh – Suoi Tien metro line in Ho Chi Minh City by 4.7 km to the Vung Tau crossroads in Bien Hoa City, that has a population of over 1 million people and houses industrial zones, according to Vinh.

The extension will facilitate local residents’ daily travel between Bien Hoa and Ho Chi Minh City, thus reducing traffic jams at the gateway to Ho Chi Minh City, Vinh said.

In a recent working session with Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung, the province proposed the Government upgrade the section of National Road 1 through Dong Nai to four lanes.

It called for investment to build a 6.2km bypass of the National Road 1 section through Long Khanh commune.

The locality also called on the Government to accelerate the implementation of the projects connecting to Long Thanh international airport.

They include Dau Giay – Phan Thiet highway, Bien Hoa – Vung Tau highway, Ho Chi Minh City belt road 3 section and the Thu Thiem – Long Thanh airport urban railway.

Mekong Delta region’s master plan to be reviewed

A master plan and development scenarios for the Mekong Delta region will be reviewed to suit the integration trend and adapt to climate change, stated Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue during a conference on July 12, as part of the ongoing 9th Mekong Delta Economic Development Forum (MDEC) in Hau Giang province.

The Deputy PM, who is also head of the Steering Committee for the Southwestern Region, said that the move aims to create a closer regional connection in socio-economic infrastructure and response to climate change.

He asked sectors and scientists to seek sustainable growth mechanisms for the Mekong Delta region, with practical, accurate and specific studies on their impacts on a number of farm products in the region amidst integration and climate change conditions.

According to Nguyen Quoc Viet, deputy head of the committee, Vietnam’s international integration creates both opportunities and challenges to the region.

Along with climate change, sea level rise, saltwater intrusion and a number of emerging problems have pressured the region during its integration, he held.

He emphasised the need for serious and comprehensive assessment of the region’s capacity in integrating, so as to design active plans that can grasp chances and overcome challenges to boost rapid and sustainable growth.

To this end, the region should deal with a series of problems, including the restructuring of agriculture towards modernisation and large-scale production by applying advanced technology to raise productivity, quality and competitiveness.

Lu Van Hung, Chairman of the Hau Giang People’s Committee, expressed his hope that more favourable conditions will be created to help investors study investment policies and key projects of regional localities.

The conference, themed: “Mekong Delta – Active Integration and Sustainable Development,” is a chance for foreign and domestic businesses to meet and set up business partnerships. It also gives opportunities to management officials, scientists and investors to discuss measures to remove obstacles for the region’s development and integration.

The Mekong Delta comprises Can Tho city and 12 provinces – Long An, Dong Thap, Tien Giang, Vinh Long, Tra Vinh, Ben Tre, An Giang, Hau Giang, Soc Trang, Bac Lieu, Ca Mau and Kien Giang.

HCM City to keep overloaded vehicles off 3 bridges

The HCM City Department of Transport on Monday set up weighstations at three bridges to deter overloaded vehicles from crossing them.

Situated on either side of Giồng Ông Tố and Kỳ Hà 1 bridges in District 2 and Ông Lớn Bridge in District 7, they work round-the-clock, automatically detecting overloaded vehicles and transmitting the data to computers.

Overloaded trucks will be stopped for weighing again and issued with fines.

An official at the Transport Inspection Team No.6 responsible for Ông Lớn Bridge said the weighstation would help effectively monitor overloaded vehicles.

The Bạc Liêu Province People’s Committee has approved a plan to restructure the province’s fisheries sector, aiming to increase the average annual income in the fisheries sector to VNĐ92.3 million (US$4,100) per person by 2020, up 1.4 times against last year.

Black-tiger shrimp, white-legged shrimp and sea crabs are the province’s key aquatic species.

The province plans to breed blue-legged spawn, dragon fish, marble goby, clams, oysters and other aquatic species.

Models of farming aquatic species meeting global and Vietnamese Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) standards will be expanded.

Under the plan, the Mekong Delta province will have an annual aquaculture output of 370,000 tonnes, including 147,000 tonnes of shrimp by 2020.

The area devoted to breeding brackish-water shrimp will increase from 127,450 ha last year to more than 131,750 by 2020.

The plan also targets to increase the number of fishing boats from 1,264 last year to 1,450 fishing boats, including 650 off-shore fishing boats, by 2020.

Bạc Liêu will gradually reduce catching fish near shore and develop off-shore fishing, targeting a catch of 120,000 tonnes of fish and other aquatic species by 2020.

The province plans to develop fishing logistics services on sea and at fishing ports, and use advanced techniques in fishing and storage in order to reduce post-harvest losses in fishing from the current 20 per cent to 10 per cent by 2020.

Storm shelters, including Cái Cùng, Nhà Mát and Gành Hào storm shelters, will be built for fishing boats.

The plan will cost more than VNĐ6.4 trillion (US$290 million) from the Government budget, provincial budget and other sources.

Bạc Liêu, one of the country’s largest shrimp producers, produces shrimp of high quality.

Besides the industrial shrimp farming model, the province has other shrimp farming models, including intensive and semi-intensive shrimp farming, organic shrimp farming in submerged forest areas, and a model of rotating rice-shrimp and other aquatic species on the same field.

The province has about 30,500 ha of rice-shrimp rotating area, according to the provincial People’s Committee.

The model of rotating shrimp-rice cultivation on the same field in Bạc Liêu has helped farmers have stable incomes and improved environmental protection.

Many farmers in Hồng Dân District, for instance, said they had not suffered losses after applying the model of rotating shrimp-rice cultivation.

Farmer Trần Văn Hạnh in Hồng Dân District said his family’s income was stable and the lives of his family had improved since he rotated one rice crop and two shrimp crops a year.

“This model has helped improve shrimp cultivation. Shrimp rarely have disease and grow rapidly,” he said.

Lương Ngọc Lân, director of the province’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD), said Bạc Liêu would focus on developing aquaculture and aim to turn the province into the country’s capital for industrial shrimp farming.  

Bạc Liêu will also build roads, water supply, sewage and power lines for 12,000 ha of intensive and semi-intensive shrimp farming areas.

To attract investors, infrastructure will also be built in shrimp-fry producing areas.

Bạc Liêu plans to breed more than 120,000ha of shrimp this year.

To meet this year’s target, the DARD has told farmers to focus on releasing shrimp fry into ponds for breeding this month.

Dương Thành Trung, chairman of the province’s People’s Committee, has told DARD to urgently prepare conditions for clean aquaculture models and inspect shrimp fry quality, veterinary medicine and animal foods.

The DARD also was asked to draft criteria for farms that produce aquatic species fries.

Bạc Liêu fishermen have caught more than 56,720 tonnes of fish and other aquatic species this year, up 103 per cent against the same period last year.

Trần Văn Bửu, owner of a fishing boat in Đông Hải District’s Gành Hào Town, said there were fewer rough seas than in previous years, so fishing was good.

“If diesel oil prices remain stable, fishermen will have profits,” he said.

Most fishing boat owners in Bạc Liêu borrow money from fish traders to buy diesel oil and ice and pay hired fishermen for their fishing trips.

Mai Thành Học, a fishing boat owner in Gành Hào Town, said the cost for fishing trips was high so fishing boat owners must borrow loans.

In addition, fishermen can only sell their catch to traders and cannot sell directly to seafood processors.

Nguyễn Trường Hận, head of the Đông Hải District Agriculture and Rural Development Bureau, said: “This year, there is favourable weather, declining fuel prices and stable seafood prices, so fishermen have had profits.”

He said that Đông Hải was seeking more investment for infrastructure to develop fishing and build seafood processing plants.

New decree to regulate exhibition management

A draft decree by the Department of Exhibition, Photography, and Fine Arts has proposed new regulations on exhibition management of cultural activities.

The decree was discussed at a conference on Tuesday in HCM City, with 50 representatives from the departments of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and Propaganda and Training from 15 provinces and cities, including HCM City, Đà Nẵng, Cần Thơ, and Lâm Đồng.

Vi Kiến Thành, head of the Department of Exhibition, Photography and Fine Arts, said the Prime Minister was expected to approve the decree in October.

The decree focuses on exhibiting items and works related to culture, arts, tourism and sports in Việt Nam and abroad.

It includes regulations on the government’s role in exhibition management, licensing for organising exhibitions inside and outside the country, and themes of exhibitions.

It proposes that provincial People’s Committees be in charge of exhibition management in localities, and give licences for exhibition programmes.

Participants at the conference pointed out that exhibitions involving foreign factors need the approval of People’s Committees.

Võ Văn Kiệt, a representative of the Tây Ninh Province’s Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said: “The People’s Committees have many works and papers to complete, so issuing licenses should be given to the departments of Culture, Sports and Tourism.”

“If there was an exhibition related to foreign individuals or oganisations, the department would submit papers to the People’s Committee for approval,” he added.

“The opinions collected from experts and the public would be considered before the department makes final revisions on the draft plan and submits it to the Prime Minister,” said Thành from the Department of Exhibition, Photography and Fine Arts.

“Exhibitions are an effective way to promote Vietnamese culture, arts, sports and tourism to local people and foreigners,” he said, adding that the number of exhibitions in the country had increased year by year.

According to the Department of Exhibition, Photography and Fine Art’s statistics, there were 499 exhibitions held in Việt Nam in 2013, 589 in 2014 and 594 in 2015.

Free wedding photos, hair styling offered for people with disabilities

Brides and grooms are typically not shy about posing for their wedding photos, as they know the memories can last a lifetime.

But for people with disabilities, appearing before the camera can be somewhat daunting.

Last year, Phùng Tuấn Dũng, an alumnus of the HCM City University of Law, set up a five-member team of photographers to offer free wedding photos for the disabled.

Several part-time members also do free makeup and hairstyling for the couples.

While many soon-to-be married couples celebrate at luxury hotels and restaurants, Dũng’s team often brings bread, cake and tea to his photo shoots at less glamorous sites.

At least 100 wedding gowns and áo dài (traditional female tunic and trousers) as well as two wedding bouquets for long-term use have been donated to the team.

“I’ve even lent my own business suit to the grooms,” Dũng said, adding that the couples are free to arrange their time and choose a photo shoot venue. “I ask for photos of the couples in advance so I can prepare the styling, select wedding dresses, and think about the best shot angles.”

Dũng’s team often visits a vocational school for the disabled to offer free photo services.

“We initially planned to have only a few photos of our wedding, but we didn’t expect to have such a big, beautiful wedding album,” one student said.

VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/TT/TN/Dantri/VNE