VietNamNet Bridge – A first-year student at the HCM City University of Social Science and Humanity spends his time working on the phone trying to get donations.

Students from the University of Economics and Finance help clear weeds at a school in Phu Yen Province during a Green Summer Campaign. (Photo: VNS)

For Khoa, who enjoys a life of privilege, helping children makes him happy.

Dinh Tran Vu An, a second-year student at the University of Economics, is the leader of a charitable club named People and the Environment (P&E). He was emotional when he talked about the hundreds of children in Dong Nai Province that P&E worked with three months ago.

The kids at the little rural primary school near Nam Cat Tien Forest received 2,000 notebooks, 500 ballpens, and milk through P&E donations. "It's was amazing. When we came, hundreds of children welcomed us like we were pop singers or super stars," said Pham Nhat Minh, who is a member of the group.

Minh said he was moved when a child said he had finished his classes in the morning but he came back to school in the afternoon to take part in the exchange even though his house was six kilometres away. Group members dressed as Santa Claus to play with the children, performed a puppet show and donated gifts.

The P&E club has been planning a charity trip to Dong Thap Province to help children in the area.

The group leader, An, who also volunteered at the annual Green Summer Campaign in Phu Yen Province, said it was exciting to take part in teaching English and computer skills to children from rural ethnic groups.

The students helped local people around their farms. They helped build a well and houses. They also cleaned and decorated classrooms for the children. Minh said before becoming a volunteer he was very naughty, even though he was raised in a wealthy family in Vung Tau City. "I was infamous in my high school and neighbourhood for being a profligate. My parents were powerless to drive me to the right path," says the former playboy.

One day, he tried to think if he had done anything noteworthy in his life. After thinking, Minh decided that his life was empty.

"I started my new life by doing charity in my neighbourhood," says Minh. "Now, I feel that life is meaningful and I'm motivated."

Union support

After enrolling at a university, Minh met a group of friends who also loved to volunteer and together they established the P&E Club.

Together with these entrepreneurial, young minds, the Ho Chi Minh Comm-unist Youth Union has managed several programmes that help people improve their life skills.

According to the HCM City Chapter of the Union, a series of activities to kick off the year were organised across the country during the first week of January.

Doan Kim Thanh, deputy director of the HCM City-based Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union's Youth Development Science and Technology Centre, said the centre was now hosting seven contests for students at all levels.

The city would also host the National Olympiads for Informatics.

"The union plans to work with HCM City Television to produce the programme ‘Put ideas into practice'," says Thanh.

"We will also develop the ‘Young Intellectual Volunteers', which was initiated last year. The programme focuses on taking young lecturers and scientists to rural areas and schools where they can give advice to students and workers in the area."

Dinh Thi Phuong Thao, who heads the international department, said that this year the union would organise the ASEAN Youth Festival, which will bring together young people from big cities across Southeast Asia.

Members from the Shanghai Communist Youth Union will also visit HCM City in March to celebrate the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union's 80th anniversary and to participate at the international Youth Ship event.

Nguyen Thanh Doan, head of the student department, said that the group was planning to kick off the Five-G (Good) Student programme soon.

The department also implemented a project to encourage young intellectuals to work in the city's outer districts.

The department will also organise programmes to help students and young people improve their social skills. They will also implement the When I am 18 programme at high schools to prevent student's from falling into social evils.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News