Da Nang volunteer club works to support upland children

The club was founded in June 2010 with 15 youth union members after they met at the festival held in Nghe An province to honour outstanding youngsters in the central and Central Highlands regions. On its first days of operation, the club’s activities focused on presenting gifts to disadvantaged and disabled children in Da Nang city.

In 2012, the club’s members visited and presented gifts to students at Nuoc Ui school, Tra Mai district Nam Tra My district, Quang Nam province in late 2012, where children studied in poorly equipped classrooms made of several wooden boards and the roofs titled with corrugated iron.

Witnessing the situation, head of the club Nguyen Binh Nam came up with the idea of rebuilding and upgrading the school from mobilising support in the society.

With a budget estimate of VND50 million, the actual costs mounted to nearly VND120 million by the time it was completed. After seven months of construction, the new Nuoc Ui school was opened with two classrooms, each 56m2 in area and with the ability to provide education to 60 students from first to fourth grades.

“We were really glad to see students and teachers’ happiness at the new school, helping us shift our focus of operation to supporting education in upland areas,” said Nam.

Since then, the club has mobilised socially sourced funding for the construction of 13 schools in the mountainous areas of Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Quang Nam, Quang Ngai and Lon Tum provinces, some of them being cost up to VND600 million each.

The fourteenth school is now being built in the Cheng Tong residential area, Tra Cang commune, Nam Tra My district, Quang Nam province.

In addition, the club has also implemented a project providing each ethnic minority student with two free meals and two boxes of milk per week. The project has benefited 800 schoolchildren since 2015.

“Many kids in mountainous region still have to walk long distances to school, bringing with them their lunches including boiled red rice, wild vegetable, and a pinch of salt. Some of them have toasted sesame salt for their meal,” described Truong Quynh Nhu, a member of the club. “Therefore, we are determined to provide them with more nutritious meals at schools,” she added.

As the club’s operation has been enthusiastically appreciated by the community, their projects have received generous financial support from benefactors and kind-hearted people across the country. Accordingly, the project on providing free meals and milk for children receives annual funding of VND 300 million to VND390 million.

“We are touched to see that despite their difficulties, the children are happy about their life and are putting great effort into their studies,” shared Nguyen Binh Nam, adding that he and his clubmates will continue working to improve the children’s study conditions ,helping them rise above their disadvantaged conditions for a better future.