According to Ho Ngoc, Bao’s mother, the project was an idea of Bao’s after his trip to his father’s hometown in Xich Tho mountainous commune, in Nho Quan district, Ninh Binh province, during which he witnessed the fact that children there had limited access to books, and wished to present books to the village.
Ngoc and her husband, Hoang Kim Ngu, were glad that their son developed empathy for others, and they determined to turn Bao’s wish into a reality in a serious and long-term manner.
In April 2019, the project ‘Bringing books to villages’ was launched to provide books to children in Vietnamese villages who have a passion for reading, thus contributing to cultivating and developing reading habits in disadvantaged areas.
Under the project, Bao’s family will fund 20 million VND to develop a bookcase in each village. The money will be used to purchase a bookcase, buy books and organise activities to encourage reading habits in the community. The bookcase is managed by a school, local villagers, or the study encouragement fund of the locality.
The project has received financial support from many individuals and organisations at home and abroad.
The first bookcase under the project was presented to students at Co Dinh Secondary School, Tan Ninh commune, Trieu Son district, Thanh Hoa province, on the occasion of the opening of the 2019-2020 academic year.
Since then, a total of 23 bookcases donated by Gia Bao's family and benefactors were inaugurated in remote and disadvantaged areas in 13 provinces across the country, including Son La, Ninh Binh, Dien Bien, Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Giang, Ha Tinh, Bac Giang, Lai Chau, Thai Nguyen, Dak Lak, Lao Cai and Quang Binh.
Hoang Kim Gia Bao appeared at the ‘Little Big Shot Vietnam’ TV show in 2017 (Photo: dangcongsan.vn)
Speaking about her son, Ngoc said that Gia Bao is the youngest in a family of three children. Gia Bao soon revealed his talent in art activities, particularly in playing the piano from a very young age. He is also interested in playing violin and trumpet, drawing, dancing, learning English, composing music and writing stories. Gia Bao always dreams that a day will have up to 96 hours so that he can do everything he wants.
Gia Bao started learning the piano when he was 5 and a half years old and became a student of the Vietnam National Academy of Music.
He has won many awards at piano competitions at home and abroad, including the first prize at the Asia-Pacific Arts Festival 2017 in Hong Kong (China), the third prize at Steinway Youth Piano Competition 2018 in Vietnam, the third prize of a musical talent contest in Singapore in 2018, and winner of Vietnam’s Got Talent in Hungary in 2019.
He was also invited to perform at charity musical events and programmes to raise funds for disadvantaged children.
Thanks to his outstanding achievements, Gia Bao won a scholarship from the Roby Lakatos Fund for Musical Talent Development, to study piano in Hungary in May 2019.
While in Hungary, Gia Bao earned the first prize at the first Carpathian Basin International Piano Competition and the consolation prize at the 10th International Piano Competition, hosted by the Ferenczy György Zongoraverseny Foundation.
