The Volunteer Youth Team for the Sick presents anti-droplet face shields at a quarantine area of Hanoi-based Cancer Hospital, known as the K Hospital. (Photo: VOV)

In late April and early May, more than 50 young people of the Volunteer Youth Team for the Sick made 5,000 anti-droplet face shields which were distributed to COVID-19 hotspots.

(Photo: VOV)

Volunteer youth teams at universities in Hanoi and neighboring provinces donated to epidemic-affected localities  43,000 medical masks, 300 bottles of hand sanitizer, and 5,000 anti-droplet face shields they collected from donors.

Members of the National Volunteer Network have made personal donations worth nearly 44,000 USD, according to Nguyen Xuan Truong, the group’s Deputy Head.

He said, “We’ve mobilized businesses and other social resources. We made anti-droplet face shields, and most of the businesses donated face masks, hand sanitizer, and protective gear.”

”Things are no longer as scarce as during the first epidemic outbreak. Although the latest wave is much more challenging, volunteers like us have coordinated more effectively with each other and with local officials.”                

In less than a week, former students of Hanoi’s high schools of the 1993-1996 term collected 13,000 USD, plus facemasks, instant noodles, hand sanitizer, and milk, to give to the locked-down hospitals and quarantined areas in the epidemic-affected provinces of Vinh Phuc, Bac Giang, and Bac Ninh.

Nguyen Phan Giang, head of these students’ social work board, said, “In addition to supporting doctors, we’ve also helped schoolfellows in financial difficulties or given their children computers so they can study online at home.”

“During this epidemic, the Vietnamese people have been honoring their tradition of the haves helping the have nots. Many of our friends are not rich, but they’re still ready to contribute to charity activities.”

Responding to a call by monk Thich Dam Hoai, the head of Phuc Long pagoda in Hanoi, many people have donated money and necessities or helped prepare free meals for patients in locked-down hospitals.

“Vietnamese people always love, help, and share difficulties with others. I hope everyone will set aside part of their breakfast or spend a little less money on their family in order to help others in need. This is a way to teach good deeds to our children,” said Monk Thich Dam Hoai.