By bringing people together, the programme seeks to turn compassion expressed on stage into concrete action, giving children who lost their fathers or mothers due to COVID-19 greater support to stay in school, grow up and pursue their dreams. — VNA VNS Photo

HCM CITY — On September 16, the musical programme Nghĩa tình Phương Nam – Cùng con đi tiếp cuộc đời (Southern Affection – Helping Children Move Forward) in HCM City brought together memories of frontline workers and stories of children who lost parents to the COVID-19 pandemic, while continuing to mobilise social resources to support their education and provide long-term assistance as they grow up.

The programme was organised by the Vietnam Television Centre in the Southern Region in collaboration with Thanh Niên newspaper at the COVID-19 Victims Memorial Park at 1 Lý Thái Tổ Street, Vườn Lài Ward, HCM City. It also marked five years of the Cùng con đi tiếp cuộc đời (Helping Children Move Forward) programme supporting and sponsoring children orphaned by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The event opened with a candle-lighting ceremony in memory of those who died from COVID-19. Representatives, doctors, medical workers, frontline forces and local residents lit candles to preserve memories of the difficult period HCM City experienced during the pandemic.

Recalling those days five years later, Dr Trương Vĩnh Long, Director of Gia An 115 Hospital, said that for medical workers, the battle against COVID-19 seemed as though it had “ended only yesterday”.

What he remembered most was not the sound of ambulances rushing through the night or the medical staff's sweat-soaked protective suits, but the eyes of people standing on the threshold between life and death.

“They were the eyes of patients filled with fear, clinging to hope as they tried to cross the line between life and death; the eyes of family members conveying their feelings through the doors of isolation rooms; and, especially, the eyes of exhausted doctors and medical workers after long nights on duty, who never gave up,” Dr Long said.

The story of 14-year-old Nguyễn Lê Ngọc Anh, who lost her father to COVID-19, was one of the stories reflecting the losses caused by the pandemic. Ngọc Anh now lives with her mother and younger sibling. Despite her family's difficulties, she has maintained a strong academic record and continued to work hard at school.

After her father died, Ngọc Anh kept a diary as a way of continuing to talk to him, writing about her happiness, sadness and difficulties in everyday life.

Another keepsake she continues to treasure is her father's mobile phone, which contains family photographs from the days when all four family members were still together. The phone, diary and memories of her father helping her with her studies have become links to the father she lost. These memories were also at the centre of her conversation during the programme.

The Cùng con đi tiếp cuộc đời programme was launched by Thanh Niên newspaper on September 16, 2021, to support and sponsor children whose fathers or mothers died during the pandemic until they reach the age of 18.

Over the past five years, the programme has provided financial and material assistance to more than 2,200 children in HCM City and several southern provinces and cities, with a total value of more than VNĐ4.3 billion (US$165,000).

It has also provided sponsorship until the age of 18 for 550 children, worth more than VNĐ60.8 billion,  and awarded VNĐ2.1 billion in scholarships to pupils and students. The programme has also supported and linked the children with university and college training opportunities after they complete upper secondary education.

The total resources mobilised for support, sponsorship and related programmes have so far exceeded VNĐ77 billion. — VNS