HCM CITY — HCM City People’s Committee and Việt Nam Fatherland Front last Saturday honoured 113 individuals and 25 groups, clubs as well as associations in the city for their noble contributions to life in the city.

Their contributions also help build one city with civilisation, modernism, love and a good quality of life, Nguyễn Thành Phong, chairman of the city People’s Committee said at the honouring ceremony.

They include seniors, workers, teachers, young people, nuns, monks and retired doctors.

“Their silent and noble contributions need to be honoured because they are done from the heart. These people are the seeds that cultivate goodness in life.” Phong said.

The 138 individuals and groups, typically, volunteer to raise orphans, help poor people as well as people with disabilities. They also provide free heath examinations and treatment, teach children with cancer as well as poor kids, and collect rubbish in canals.

Charity food groups in Districts 1, 2, 11, 12 and Bình Thạnh provide free food to poor people.

Free health examination and treatment by clinics are set up by war veteran associations in Gò Vấp District and nuns in Phú Nhuận District.

Phạm Văn Lương, 50, of the northeastern coastal province of Quảng Ninh, moved to the city in 1991 and works as motorbike repairer in District 1. He has repaired motorbikes for free for people with disabilities.

Martial arts instructor, Lê Hoàng Mai, of Tân Bình District teaches martial arts for free for workers at industrial parks and export processing zones and poor students.

Moreover, many of them help former addicts or prostitutes who come back from rehabilitation facilities and fight against crime as well as drug traders in their localities.

A team of motorbike taxi drivers in District 2, which was set up by the district Labour Union in 2008, for instance, helped seize more than 300 robbers.

Some of those honoured were people with disabilities who are perseverant to overcome their disabilities and get success in life.

Vũ Công Hào, 27, of Tân Phú District, is one of these people. He is the first visual impaired person to graduate from the city College of Culture and Arts.

Currently, he is learning music education at the city Conservatory of Music while teaching music to children with visual impairment at Thiên Ân and Nhật Hồng shelters in Bình Thạnh District.

At the honouring ceremony, Vice President Đặng Thị Ngọc Thịnh said that they were commendable models and their humanistic and wonderful activities should be spread to make society better and kinder.

The city should continue discovering and honouring other people doing humanistic and wonderful activities, the vice president added. — VNS