Student volunteers paint and draw flowers on electric poles in Ward 9, Vĩnh Long City. The 2020 summer youth volunteer campaign ended early this month in the southern province of Vĩnh Long. VNA/ VNS Photo

 VĨNH LONG This year's summer youth volunteer campaign ended earlier this month in the southern province of Vĩnh Long, having helped young participants enjoy wonderful and practical experiences for personal growth and be more confident in their future jobs.

The three-month campaign included five programmes: Kỳ Nghỉ Hồng (Pink Vacation), Hoa Phượng Đỏ (Red Phoenix Flower), Hành Quân Xanh (Young Soldiers Join Social Voluntary Work), Mùa Hè Xanh (Green Summer) and Tiếp Sức Mùa Thi (Assistance For Candidates In National High School Exams). 

Various activities for the participants, all sporting blue shirts, ignited their youthful impulsive spirits.

From early June, the youngsters visited rural areas to participate in community activities with local people.

Đỗ Văn Chí Phước, secretary of the Youth Union in An Bình Commune, Long Hồ District, said that during this year's campaign, the volunteers had worked with local authorities and people to build bridges, install water pipes, clean the environment and organise free swimming lessons for children.

Secretary of the Party Committee of An Bình Commune, Phan Hữu Trí Thông, highly valued the effectiveness of the projects launched and implemented by the local Youth Union with a large number of young volunteers, saying it met the needs of local people.

He said building roads, installing street lights and dredging ditches and sewer gates had made life easier.

Local people also contributed money and helped out with the projects, with commune leaders and officials pitching in at the weekends.

"The work has changed the appearance of rural life, creating excitement and confidence among the people, and thereby strengthening solidarity between the Government and the people," Thông said.

Mùa Hè Xanh (Green Summer) attracted the participation of nearly 740 college students.

Sixty students from the Western Construction University also began construction of five new houses for local people living in difficult circumstances.

Student Nguyễn Nhứt Vũ said: “At 6am, after having breakfast, we would go to the construction site in Quới An Commune, Vũng Liêm District.   

“The site is far from the road so transporting materials is very difficult,” he said.

“With help from professional construction workers, we have learned a lot and gained in confidence."

Another project named "Flowering Poles" attracted 80 students to repaint electricity pylons and daub flowers at the feet of 170 pylons on a 3km road in Ward 9.

Secretary of Vĩnh Long Province's Youth Union, Nguyễn Huỳnh Thu, said local people had been enthralled by the images. The whole idea was to preserve the landscape and replicate the project throughout the province, while stopping indiscriminate advertising posters from being plastered on the papers on electric poles.

Activities for families of veterans and martyrs, Vietnamese Heroic Mothers were also organised in the districts of Mang Thít and Long Hồ, while Youth Union members visited and presented gifts to families.

Further afield, seventy-five students from HCM City’s Hoa Sen University experienced an interesting two-week Green Summer campaign in Tân Quới Trung Commune, Vũng Liêm District, Vĩnh Long Province. They stayed with six local families and helped them build charity houses for poor households and plant trees and flowers by the road.

“Our time living with local people taught us many lessons about manners and a passion for work, extremely meaningful things,” student Cao Thị Hậu said.

“This is the third time I've taken part in Green Summer, and I still want to offer more to accumulate valuable lessons outside of school,” she said.

Secretary of Hoa Sen University’s Youth Union Nguyễn Thanh Hiếu, who took part in the Green Summer project for nine years, said this campaign and other youth volunteer projects were not just an outing but a journey for students to learn and experience new things in life, helping them develop a collective spirit, responsibility and discipline.

Students from the HCM City University of Technology helped build charity houses, children's playgrounds, and presented gifts to kids in Tân Lược Commune, Bình Tân District.

According to Nguyễn Huỳnh Thu, the Youth Union had flexibly deployed on-site forces to carry out these activities despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Volunteers can make meaningful contributions and spread kindness in society,” he said. "These activities bring practical benefits to the community, and promote an impulsive youthful spirit.” VNS