Computer programmers by day, charity cooks for cancer on the weekend

August 07, 2016 - 09:00

The Bình An Charity Club, a group of Vietnamese who work in the IT sector, usually spend all day staring at a computer. On Saturdays, though, they make bowls of porridge for patients at the HCM City Cancer Hospital.

Good souls: Members of Bình An Club prepare charity bowls of porridge at a house in HCM City’s Phú Nhuận District. Photo Tuoitre.vn
Viet Nam News

The Bình An Charity Club, a group of Vietnamese who work in the IT sector, usually spend all day staring at a computer. On Saturdays, though, they make bowls of porridge for patients at the HCM City Cancer Hospital.

At a house in Phú Nhuận District, the club members rinse rice, peel fruit and wash vegetables. Everyone’s in a hurry, but they look happy and peaceful.

Member Lâm Thị Bé Vàng, 26, says she joined the club after seeing the pain suffered by cancer patients.

She says the club initially had 100 members but now has 200, including relatives, people they meet through social media, and just kind-hearted people.

Đào Minh Vũ, 27, also a programmer, says the activity is as enjoyable as creating a new software product.

Another programmer, Trần Mạnh, 24, agrees, saying that it helps to relieve his stress at his job.

Member Hồng Cẩm, who takes care of a patient at the Cancer Hospital, says he is proud of being part of “a significant act that helps disadvantaged people”.

A patient at the hospital, Nguyễn Văn Thương, who has visited the house where the members cook, says the “meat porridge is very delicious”.

The goal of the club is promotion of psychological health, according to Nguyễn Thị Lệ, 32, one of the club’s founders.

“Through contacts with cancer patients, I saw that they needed not just a bowl of porridge but also encouragement and joy.”

 

 

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