Catholic college students also offered gifts to households and children at Khe Nhao ahead of Tet holidays, starting Jan. 20
Hmong ethnic boys in Huoi Khon village in the Northwestern province of Dien Bien. (Photo: AFP)
Catholics in northern Vietnam have done a yeoman’s job by providing support materials for hundreds of Hmong ethnic students to survive the cold winter.
On Jan. 8, nearly 25 members from One Heart, a charity that supports ethnic minority people in northern provinces in Vietnam, visited Xa Ho Secondary School in the mountainous province of Yen Bai to offer students warm clothes, sandals, school items, and sweets.
Members of the group were drawn from the capital Hanoi. Mary Dao Thi Loi, who led the group, claimed that gifts and provisions worth eight tons were transported to the Yen Bai area, which is 300 kilometers away from Hanoi.
The charity came to know about the ordeal of the students after school staff and government officials urged it to come to the aid of the students to tide over the chilly weather.
Loi, 48, said the charity also gave away blankets, socks and food items to 75 families.
“We want to do something useful to help local people survive the hard winter and celebrate the Tet [Lunar New Year] festival,” she said.
Yen Bai is home to 600 Hmong families and more than 3,000 people eke out a living from farms on the hillside. Children in the area suffer from malnutrition due to rampant poverty.
At the school, nearly 50 teachers work as 800 ethnic students burn the midnight oil. Their tuition expenses are met by the government, headmistress Nguyen Thi Bac said.
“We are delighted that our students have warm clothes in the cold weather. We owe the group a deep debt of gratitude for their generous donations,” she said.
“I am happy to have new clothes and socks to go out with my friends for the Tet festival,” Vang Thi Xua, a fourth grader, said joyfully.
Xua’s family has 11 members, including her grandparents. Her parents grow corn and rice for a living but still, they do not have enough to eat for the whole year. Only a few of her siblings go to school and some of them work in the fields to support the family.
“I often wear the old clothes of my siblings and walk barefoot to school,” she said, wearing a torn shirt.
Vang A Sua, a father of nine, said the Hmong community prefers many children. The octogenarian has over 100 grandchildren.
“We have to burn the wood to keep ourselves warm because we do not have money to buy warm clothes,” he said.
Father Joseph Ma A Ca, assistant parish priest at Dong Heo in Cat Thinh commune, said 30 Catholic college students from Phu Tho province on Jan. 7 offered gifts to 66 households and to 100 Hmong ethnic children at Khe Nhao as part of the Lunar New Year festival, the longest holiday in Vietnam, starting Jan. 20.
Father Ca, who hails from the Hmong community, attributed the plight of local people to climate change.
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