The 26th annual campaign was recently launched by the city’s Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union (HCM HCYU) in July with nearly 60,000 youth volunteers.

The group's activities occurred in HCM City and 15 western, southern, central and Tay Nguyen (Central Highlands) provinces, as well as in Laos.

Volunteers clean up Ba Luu canal in HCM City’s District 8.

Ngo Minh Hai, Vice Secretary of the HCM HCYU, said the campaign this year focused on addressing environmental problems and solving practical problems.

Of the goals set for the campaign, seven canals were cleaned up by the volunteers. Many canals in HCM City are full of rubbish and untreated wastewater from households and industrial production.

For years, local people have suffered from bad smells coming from these polluted waterways. A team of dozens of volunteers worked to collect rubbish and water hyacinth from the Ba Luu canal in District 8.

In the scorching heat of July, their clothes were stained with mud, but they still smiled, chatted and entertained each other with funny stories.

Nguyen Dang Khoa, head of the team, said the young volunteers played, shared and worked with new friends they met during the campaign.

Among their list of goals, Dia canal in Thu Duc district, Dat Set canal in district 12 and Tieu Lien Xa canal in Hoc Mon district were also cleaned up by hundreds of volunteers. These canals were full of rubbish and had terrible smells.

Besides canal cleanups, 10 bridges and 40km roads in rural areas were built during the campaign this year. About 40 students from the HCM City University of Transport and Communications built 300 metres of Road No 10 in district 9’s Long Binh ward.

Nguyen Dang Nhan, Vice Chairman of the Long Binh Ward People’s Committee, said the new road was safe and convenient, and contributed to building a "new-style rural area".

Volunteers also spent five days painting 800sq.m of walls in the Linh Dong Primary School in HCM City’s Thu Duc district. The work, which cost 40 million VND (1,720 USD), was funded from donations.

Besides canal cleanups, 10 bridges and 40km roads in rural areas are built during the campaign this year.

Tran Thi Phuong, a student at HCM City University of Education, said that most of the paintings featured trees and environmental protection activities. During the campaign, volunteers also took part in communication activities on reducing plastic waste and littering on streets and in canals.

In addition, the volunteers helped build and repair 50 houses for the poor, repaired home electrical wiring for 500 families, built new toilets for three schools, and created 100 playgrounds that help raise children's awareness about environmental protection.

They also opened training classes on social skills (self-defence for emergencies, sexual abuse prevention, and rescue, fighting and preventing fire) for 15,000 teenagers and children.

About 5,000 people were taught IT and foreign languages, and 10,000 new members were recruited for the Vietnam Youth Union and the Vietnam Students' Association.

Over 22,000 members of armed forces join volunteer campaign

More than 22,000 young officers and soldiers of the armed forces in Ho Chi Minh City are participating as volunteers in the 13th Hanh quan xanh (Green Military Operations) Campaign between June 23 and August 4.

Multi-terrain waste collection machine wins top prize at young volunteers’ creation contest

Overcoming over 1,000 ideas by other Vietnamese and foreign students, a smart device with the ability to collect garbage on the sea, ponds and canals as well as on the ground, by a group of students from the University of Da Nang, won the first prize at the "Volunteers’ Ideas" Contest 2019.

Launching summer young volunteer campaign 2019

(BGO) – The Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union (Youth Union) in the northern province of Bac Giang on May 26 launched the summer young volunteer campaign 2019 and emulative movement to celebrate the 20th anniversary of volunteer youth campaign at Bo Ha senior high school (Yen The district).

About 7,200 volunteers to serve UN Vesak Day celebration

About 7,200 members of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union and volunteers will be serving the upcoming United Nations Day of Vesak 2019.

Young volunteers

The volunteer youth movement has left many bold imprints of youth across the country through activities such as ‘Border spring-Island Tet’ programme, ‘Youth for Homeland Sea and Islands’ programme, and ‘Exam Season Support’ programme. The image of the blue-shirts of young volunteers has become familiar to every Vietnamese citizen.

Source: VNS/VNA