(VOVworld) – International Children’s Day on June 1st is a time when people at home and abroad show their concern for children. In Hanoi many activities are underway on this special day.
 |
A performance by child artists from the Sol Art Center for their peer patients at the hospital.
(Photo: hanoimoi.com.vn) |
The Vietnam National Hospital of Pediatrics has organized several activities for child patients, hoping to relieve their pain and raise their morale. Collecting blood to save children’s lives is one activity. Doctor Vu Thu Hang says this is the second time the hospital has carried out such a program along with art performances.
She explained further their “first goal is to organize art and entertainment activities and exchanges for child patients in combination with calls for contributions from the public and blood donations. Money donated will go toward gifts for 1,400 child patients and treatment costs for disadvantaged children who are undergoing treatment at the hospital.”
 |
| More than 3,000 sets of gifts and 1,500 meals were presented to child patients. About 350 disadvantaged children who are undergoing treatment at the Vietnam National Hospital of Pediatrics were supported with treatment costs. (Photo: hanoimoi.com.vn) |
A program called “A safe Children’s Day 2016” was held in the National Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion, where 430 gifts were presented to child patients struggling with a fatal disease together with arts performances.
Nguyen Thi Yen, a relative of child patient Nguyen Tuan Dat, had this to say: “we hope volunteers will come to the institute more often to organize such programs so the children here can enjoy some fun.”
 |
| The second blood donation program at the Vietnam National Hospital of Pediatrics attracted more than 200 people, mainly students and office staff. (Photo: hanoimoi.com.vn) |
International Children’s Day in Vietnam coincides with the end of the academic year, when children have more time to participate in extra-curricular activities. Many children prefer practical experience classes.
Detrang (White Goat) Farm, an experimental education model for children in Ba Vi district, Hanoi, has created an entertaining program which offers a variety of interesting activities – carrying water with a shoulder pole, blind-man’s-buff, and a kind of tug of war – pulling the spathe of the areca tree.
 |
| (Photo: detrangfarm.vn) |
Through these activities children learn about Vietnam’s traditional culture and folk games. 9th grader Tran Minh Duc of Phan Dinh Giot Secondary School in Hanoi, shared his feeling about the festival.
“Through this program, we’ve taken part in activities that we only knew from books-planting rice, riding horses, and taking care of goats. I’ve been involved in the milking process. I like it very much. Our parents do these activities with us. It’s a really useful practical experience for me,” Duc said.
On June 1st, 1950, when the national resistance war against French colonialists was in its most intense period, President Ho Chi Minh sent a letter to Vietnam’s children. Since then June 1st has been Vietnam’s Children’s Day.