University Students in Ho Chi Minh City Actively Volunteer

Students at both the City University of Social Science and Humanities and the University of Economics and Finance are actively volunteering according to the Vietnam News Service.  Many of the activities the students perform are similar to those in other parts of the world.  A group of students formed to help support the disadvantaged children at the Dieu Giac Pagoda in District 2.  These students worked soliciting donations during the Lunar New Year.  Another charitable club formed called People and the Environment (P&E).  This group helped provide children at a small rural school near the Nam Cat Tien Forest with 2,000 notebooks, 500 ballpoint pens and milk through their donations.  “It was amazing.  When we came, hundreds of children welcomed us like we were pop singers or super stars,” said student volunteer Pham Nhat Minh.  Minh had been a “naughty” high school student and felt his life was empty.  “I started my new life doing charity in my neighborhood.  Now I feel that my life is meaningful and I am motivated.”  Next P&E is planning a trip to Dong Thap Province to help children in that area.  The Young Intellectual Volunteers focus on taking young lecturers and scientists to rural areas and schools where they teach life skills and give advice to students and workers.  The headline sums it up in the newspaper’s “Owners of the Future” section:  “Volunteer work helps open students eyes in HCM City.”  www.vietnamnews.vnanet.vn