VnExpress's Hope Foundation has launched a fundraising campaign to deliver 1,500 Lunar New Year gifts to Covid-19 orphans in Ho Chi Minh City and southern provinces.
The Covid-19 pandemic, since its fourth outbreak in late April, has taken the lives of nearly 27,000 people in Vietnam. As a result, nearly 2,500 children have become orphans.
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A girl receives donated food in HCMC, June 2021. |
Many children have been living in harsh conditions and now have to carry on as core members of their families to care for siblings. Many newborn babies are in the sole care of their fathers.
One such orphan, Le Quoc Bao, 5, is living in a rented house with his father in Binh Chanh District, HCMC. Bao's mother passed away in late August, right after the doctor performed a C-section to deliver her new baby safely. She was seven months pregnant at the time. The day her remains were delivered home, the whole family was in tears, except for Bao. "She is in heaven now," he said.
On that day, Bao's little brother, Le Quoc Dam, came home after half a month of intensive care inside an incubator. Dam was sent to a relative's house to be fed for a month, before reunion with his own family. Le Van Thai, the father and sole breadwinner of the family, works as an assistant mechanic, earning a lowly VND5.5 million ($239) per month.
The "Tet with hope" campaign was launched to ease such pains. Gifts are expected to be delivered to the children in January 2022.
We encourage and request everyone to donate generously so that our less privileged children get some joy during the country's biggest holiday.
Source: VnExpress
