Children group helps keep Danang clean
The children in the environment club often gather together on Sundays. Their leader is Pham Cong Luong, born in 1956, party secretary of Binh Phuoc 1 Residential Area.
According to Luong, he has always been concerned about environmental problems where he was living and tried to set an example by collecting rubbish on the street when he did morning exercises or when he was going out. Then in 2018, a rubbish collecting movement was initiated by Luong to raise funds for the children and poor families in Binh Phuoc. It received a positive response from the locals.
The children rubbish collecting club was set up in early 2019. The club includes several children age between 6 to 12 who want to raise awareness about environmental protection and raise funds for disadvantaged families. As of now, the club has a total of 34 members and many contributors.
"We have to teach the children because they will be the pioneers who lead others," Luong said.
Collecting and classifying the rubbish
Ever since the club was set up, the local families have been actively classified their rubbish and placed them in front of their house for the children to collect. The rubbish was brought to the gathering location and classified again by volunteers.
9-year-old Cao Hoang Phuc Thinh said, "I think our club is meaningful and help make our area cleaner so I felt good to come there every weekend."
12-year-old Le Anh Thu said, "It's not just the weekends, now, whenever I saw litter on the street, I'll always pick it up and put it in the bin."
The club has earned nearly VND100m (USD4,300) up until now. The money was used as rewards for children with good academic results and to organise sports events for the children. After Covid-19 broke out, the club sent 290kg of rice to 29 disadvantaged cases. They also used the money to buy gifts for disabled and orphan children on Tet Holiday and other special occasions.