Stories: Children, Community, Future

After a trip to visit his family in Sai Gon, Mr. Dinh Xuan Lam, Technical Officer of ChildFund Vietnam’s Clean Water and Sanitation Project (WASH) could not return to Hanoi as the city is under lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic. He had to stay and continue his busy project work at ChildFund remotely.

More than a month ago, perhaps no one could have imagined how severely Covid-19 would impact Ho Chi Minh City and the southern provinces. During his time here, Mr. Lam had witnessed not only hardships and worries every day, but also beautiful gestures of help, care, and love that people from all over the country shared with the city.

Once a doctor, Mr. Lam was also motivated to contribute and help the people here. He shared his wish to participate in the volunteer program to deploy vaccination for the people of District 11. Understanding his determination, the Senior Management Team and members of the project team have approved and supported him to carry out this meaningful work.

30 days of volunteer is 30 days of him waking up at 5:30 am, travelling 20 kilometers to Hau Giang Secondary School, the vaccination site for Ward 16, District 11, working all day in a protection suit under the scorching heat of the South, vaccinating up to 800 people a day. At his age, this was not only hard work, but also risky. In his medical team, a doctor became Covid-19 positive, but fortunately, since he was vaccinated, his symptoms were milder, and he was able to recover gradually. Yet, compared to what the people here are facing and fighting every day, to him, that hardship is nothing. On the contrary, it is joy and happiness to be able to contribute to the community, to see faces of hope, to encourage and advise vaccinated people to overcome their worries of post-injection reaction.

Mr. Lam in his daily protective suit

At the end of the 30-day campaign to contribute to building a “green zone” for vaccines, District 11, where he volunteered, finished first with the completion of vaccinations for 173,600 people aged 18 and up, among which, 15,000 people are over 65 years old, comprising up to 82% of the total vaccinations.

The medical team gearing up for their daily work

Congratulations to Mr. Lam on completing his 30 days of volunteer with many experiences and emotions. ChildFund is proud to have members who always live with love, responsibility to the community and stay true to the noble values ​​that the organization aims at. We hope Mr. Lam and his family stay healthy and will soon overcome this pandemic. We all look forward to the day he returns and continues his meaningful projects for the community.