Ngo Cong Thang, Director of Vinamilk Nghe An Dairy Factory, represents Vinamilk and its Stand Tall Vietnam Dairy Fund to award a scholarship of VND50 million to support Dat. — Photos Vinamilk

In celebration of the 5-year journey of the programme “A pair of loving leaves” and three consecutive years in which Viet Nam’s largest dairy producer Vinamilk has accompanied this programme, representatives of Vinamilk and its Stand Tall Vietnam Milk Fund visited poor families in the central region of Viet Nam.

Turning the poor’s dream into reality

As a voluntary charity with the effort of “giving the chance to go to school, giving the chance to change life” of the “A pair of loving leaves” programme, there are many poor children who face a different fate, have received support to rise up in life. All are worthy of respect and need to be raised by the community and society. That is why, with the desire to contribute to helping Vietnamese children develop and grow taller, the programme’s footprints across the provinces and cities of the country always have the companionship of donators, especially Vinamilk and its Stand Tall Vietnam Milk Fund.

Coming to Nghe An Province this time, Vinamilk and its fund in collaboration with the programme “A pair of loving leaves” visited Nguyen Canh Dat, born in 2009, in Xuan Hoa Commune, Nam Dan District.

Dat's plight was very heart-rending as his father passed away because of a serious illness, and his mother suffered from muscular degeneration for a long time. His mother is unable to work, so the family's income was very precarious.

Dat and his sister, Nguyen Thi Thuan, live with his mother in a two-room and low-roofed house. Because of poverty and the lack of a breadwinner, the house is desolate like the lives of the three people.

However, in such constant difficulty, Dat and his sister still strive to study, having achieved excellent results for many years. The two always save time to do housework and take care of chickens helping their mother improve the family’s income. His small hands, in addition to holding pens to study and doing housework, also help his mother to relieve pain every night. For a boy who is only 11 years old, that he should only “know how to eat, sleep, and study”, the things he can do to support his family and take care of his mother are meaningful actions and very commendable.

With the desire to share with Dat and his family through the programme “A pair of loving leaves”, Director of Vinamilk Nghe An Dairy Factory Ngo Cong Thang represented Vinamilk and the Stand Tall Vietnam Milk Fund to give him a scholarship of VND50 million to support Dat and his sister in the journey ahead, helping them grow in the future. With this scholarship, Vinamilk and the fund hope that the economic burden on his mother will be lessened, Dat and his sister will be more confident and dedicated to learning to realise the dreams of changing their lives.

In addition to the scholarship, Vinamilk and the fund also brought to Dat's family and the neighbours nutritious dairy products.

Children in the neighbourhood receive gifts from the Director of Vinamilk Dairy Factory in Nghe An.

Inspiring connections in society

This year the programme “A pair of loving leaves” enters the 5th year on the journey of “giving the opportunity of school, giving the opportunity to change lives” to children in difficult circumstances across Viet Nam and also the third year Vinamilk has accompanied the programme.

Not only bringing the joy of drinking milk to many children through the activities of the Stand Tall Vietnam’s Milk Fund in cities and provinces, Vinamilk has also awarded many scholarships and practical gifts to support their lives under this programme. These scholarships are a solid foundation for students in the future, because “giving the opportunity to go to school” is contributing to “giving the opportunity to change life”. Just like that, the loving arms of Vinamilk and the Stand Tall Vietnam Milk Fund, through the programme “A pair of loving leaves”, have raised many children in difficult circumstances across Viet Nam to maturity.

Nguyen Quang Thai, Director of Community Operations Development Vinamilk received the medal for Vinamilk's journey accompanying the programme “A pair of loving leaves”.

As one of the warm-hearted donors accompanying the programme “A pair of love leaves”, the efforts of Vinamilk and the Stand Tall Vietnam Milk Fund have shown strong results in the community, bringing the programme closer to other donors who are businesses and individuals in society.

Thanks to the programme, in the past five years, many poor students have entered universities while many others are currently studying overseas.

On the next voluntary charity journey, the programme “A pair of loving leaves”, Vinamilk and the Stand Tall Vietnam Milk Fund hope that there will be more organisations and businesses working with the programme to create many “pairs of loving leaves”, letting the “healthy leaves” support the “ragged leaves”, spreading the loving values ​​for a bright tomorrow and for Viet Nam to rise. — VNS