Many foreign youths partook in a charity Tet (Lunar New Year) event at a home for the physically-challenged in Hanoi this weekend.
The foreigners, of different nationalities, enjoyed themselves at a program called “Canh Buom Mua Xuan” (Spring Butterflies,) which took place at Vi Ngay Mai Center in the capital’s Bac Tu Liem District on Saturday and Sunday.
They were also deeply moved at the tremendous life efforts made by the physically challenged who are receiving care and training at the center, Vietnamplus, an affiliate of Vietnam News Agency reported on Saturday.
The event is held for the first time to offer the center’s students the opportunity to spend a cozy Tet (Lunar New Year) with the community.
Tet begins on February 19 this year, with festivity lingering on around one week after that.
The event features a slew of traditional Tet welcoming activities, such as making and wrapping “banh chung” (square glutinous rice cake,) preparing pickled vegetables and jam to be used during the holiday, and folk dances.
Two foreigners are seen kneeling, ready to learn how to make a “banh chung” (square glutinous rice cake.) Photo:
Vietnamplus.
The foreign youths found making “banh chung” and “nhay sap” (bamboo dances) particularly captivating.
They were totally engrossed in rolling mung bean paste into balls, and place handfuls of glutinous rice, pieces of pork and spice at the center of “dong” leaves before neatly wrapping up the content to make a “banh chung.”
The foreigners also laughed out loud while trying “nhay sap,” in which attentive players are supposed to move their feet in tandem to the music so that their feet won’t get clamped by the swiftly moving bamboo pipes.
A foreign girl (blue sweater) is pictured enjoying her first-ever “nhay sap” (bamboo dance,) while two others were watching in excitement. Photo:
Vietnamplus.
The center’s physically challenged students also showed participants how to make handicraft items.
They also made scores of richly-colored paper butterflies and hung them all over the center in hopes that the butterflies will bring them loads of joys in the new year.
A physically challenged girl (red sweater,) who is sitting in her wheelchair, is seen showing a girl how to make a handicraft item. Photo:
Vietnamplus.
The event’s initiator and organizer is a Vietnamese artist named Hoa.
The students’ artwork which she is most impressed with is the one that features gorgeous butterflies all over the center’s half-built block of rooms.
“The good and beautiful sometimes bud from forgotten values. I really hope the physically challenged will receive greater social support and sympathy,” she shared.
Đăng ký: VietNam News
