A nearly 10-year journey to bring the warmth of Mid-Autumn Festival to disadvantaged children

For nearly 10 years, every August moonlit season, the journey named "Mid-Autumn Festival for Children" has been lit up by generations of students of Thai Binh Specialized High School, Hung Yen province. Although still sitting in school with many learning worries, young people still dedicate their whole heart to bring a warm Mid-Autumn Festival filled with love to children and elderly people in difficult circumstances at shelter centers in the area.

Looking back at the past journey, Ms. Pham Ngoc Anh (26 years old), a former student who participated in the first seasons in 2017, could not help but feel emotional when recalling memories of nearly ten years ago.

Ms. Anh recalled: "In those days, we were just a group of high school students initially building a project, without much experience. Everything from preparation to gifts was very simple, mainly homemade handicrafts or extracted from snack savings. The gift was small but handed directly to disadvantaged children at the sponsor's house, carrying all sincerity.

Attached from the early days of the project, Ms. Anh feels extremely proud to see that today's younger generations continue to keep that flame. "Now that I have gone to work and have a stable life, I and the alumni still proactively support and empower them. Seeing that the project is increasingly crowded, the students are more creative and bring smiles to more circumstances, I feel like I have relived the beautiful youthful years," Ms. Anh added.

As the next generation and directly managing the current project, Tran Nguyen Bao Trang (12th grade student, Thai Binh High School for the Gifted) has had three consecutive years attached to "Mid-Autumn Festival for Children". For Trang, each moonlit season marks a step of maturity in awareness and thinking.

Bao Trang shared: "The first time I participated in 10th grade, I simply thought this was a fun extracurricular activity of the club. But later on, when I met, talked and listened to each life story of the children, my feelings completely changed. I realized that sometimes just spending a little time, a little sincere care can bring the children a day full of joy. After each Mid-Autumn Festival, I feel like I have more younger siblings in my family".

Le Ha Vy (12th grade student, Thai Binh Specialized High School) also directly participated in this year's program. Entering the final year of school with a tight schedule and exam pressure, arranging time to prepare for the program is a significant challenge.

Le Ha Vy said: "To prevent work from being rushed, the members of the project have proactively divided tasks, taking advantage of afternoons or weekends to work together. Thanks to the joint efforts of the whole group and volunteers and the support of brothers and sisters, this year the project has prepared nearly 100 gifts for young children and 55 meaningful gifts to send to the elderly at the shelter center.

Mentioning the most memorable memory in each Mid-Autumn Festival associated with the project, Ha Vy choked up and said: "The thing that moved me the most was when the program ended but the children still didn't want to leave. Some children just stood silently watching, some children excitedly grabbed their shirts and pulled their older siblings in to play for a while.

Not only bringing a warm atmosphere to disadvantaged circumstances, "Mid-Autumn Festival for Children" has become a parallel journey with the maturity of students like Bao Trang or Ha Vy. Through each project season, practical experiences have sown in the hearts of young people a profound lesson about empathy and compassion.

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