As introduced, on the morning of November 2, 2023, we went to Vinh My block, where the Vinh Tan ward Party Committee and government held a ceremony to inaugurate a new house for Mrs. Tran Thi Danh. Mrs. Danh's newly built house is at the end of Vinh My block, in a residential area with a majority of Catholics.
At 9 o'clock, there were many people attending the inauguration ceremony. They included relatives of Mr. Danh, neighbors, and neighbors; dignitaries in the Vinh My Parish Pastoral Council, Vinh My Bloc Executive Committee, Party Committee, government, Fatherland Front and organizations of Vinh Tan ward, the city Fatherland Front, and representatives of units and individuals with good hearts who contributed to support the construction of a new house for Mr. Danh's family. At the age of 90, Mr. Danh is now hard of hearing and has difficulty walking, but is still lucid. When we leaned in to ask about the new house, she held our hands tightly, smiled softly, "very happy"; "very happy". Also in that boundless joy, relatives of Mrs. Tran Thi Danh took us to visit the new house. It is a quite large living space with a usable area of 85m22, is designed very reasonably and conveniently. Includes 1 living room connected to 2 bedrooms, 1 kitchen and a closed bathroom; installed with aluminum glass door system, tiled floor, waterproof painted walls... Overall, spacious and beautiful.
According to Mr. Danh's relatives, he currently lives with his two daughters. However, one of them is sick and has lost the ability to work completely, while the other is in poor health. Regarding the old house, due to being built many years ago, it is old, dilapidated, and always damp, especially during the rainy season, which is very difficult and has a negative impact on health. Therefore, when the Vinh My Bloc Executive Committee announced the plan to support the construction and repair of houses for the poor in the ward, the family was instructed to write a request, which was approved by the Ward Steering Committee. And after only a short time, the house worth 280 million VND (including 50 million VND from the fund for construction and repair of houses for poor households in the ward; 49.48 million VND from the ward calling for support from organizations and individuals in the area; 30 million VND from the Caritas Charity Association; the rest of the family) was completed, like a dream.
The joy of Mrs. Tran Thi Danh and her relatives was expressed by her son-in-law, Mr. Trinh Anh Hoi, right at the inauguration ceremony. On behalf of Mrs. and her children, Mr. Trinh Anh Hoi choked up as he sent his thanks to the Party Committee, the government, the Fatherland Front and political and social organizations of Vinh Tan ward, Vinh My block, and the units and enterprises that supported money, raw materials and materials so that Mrs. Tran Thi Danh could have a new, spacious house to live better in her final years. That emotion was because: "She had many children but her family was struggling and facing difficulties. Without the support of the ward, organizations and enterprises, we would not have been able to build her a new place to live like that...".
The joy of Mr. Danh and his relatives is also the joy of the Pastoral Council of the parish, of the people of Vinh My parish - Chairman of the Pastoral Council of the Parish, Mr. Nguyen Van Do confided. He also spoke emotionally: “I would like to, on behalf of the Pastoral Council, thank the Party Committee and the government for their attention to their citizens, who are also the Catholic family of our parish. The Pastoral Council always wishes to have a connection between the parishioners and the Party Committee and the government, so that the parish in particular, and Vinh My block in general, will have fewer families in difficult circumstances, fewer poor and near-poor families, and have a stable place to live to improve their lives. As Bishop Joseph said, “Let’s build bridges for each other…”. The Pastoral Council sees that we have built bridges for each other. Here is the bridge between the Party Committee and the government and the Pastoral Council, the parish, and the parishioners…”.
From June 2023 to now, before Mrs. Tran Thi Danh, there have been 4 households supported by Vinh Tan ward to build and repair houses. They include the families of Mrs. Nguyen Thi Thuy in Cong Hoa block (56.2 million VND); Mrs. Nguyen Thi Huong in block 2 (55 million VND); Mrs. Nguyen Thi Hang Nga in Tan Hoa block (39.9 million VND) and Mr. Ho Sy Duc's family in Vinh My block (33.7 million VND).
In the records of each family, carefully kept by the Steering Committee for Mobilizing, Supporting the Construction and Repair of Housing for the Poor of the Ward, along with the application, land records, design drawings, approval minutes, etc., there are many pictures of 5 old houses. Looking at them, it is exactly as described by the relatives of Mrs. Tran Thi Danh, those are old, shabby, degraded, severely damaged houses that are no longer a safe place to live.
Visiting these families right after the inauguration ceremony of Mrs. Tran Thi Danh's house, we saw joy, respect, and gratitude in them. Mr. Ho Sy Duc's family lives in the same residential area as Mrs. Danh and is also a Catholic family. Mr. Duc's wife teared up when talking about the family's situation: having 3 young children, one of whom has a serious illness and is often hospitalized. Although the couple worked very hard, their jobs were unstable and they always faced difficulties. Because of poverty, their house, although all the rafters, batten, and cement roof were damaged and cracked, but they had no money to repair it, and often had to endure leaks and dampness on rainy days. Only when they received support from the ward could they replace the roof and repaint the house to make it look nice again. "My husband and I are very grateful to the ward, to the organizations and individuals who supported and helped us. This sentiment also helped us have more strength to overcome difficulties...", Mr. Duc's wife said.
For Mrs. Nguyen Thi Thuy's family, the house was built many years ago in a low-lying area. Therefore, it was miserable to have to live in a dilapidated, leaky house and often had to flee floods when there was heavy rain. Mrs. Thuy's husband died early, leaving the family with only a mother and a child to depend on each other, working as a maid, so it was very difficult. Thanks to the care and support of the ward, along with the help of her relatives, she was able to change her living place to a house with a beautiful garden. "I really don't know what to say to express my gratitude...", Mrs. Nguyen Thi Thuy choked.
According to the Chairman of the Fatherland Front of Vinh Tan Ward, Mr. Nghiem Quang Hoanh: Vinh Tan Ward identifies the work of mobilizing and supporting the construction and repair of houses for the poor and people with housing difficulties as an important task, so it should soon start implementing Directive No. 21-CT/TU dated February 10, 2023 of the Provincial Party Standing Committee. According to the target assigned by the Steering Committee for Mobilizing and Supporting the Construction and Repair of Houses for the Poor in Vinh City, from 2023 to the end of 2025, Vinh Tan Ward will build and repair 16 houses for the poor. Because the time of 2023 is shorter than the remaining 2 years, the Party Committee and the ward government make a plan and strive to complete the construction and repair of houses for 5 households by the end of 2023. By November 2, after the inauguration ceremony of the house handover to Mrs. Tran Thi Danh's household, the ward has completed the set task.
“Since June 2023, the Ward Steering Committee has organized the “Program to launch and receive the “Fund for building and repairing houses for the poor and people with difficult housing circumstances”. At the ceremony, organizations and individuals responded and directly donated 292 million VND to the fund. This result has helped spread the meaning of the movement among cadres, party members, workers of the ward and organizations and businesses located in the area as well as all the people. Therefore, with 5 families that the ward has reviewed and selected to build and repair houses, they all received additional support in terms of money and supplies, materials, exceeding the amount of money deducted from the fund…” – Chairman of the Fatherland Front of Vinh Tan Ward, Mr. Nghiem Quang Hoanh discussed.
Attending the inauguration ceremony of the new house of Mrs. Tran Thi Danh, I noticed that the organization method of Vinh Tan ward is methodical, neat and interesting. The report on the results of building and repairing houses for the poor by the Chairman of the Fatherland Front of Vinh Tan ward, Mr. Nghiem Quanh Hoanh, as well as the speech of the Party Secretary Nguyen Trung Dung was short and concise, leaving the speaking space for the family representative, the representative of the Executive Committee of Vinh My block and the representative of the Pastoral Council. It was also noticed that organizations and individuals who provided financial and material support, including Mipec - Trang An Joint Stock Company, Vietnam - Russia Friendship Company, Thang Thanh Brick Company Limited, Minano Group Paint Joint Stock Company, Caritas Charity Association, Ward Farmers' Association, Ward Women's Union; Women's Association of Vinh My block... were all introduced and invited to the position of honor so that the family could meet and say thank you. At the same time, the support funds from the Fund for "building and repairing houses for the poor and people with difficult housing circumstances" and the additional support that the ward called for were all given directly to Mrs. Tran Thi Danh and her children.
Talking with the leaders of Vinh Tan ward, including Party Secretary Nguyen Trung Dung, Standing Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee Nguyen Thi Bich Hanh, Chairman of the Ward People's Committee Nguyen Dinh Thanh..., it was explained that the organizations and individuals who have supported deserve to be honored, deserve to be grateful and remembered by the households with new houses as well as the ward officials. As for the handover of money at the inauguration ceremony, it is a regulation that has been included in the Steering Committee's plan. It can be understood that this is a binding obligation to ensure the success of each project, and also to promote openness and transparency with organizations and individuals who have shown kindness, accompanying the ward to help the poor.
Asked more about the implementation method, according to Party Secretary Nguyen Trung Dung, it basically followed the plan of the Steering Committee at a higher level. With the ward, immediately after the establishment of the Steering Committee, the responsibilities of the members as well as the related professional departments were quickly determined. The plan for propaganda and mobilization of resources was meticulously prepared by the Steering Committee, with the selection of factors to create resources from the beginning to ensure the spread of the meaning of the movement. The Steering Committee also clearly directed the Executive Committees of the blocks to review the subjects that need support for building and repairing houses; make a list for early approval, ensuring compliance with regulations, from there, arrange support implementation in order of priority. Each plot of land for house construction has a different shape, suitable to the terrain, not confined to a single type of 1 convex 2 concave like old-style houses. Therefore, the ward promotes internal resources in preparing design documents to ensure quick and suitable factors for the land plot without incurring additional costs. In addition, the Steering Committee has closely coordinated with the Party Committee, the Executive Committee of the blocks to approach families, relatives, brothers and relatives to clearly explain the policy of the campaign, support for building and repairing houses for the poor and people with housing difficulties of the province, thereby creating consensus, increasing resources for building and repairing houses for the poor...
Party Secretary Nguyen Trung Dung confided: “Up to now, it is very difficult for anyone to imagine the houses where poor households used to live. We recognize that the cadres, party members, employees, and workers of the ward, as well as in the blocks, are all highly aware of the good purpose of the movement to support the construction and repair of houses for the poor and those with housing difficulties, to make efforts, wholeheartedly, and wholeheartedly carry out their tasks. But to achieve this result, Vinh Tan ward is grateful for the enthusiastic support of organizations, businesses, kind-hearted people and people in the area; thanks to the superior Party Committee, the Fatherland Front and the city's specialized departments and offices, who have wholeheartedly helped the ward resolve problems related to procedures for building and repairing houses; problems related to land disputes, land use rights... In Vinh Tan ward, there are still many households with housing difficulties, needing to build new ones or repair them. Therefore, we have determined that this is a program long term, each year accumulates more experience to implement more effectively...".
