Today, when coming home from school, the face of the boy Nguyen Dinh Hau (born in 2015), in Nghi Long commune (Nghi Loc) seemed brighter when he saw his godmother Ho Thi Thu waiting for him on the familiar steps. He had a not-so-peaceful childhood when he was 6 years old and lost his father forever after he suffered a stroke. After his father passed away, his mother's lung cancer became more and more severe, and then she also passed away in September 2023.
In just a short time, I lost both my father and mother. Unable to accept that pain, I often asked my grandmother in despair: "When will my parents return to me?" Hearing that question, my grandmother could only look at my godmother, Ms. Ho Thi Thu (born in 1967) - Head of the Women's Association of Kim Dien hamlet (Nghi Long commune) because only she could fill the loss in my heart.
According to her grandmother, Hau's mother was a garment worker, and Hau's father, when he was alive, worked as a security guard for a business. The meager salary was only enough to cover the medical expenses and education of Hau and his brother, born in 2006. Entering the period when the whole province was affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, businesses stopped operating and cut staff, causing Hau's parents to lose their jobs. The family's difficult situation became even more difficult when Hau's parents passed away one after another. Even the children's eating and sleeping places were lacking when the house did not even have a bed, the two brothers had to spread a thin mat on the floor.
Understanding those difficulties, Ms. Thu went home to get her own family bed for her two children. At the same time, she cared for them with every meal and sleep. She mobilized the Women's Union of the hamlet to adopt Hau, supporting him with 300,000-500,000 VND per month and necessary school supplies. Along with Hau, 8 orphaned children with difficult circumstances in the hamlet have also received regular care and help from the Women's Union.
Ms. Ngo Thi Thanh Xuan - President of Nghi Loc District Women's Union shared that, up to now, local unions at all levels have connected to support 111 children, with support levels ranging from 300,000 VND to 1 million VND/month/child. In addition, the Unions at all levels maintain the scholarship support program for students with especially difficult circumstances before the new school year, organize the program "Step up for children to go to school", the program "Old books - new hope" to support children with difficult circumstances in the area.
In Hoang Mai town, in recent years, the "Godmother" program has also been enthusiastically implemented by the Councils at all levels. To have effective support and assistance solutions, the association has taken the lead in developing a plan to coordinate with the Labor Federation and the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs of the town to implement the program; established delegations to directly go to the grassroots to assess and grasp the specific circumstances of the children to have a plan to connect and receive sponsorship. To date, 122 orphans and children in especially difficult circumstances have been connected to agencies, units, schools, businesses, and philanthropists to receive sponsorship in a period of 5 consecutive years (from 2022 to 2027), with a total amount of over 2.2 billion VND (not including gifts and many other items). The program has spread to 63 agencies, units, 4 businesses and 2 groups of female entrepreneurs, 9 individuals registered to receive support and sponsorship.
“This is a program with profound humanistic meaning, demonstrating the spirit and responsibility of female cadres and members in participating in solving social issues. The program has given the children not only an additional mother, but also more relatives, an additional family with affection, care, and attention for the children both materially and spiritually, towards a better future for the children,” said Ms. Tran Thi Bich - President of the Women's Union of Hoang Mai town.
In addition to localities such as Nghi Loc district and Hoang Mai town, the Women's Union of many other localities has also widely implemented this program. It can be mentioned that in Thanh Chuong district, the Union at all levels has connected to sponsor more than 100 orphans, Do Luong district has 93 children, Anh Son district has 114 children and Quynh Luu district has 207 children... In addition, the Provincial Police Women's Union, the Provincial Military Command, and the Provincial Border Guard Command have also actively mobilized officers in the force to sponsor hundreds of orphans. The units have implemented fundraising activities for the program in many creative forms such as: donating, mobilizing, calling for benefactors, building models of "Collecting scrap to raise funds", "Car washing to raise funds", "Selling flowers to raise funds", "Rice jars to save money", "Raising pigs to save money", "Receiving and planting fallow fields to raise funds"... From there, creating a significant additional source of funding to take care of the children.
With the goal of "Orphans in difficult circumstances are sponsored and cared for, no child is left behind", the "Godmother" Program in Nghe An has created a strong influence and received the cooperation and contribution of all levels, sectors, organizations and individuals in the province to accompany the Provincial Women's Union after nearly 2 years of implementation. Thanks to that, by the end of 2022, women's unions at all levels in the province had connected to sponsor 1,115 orphans, with a total committed support amount of over 13,830 billion VND (of which, 12.57 billion VND in cash and 1.26 billion VND in cash gifts). In addition, the sponsorship period for the majority of orphans in the province is committed by units, organizations and individuals for at least 3 years, 5 years and the longest commitment period is until the children turn 18 years old, with the expectation of continued support if the children pass the university entrance exam or go to vocational school.
Continuing that achievement, in the first 6 months of 2023, the Association at all levels had 445 more orphans adopted and connected to be adopted, bringing the total number of sponsored children to 1,560. With understanding and sharing, the "Godmothers" have opened their arms of love, becoming a support for orphans and children in special circumstances to have more strength and walk firmly on the road ahead.
In the next phase, in order for the "Godmother" Program to become more and more practical and achieve sustainable results, Ms. Nguyen Thi Quynh Hoa - Member of the Provincial Party Executive Committee, President of the Women's Union of Nghe An province hopes that the Provincial Women's Union at all levels should pay more attention to training and improving the capacity of "Godmothers", especially knowledge and skills in child care, safe living skills; connecting career counseling and vocational training. In addition, the Union at all levels also needs to do a good job of mobilizing and connecting support for orphans; mobilizing and connecting organizations and individuals, especially local women's union officials and members to take care of and raise orphans, along with families and representatives to take care of children every day in terms of health, psychology, emotions, etc.
At the same time, it is necessary to widely spread the humanity of the program and strengthen connections, mobilize resources, especially the active and strong participation of Party committees, authorities and sectors to have comprehensive resources in supporting and caring for disadvantaged orphans. Supervising the management, coordination and use of support resources to ensure fairness, timeliness and efficiency as well as advising, recommending and proposing appropriate policies to create conditions for orphans to receive appropriate alternative care and nurturing for comprehensive development are also issues that need to be effectively implemented.
With these efforts, it is expected that the “Godmother” Program will go deeper and deeper and achieve sustainable results. In the future, godmothers will become a solid foundation to help orphans overcome difficult circumstances and develop comprehensively both physically and mentally.