Nghe An people stay up all night to cook banh chung to send to people in flooded areas.

Join hands to wrap the cakes

In Dong Van commune (Thanh Chuong), people in Phuong Son hamlet joined hands to wrap thousands of banh tet to supportflood victimsQuang Binh. The work of wrapping and cooking cakes lasted from the afternoon until the end of the night of October 19. Ms. Vo Thi Hai (30 years old), a person who participated in wrapping cakes here, said: After a short time of calling, the people in the village donated nearly 500 kg of sticky rice, 500 kg of beans, and many banana leaves. About 60-70 people in the village participated in the steps of making cakes from splitting giang, wiping leaves, rolling sticky rice, wrapping cakes, staying up all night to cook cakes...

Students of Nguyen Canh Chan High School (Thanh Chuong) are wrapping cakes. Photo: Nguyen Canh Chan School

Pots of banh tet cooked on wood stoves are lined up in front of the communal house, with people staying up all night to watch the fire and add water. “I was really touched by the solidarity and cooperation of the people in the hamlet towardsCentral people"The area is flooded. Seeing everyone busy, proactive, working with their hands and talking with their mouths warms my heart" - Ms. Hai shared

Ingredients for making banh chung sent to people in flood-affected areas. Photo: Dinh Tuan

With the spirit of “a piece when hungry is worth a package when full”, “the healthy leaves cover the torn leaves” together towards the flooded Central region, Thanh Duong commune (Thanh Chuong) also organized wrapping and cooking banh chung. It is known that on this occasion, local officials and people joined hands to wrap and cook 1,070 banh chung to send to people in the flooded areas of Quang Binh and Quang Tri.

Mr. Le Van Toan, an official of Thanh Duong commune, said that these cakes were wrapped right at the committee headquarters with the participation of many people in the commune. The Secretary and Chairman of the commune directly supervised the cake wrapping work. "Along with the cake wrapping activity, the commune is calling for donations of rice, instant noodles, cooking oil, fish sauce, etc. After the cakes are cooked, the commune will form a volunteer group to give gifts directly to people in the flood-affected areas," said Mr. Toan.

People in Phuong Son hamlet, Dong Van commune cook cakes at night. Photo: Huy Thu

In the same spirit, Nguyen Canh Chan High School (Thanh Chuong) also organized a banh chung wrapping ceremony to give to people in flood-affected areas. Mr. Nguyen Van Thuan - Vice Principal of the school said: Some people contributed money and labor to create educational activities rich in humanity for the students in the school. Many students ran around looking for dong leaves all afternoon, their hair was soaked, which made me feel sorry. Seeing the students skillfully wrapping banh chung made me happy, promoting the effect of the banh chung wrapping competitions at school... The students had a heartwarming activity on a stormy rainy day.

More than 1,100 finished banh tet cakes of people in Dong Van commune (Thanh Chuong). Photo: Huy Thu

Not only in Thanh Chuong, in Nghi Loc district, Nghi Yen Primary School coordinated with the Commune Youth Union and Parents' Association to organize a program of wrapping banh tet to support people in the Central region affected by floods. On this occasion, the school wrapped 1,000 banh tet with a cost of about 8 million VND donated by the school's union. In addition, in Hamlet 1, Nghi Cong Nam Commune, the Women's Association of the Hamlet also called on people and women to contribute ingredients, organize the wrapping and cooking of banh tet, and donate clothes, water, instant noodles, candy, etc. to send to people in the flood-affected areas.

In Quynh Luu district, on October 19, people in hamlet 4, Quynh Chau commune also launched a program to wrap cakes and send them to flood-affected areas with the participation of many people in the hamlet.

People of Nghia Xuan commune (Quy Hop) join hands to wrap banh chung. Photo: Phan Giang

In the mountainous district of Quy Hop, people in Nghia Xuan commune wrapped and cooked 300 banh chung to send to people in flooded areas in Ha Tinh. It is known that at first, the commune mobilized union members and youths in the area to organize the wrapping of banh chung, but when they started wrapping the cakes, many people in the commune came to support, many people gathered at the commune People's Committee headquarters to do it. The work started from 7 p.m. until nearly midnight, 300 banh chung were wrapped.

Staff and teachers of Xa Luong Secondary School for Ethnic Minority Boarding School together wrapped Chung cakes to send to people in the Central region who are being flooded. Photo: Dinh Tuan

In Tuong Duong district, teachers of Xa Luong Secondary School for Ethnic Minorities, in Xa Luong commune, organized to wrap 100 banh chung to send to the people of Central Vietnam. All ingredients for wrapping banh chung were voluntarily contributed by the school staff and teachers.

Warmth in flood days

These days, when flood waters are surrounding some provinces in the Central region, people in Quang Tri, Quang Binh, Ha Tinh provinces are facing difficulties in the peak of the historic flood, material donations as well as making banh chung to send to people in flood-hit areas are needed more than ever. In addition to the above-mentioned hamlets and schools, some other localities and units in the province are also starting a program to wrap and cook banh chung to support people in the Central region.

These small, pretty cakes convey the love of people to the flooded areas. Photo: Phan Giang

It can be said that, along with the movement of donating material (food, necessities) and cash, the movement of wrapping and cooking banh chung and banh tet to give to people in the flood-hit areas of the Central region has spread throughout the community as a beautiful spiritual feature of the people of Nghe An. In times of hardship, natural disasters, storms and floods, the pots of banh chung cooked in localities have shown the spirit of "loving others as you love yourself", "the whole leaves cover the torn leaves" of all classes of people, joining hands with people across the country to support the people of the Central region.

Women in Nghia Xuan commune (Quy Hop) stay up all night to cook banh chung. Photo: Phan Giang

Depending on the locality, initiated by hamlets, communes, departments, branches, organizations, units or schools, the activity of wrapping banh chung to help people in flood-affected areas still attracts a large number of people and students in the area to participate. People in the localities voluntarily donated ingredients, picked banana leaves and dong leaves in the rain to make cakes, contributed firewood, and stayed up all night to cook cakes. The cakes were small but contained the collective's heart towards the Central region. The image of pots of banh chung and banh tet cooked with firewood, flickering in the night in localities, from the mountains to the plains, not only showed the spirit of solidarity and friendliness of the people but also warmed the hearts of people in flood-affected areas, warmed the hearts of children far from home. This is a charitable and humanitarian movement with profound humanistic meaning, expressing the affection, responsibility and sharing of Nghe An people with people in flood-affected areas.