A loving Tet holiday at the SOS Children's Village...

(Baonghean)As the year draws to a close, the SOS Children's Village (Vinh City) becomes even more bustling with the atmosphere of preparing for Tet (Lunar New Year). Children who have gone away to study or work return to the village to celebrate Tet in the warm embrace of their mothers; charitable groups bring Tet gifts to the children in the village; mothers and aunts are busy preparing for their children to have a clean and tidy Tet; the children in the village clean and tidy up to welcome the new year... A spring full of hope, a Tet full of love and warmth is coming to the children.

These past few days, Mrs. Dinh Thi Nghiem (house number 1, SOS village) has been constantly busy. She's been pickling onions and cucumbers, making chili sauce, going to the market to prepare dried food, buying candies, and sunflower seeds for the whole family to celebrate Tet (Lunar New Year). She has ten children; the oldest is in 7th grade, and the youngest is only 4 years old. This year, her older children – some are university students, some are working, and some are married – have all come home to celebrate Tet with her and their younger siblings. She's so happy. All her children are here together. Mrs. Dinh Thi Nghiem said: “These children are orphans, without a place to live. Tet is a time for family reunions, but these children are less fortunate and cannot be reunited with their relatives. It's heartbreaking for them. Every mother and aunt in the village hopes to give them a feeling of warmth and affection during Tet. Every year, my children and I buy ingredients and make cakes and jams together. This year, my family will make ginger jam and coconut jam to offer as gifts to guests when they come to visit and wish us a Happy New Year.” This year, with all the children home and the family reunited, she will wrap more banh chung and banh tet (traditional Vietnamese rice cakes), make more jam, and cook more chili sauce, so that when the children leave after the New Year, she will have gifts to send them. Nguyen Thi Lien, a daughter of family number 5 and currently a first-year student at the Posts and Telecommunications Institute, said: “I was orphaned at a young age and grew up surrounded by the love and care of the village. As soon as the school announced the Tet holiday, I rushed back to the village to celebrate Tet. Returning home, seeing my mother and siblings again, and celebrating Tet in my own home, surrounded by my mother's love and care, made me very happy…”

The family of Dinh Thi Nghiem's ​​mother makes pickled onions.

The house of family number 6 has been bustling these past few days. After school, the children are busy decorating the house and garden to welcome the Lunar New Year. Strings of dice they made themselves are hung up as curtains; lanterns made from red cellophane paper they glued themselves; and their spring poems and drawings of flowers and plants have added color to the house. Le Thi Mai Anh said: “My father passed away, my mother left and went abroad, so I was sent here when I was 6 years old. This is the fourth time I’ve celebrated Tet in the village. I feel happy and warm. During Tet, we get to celebrate New Year’s Eve, pick lucky branches, receive red envelopes, and enjoy cultural performances… This year, I will make and give my mother a card with the message, ‘I want to thank you, Mom, for your dedicated care and teaching over the years. I wish you good health so you can continue to raise your children.’”

As is customary, from the afternoon of the 28th day of the Lunar New Year, all families in the village organize the making of banh tet (traditional Vietnamese rice cakes). This is a task that all the children in the village enjoy. They tie the strings themselves, then gather around the warm fire, boiling the cakes with their mothers and siblings, sharing their thoughts and feelings. For the mothers, what they look forward to most is seeing their children, who live far away, return home, creating a warm and happy atmosphere for the spring festival. Mother Nguyen Thi Xuan said: “Every New Year's Eve, after celebrating together in the village hall, each family organizes a feast and games. And every year, the mothers scrimp and save their income to buy gifts for their children. Some give a book, some a shirt, some a pen, some a box of crayons… with the hope that their children will be well-behaved and excel in their studies. The children give their mothers handmade knitted scarves, self-drawn pictures, and touching wishes…” And that is also the great happiness of more than 50 mothers and aunts in the village, who have sacrificed their whole lives for their children. Some have been attached to the village for more than 20 years, meaning 20 Tet holidays they have spent away from their families, sacrificing reunions with loved ones to ensure the joy of their children. Because their children are their only relatives, their most solid support throughout their lives...

Currently, the village has 20 families with 245 children, with 18 new children admitted in 2012 alone. To ensure the children have a warm and loving Tet holiday, the village leadership has developed a specific and thoughtful plan. Mr. Nguyen Xuan Thuy, the village director, said: “These children are from less fortunate backgrounds, and we always strive to ensure they have a warm, complete, and loving Tet holiday. The joyful days of Tet and welcoming the Spring are also the days when the children need the most sharing and care. Therefore, in addition to providing them with a complete and decent Tet holiday with sweets, fruits, sticky rice cakes, kumquats, peach blossoms, etc., the village staff also organize many cultural and artistic activities to boost the children's spirits...”

From the beginning of the twelfth lunar month, the village leaders meticulously planned preparations for Tet (Lunar New Year). They launched a campaign to create wall newspapers with the theme "Springtime Under the Loving Roof," and encouraged children to write essays expressing their feelings about mothers and spring. On New Year's Eve, all the children gathered in their families' loving embrace. On the morning of the first day of Tet, they received New Year's greetings, lucky money, and games and cultural performances organized by volunteer student teams. The village provided each family with 1.4 million VND for Tet shopping, and also appealed for support from organizations, individuals, and philanthropists to ensure the children had a prosperous Tet.

Bidding farewell to the SOS Children's Village amidst a light drizzle, in front of each house, peach blossoms were in full bloom, another spring had arrived, and thanks to the care and attention of the village, the mothers, and the aunts, the children were able to celebrate a New Year filled with love...

Text and photos: Thanh Phuc