Hai Chau district volunteers help build a road
in the mountainous commune of Hoa Phu.

Nhan Dan - The Da Nang Communist Youth Union has attached a special importance to programs that must be practical and not show off, said Luong Nguyen Minh Triet, Standing Deputy Secretary of the young union about the 2009 National Youth Month.

In the month, until March 9, the youth union had mobilised over 5,400 of its members and local young people to participate in blood donation to save life with 3,522 blood units being given to cure patients in time and at the same time, created a lot of ways for job support to local young people, he added.

Blood donation to save life

We met senior lieutenant Pham Dac Tham, born in Go Noi, Dien Ban district, who is the secretary of the youth union branch of Hoa Son Custody Camp, a young Party member who had donated his blood eleven times in response to the humanitarian blood donation movement launched by the Da Nang Youth Union Charter.

Talking about what he had done, Tham modestly said: “In response to the Youth Month’s guideline ‘each member of the youth union with one action’, hundreds of members of the youth union and young people within the Da Nang Police Force joined the blood donation movement, so what I did is not so much to say.”

Nguyen Thi Kim Dung who is in charge of the humanitarian blood donation work of the Da Nang youth union said, every week, the youth union in co-ordination with the Da Nang Hospital organised a round of blood donation which attracted from 250 - 300 young people.

In recent years, the youth union has established “live blood banks” in seven districts and schools which are organized into 12 clubs with about 30 members of the youth union and young people each, who are willing to give their blood to save life in emergency cases, she said, adding that once Doan Van Thanh residing at Chinh Gian ward, Thanh Khe district, had gastric hemorrhage and needed an urgent surgery, but his blood type belongs to a rare one, so it was not available in the hospital. Fortunately, among hundreds of young people volunteering to donate blood to cure Thanh as a response to the appeal made by the youth union, Trinh Duc Thu, 19 years of age, a student of the Da Nang Vocational College had the same blood type as Thanh’s. In the end, Thanh was cured and escaped the critical situation in his relatives’ great happiness.

Doan Van Hoa, an official of the Permanent Office of the municipal Blood Donation Steering Committee said: “Blood donation to save patients whose life is threatened mainly is currently relying on members of the youth union and young people.. We have a reserve blood donation team with around 400 people who are always willing to give their blood, in which members of the youth union and youth people play an important role.

The Da Nang City now has ‘Blood donation club 25’ with a participation of about 90 people who have ever donated their blood more than 10 times and registered to give their blood about three, four times a year. In 2008, many chapters of the Youth Unions at the grassroots level did the blood donation work well such as those of Hai Chau District, the Polytechnic University, and the City Police.

Contribution to creating jobs for youth people

Another salient feature in the 2009 National Youth Month of the Da Nang Youth Union is to consult and seek jobs for young people. After doing a survey on the employment situation of youth people, it has carried out a Youth Apprenticeship Support and Job Creating Project for the 2008-2015 period. ‘A Job Fair’ for young people organised by the youth union of Lien Chieu District alone opened on the evening of March 7, and through this, 125 young people get jobs at the Hoa Khanh Industrial Park with the initial salary of VND 1.3 million a month each.

The Lien Chieu Youth Union in co-ordination with the Lien Chieu Vocational Training Centre opened a free mechanical training class for more than 26 pupils who had to leave their schools due to their families in difficulties. Currently, many of the city’s other youth unions are actively carrying out many activities to consult and seek jobs for young people.

Da Nang city, home to many industrial parks, has attracted a great number of young people to come to work. Therefore, besides carrying out activities of consulting jobs for young people, the Da Nang Youth Union together with the youth unions at the grassroots level has organised four nights of disseminating information about the reproductive health and anti – HIV/AIDS and drug prevention for nearly 1,500 young people at the boarding houses and at the Hoa Khanh, Lien Chieu and An Don Industrial Parks.

The Da Nang Youth Union and the city’s Young Enterprise Association presented VND 40 million and raised money to buy computers, radios and writing-paper for soldiers at the Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelago and assisting families enjoying social benefits and poor households in the city.

THANH LOC