Emotions from the volunteer trip "Loving Tet"

Volunteer - these two words have been engraved in my mind. I always cherish the desire to help poor children and bring them a warm and loving Tet holiday, just like the name of our volunteer program "Love Tet".

I remember very clearly that night before the departure, I couldn’t sleep because I was so excited. I started imagining what would happen on my trip, humming the song “Blue Shirt” and gradually fell asleep.

Early in the morning when I left home to go to school. It was still dark and the morning mist had not yet cleared. The cold of the winter weather did not make me forget the excitement of this trip.

And just 15 minutes later, I was in my youth union uniform, gathering at the school with the volunteers to start a new trip. The car kept rolling and after more than 100km, we stopped at a strangely peaceful place, that was Ta Xa commune.

When I arrived at the commune, although I was a bit tired from having to travel a long distance, I felt that the air here was really fresh, the scenery was really peaceful, completely different from the hustle and bustle where I was living.

Stepping into Ta Xa 2 Primary School, looking around, I realized that although this school is small, it is a place to nurture the future buds, a place to initially give wings to the dreams of many children. The school is small but full of love. Ta Xa Commune has many children of school age. Seeing them playing together makes me relive my school days.

Because we were all members of the Youth Union of the Faculty of Sociology, we quickly got along with each other. On Saturday afternoon, we planted trees with the teachers in the school yard. Although it was a bit sunny in the early afternoon, we were all very excited. There were many friends from the city who had never even held a hoe before, but they quickly learned how to hoe the soil to plant trees. And I believe that after this volunteer trip, they will have many new experiences.

While setting up the stage for the evening cultural exchange program, I met two children. They looked up at me with clear eyes and asked, “Why is it so late, sister?” Perhaps they, like us, were eagerly waiting for a fun and meaningful evening. When the cultural exchange program was about to end, the campfire began to be lit. All of us, along with teachers, commune leaders, commune youth union, students and many parents, held hands and sang around the fire. I suddenly realized that at this time, the feeling of strangeness between people from different hometowns was no longer there, but instead was the warmth of the fire and the warmth of human love.

That night we felt very happy. A volunteer in the group told me that this was the most enjoyable volunteer trip he had ever participated in and it would be a pity if he could not go with the group this time. Hearing what he said, I felt really happy because perhaps this volunteer trip had brought a lot of meaning not only to us volunteers but also to all the people in Ta Xa commune. The next afternoon we gathered around the dinner table. Just this meal and we would have to return to Hanoi. I felt really sad thinking about tomorrow and the days after that when we would no longer work and play together. Surely many of you have the same feeling as me.

Two days passed quickly, we returned to school. I miss the feeling of gathering in the cultural exchange night, singing and dancing, I miss the image of us sitting around the campfire roasting sweet potatoes, how happy and warm, I miss the afternoon when we dug the ground to plant trees. The work was hard but we still had innocent smiles,... And perhaps the most impressive image was the warm and affectionate smiles, the care of the people of Ta Xa commune and the image of the children lingering when we got on the bus to go home.

Now I just want to say thank you to the leadership of Ta Xa commune, the Executive Committee of the Commune Youth Union, the Board of Directors of Ta Xa 2 Primary School, Ta Xa commune (Cam Khe district, Phu Tho province) for creating conditions for me to participate in volunteer activities, to live with the passionate days of youth and realize many precious values ​​in this life. Thank you to the Team for giving me good skills, no longer being shy in front of a crowd, knowing how to organize and manage group members well. Thank you for the times of anger to understand each other better, thank you for being friends, thank you for the warm moments so that I can feel that true happiness is here...

And I always keep in mind:

"If you are a bird, a leaf
Then the bird must sing, the leaf must be green
How can you borrow without paying back?
"Living is to give, not just to receive."