500 Red Cross members and volunteers from across Vietnam and representatives of 11 Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies abroad participated in multiple activities at a Camp event in Nha Trang city.

There was a first aid skills competition, disaster prevention and response drills, a video clip design competition on youth and volunteer activities, a debate competition on community volunteer projects, and a beach cleaning activity.

Duong Thi Tuan Anh, a volunteer from Khanh Hoa province, was eager with the camp program and told VOV, “Unlike previous camps, this time there was a greater concentration on first aid skills, fire prevention and fire fighting, setting up community projects, and pitching volunteer activities to organizations.”

Nguyen Chi Nghe of Hau Giang province’s Red Cross Society said participants from 63 provinces and localities were taught useful skills they can use to help their community when they go home.

“Rehearsing disaster prevention and response skills helped us master those skills. After the camp, the 80 volunteers from the Mekong Delta will go home and set up teams to teach the skills to local people,” said Nghe.

Red Cross members and volunteers from across Vietnam told stories about how they have contributed to society and spread the spirit of youth through volunteer activities – like the charity kitchen model in Lang Son province, the traffic safety support club in Vinh Long province, the blood bank in Thai Nguyen province, and the humanitarian porridge pot and the organ donation movement in Quang Ninh province.

Each story provided inspiration to camp attendees to build on these activities as they shared as follows:

- “Each Red Journey of humanitarian blood donation season gives me and the whole volunteer club the zeal of youth and the color of love, compassion, and solidarity among millions of Vietnamese hearts.”

-  “The traffic safety support team of Vinh Long province’s Red Cross Society has supported people who have traffic problems late at night. The volunteers are young people with a strong spirit of volunteering, who voluntarily spend their time and money doing something meaningful.”

- “Meeting so many people facing greater challenges than my own makes me feel fortunate and makes me love this work more and want to keep contributing to the voluntary blood donation movement.”

- “While doing this work, I try to spread the meaning of these beautiful actions. I believe the humanitarian porridge pot club will attract more members in Quang Ninh.”

Maha Barjas Hamoud Al Barjas, Vice President of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in charge of the Asia-Pacific region, said that the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies acknowledge the important contribution of young people in promoting humanitarian movements for the benefit of communities.

“We need to change and be more united to maintain sustainability and relevance for this generation and future generations,” said Maha.

President of the Vietnam Red Cross Society Bui Thi Hoa said, “All the delegates listen and think about what you can learn and replicate in these models. You can connect with each other to become a network.”

“If a small thing is done by everyone, it can change society. Youth is a factor of change, a contributor to changing awareness and behavior and making life better and more humane,” Hoa noted.

A spirit of volunteering for the community is an inherent quality of young people. The events, volunteer activities, and inspirational examples introduced at the camp are vivid evidence of the creative role of youths in socio-economic development and community benefit.