Children from poor families struggling to survive the Covid-19 pandemic attend a Christmas party held by Catholics in Hue on Dec. 19. (Photo: UCA News)
Lucia Doan Thanh Van, an elementary school teacher in Hue, spent her weekends joining other Catholic volunteers in collecting used items on streets during Advent.
The teacher said they sold the used items besides seeking donations from benefactors to organize a Christmas party for 50 street children on Dec. 19.
The children were also presented with winter clothes, bobble hats, cakes, toothpaste and toothbrushes to help them survive the severe winter.
The volunteers are members of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish with 2,300 Catholics.
Van, 28, who offers online courses to second graders, said most of the children are of other faiths and from Vi Da ward, where many residents live on boats and in the slums.
Their families, who eke out a hand-to-mouth living catching fish in rivers, selling food and tickets on streets and doing manual jobs at markets, are badly affected by the quarantine regulations in force to contain the contagion.
Christmas means sharing love and giving kind gifts to one another, so we are happy to do something useful to support our brothers and sisters in need
“We wanted to give children of other faiths Christmas joy and hope that will impress them easily and give them strength to overcome this hard time,” Van said, adding that many children who are given free basic education by St. Paul de Chartres sisters sang carols during the party.
She said the event rekindled her childhood memories of celebrating Christmas with her friends.
Anthony Hoang Thai Vung, a member of the parish council at St. Francis Xavier Church, said he and 11 others who live by renting rooms and apartments decided not to charge rent money in December in solidarity with their renters who have been badly affected by the prolonged pandemic. Renters include college students and domestic migrant workers from other provinces.
“Christmas means sharing love and giving kind gifts to one another, so we are happy to do something useful to support our brothers and sisters in need,” said Vung, who earns 7 million dong (US$307) per month from his seven-room house.
He said local owners of rented properties also donated 16 million dong ($700) and bought food items for 50 families in need so that they could have Christmas celebrations.
Vung, 69, said that in previous months when local factories and markets were closed during the Covid-19 outbreak, Catholic landlords reduced the rent by 50-70 percent to help their tenants.
Nguyen Thi Ngoan from Ha Tinh province said she and her son’s family stay in a rented room owned by a Catholic.
The 70-year-old woman, who looks after her two grandchildren at home, said her son and his wife, who worked for a garment factory, have been unemployed for the past two months. They were not paid salaries for the past seven months.
She said her son now works as a motorbike taxi driver and her daughter-in-law sells old clothes for a living. Together they make about 150,000 dong ($6.50) a day, which can hardly sustain the family.
“We are deeply grateful to our Catholic landlord who wrote off the rent and even offered rice and vegetables,” said the elderly woman, who is not a Catholic but said she had realized the true meaning of Christmas.
Pham Huu Khoa from Phu Loc district said his mother and wife were infected with the Covid-19 virus and treated at a local field hospital.
The Buddhist father of two said they felt the pressure and suffering, often experiencing anxiety over lack of food while they were isolated inside their home for 14 days by local government officials.
“Catholic volunteers delivered bread every day at our home and elsewhere,” said Khoa, a carpenter who became jobless due to the pandemic.
Father Francis Xavier Nguyen Thien Nhan, head of the evangelization committee of Hue Archdiocese, said they have been providing 1,000 loaves of bread along with meat to people in quarantine on a daily basis since Advent.
“We tell people that these are gifts from Infant Jesus who comes to love and save all of us," said the parish priest of Phu Hau.
Many parishes in the archdiocese and across the country have seen a rise in Covid-19 infections and are holding online Christmas celebrations
Caritas in Hue helps local families cover the cost of medical treatment for Covid-19 patients at a clinic run by Daughters of Mary Immaculate nuns. The 200-bed clinic has been receiving patients since Dec. 9 and some 40 religious volunteers from six congregations in the archdiocese help the medical staff take care of them.
Catholic volunteers also arrange food and medicine supplies as well as transport facilities for patients and their relatives.
Many parishes in the archdiocese and across the country have seen a rise in Covid-19 infections and are holding online Christmas celebrations.
Archbishop Joseph Nguyen Nang of Ho Chi Minh City, the country’s most active archdiocese, permitted local priests to impart general absolution to the faithful on Dec. 19 and 23 so that they can receive the Eucharist on Christmas.
Archbishop Nang said many people could not go to confession and have not received the Eucharist for the past two years. Churches in the city are allowed to celebrate Masses with restricted attendances due to the pandemic.
On Dec. 17, the Health Ministry announced a ban on public gatherings including religious and cultural activities for the coming lunar new year festival in February, besides imposing Covid-19 restrictions.
On Dec. 22, Vietnam recorded 16,555 new infections, the highest daily count since October. The country has had 1,588,335 cases and 30,251 deaths since the pandemic began in early 2020.
