Duong Thi Thu (right) collects books from a nearby library.

The main objective of Vietnam Book Drive for Kids is collecting English children books in the US to send to Vietnamese children.

From her own experience to project

Duong Thi Thu was granted a scholarship from Vietnam Education Foundation (VEF) in 2011, she then got a doctorate in the Cell and Molecular Biology at University of Pennsylvania in 2018.

Thu said she always want to do something and giving back to society. She was accessed to the ‘Vietnam Book Drive’ project, established in 2007 by members of VEF Fellows and Scholars Association (VEFFA). This project aimed to donate books such as textbooks, science and technology books, math books and medical books for tertiary students, English story books for children from the US to Vietnam.

According to Thu, it was a significant project due to its knowledge and reading culture’s spread to the community.

As her experience dealing with language barrier during her time in the US, she recognized the importance of learning English from the native materials as well as the forming and practicing children’s reading habit as in the US. Thus, she and other members of VEFFA launched the project in order to give Vietnamese children an opportunity to access high quality books with beautiful cover and variety content.

The project have sent thousands of books to Vietnam immediately after the establishment in 2014 to help Vietnam’s libraries have a high quality source of book and to promote the reading habit of Vietnamese children.

Thu said 5 years since the establishment, the project provided 5000 – 8000 children books to over 20 public libraries in Vietnam’s largest cities and remote areas.

Inspiration

Thu’s idea expressed the inspiration to scholars, Vietnamese students in the US universities. They became volunteers calling for book’s charity and delivering to children in Vietnam. Thu was moved by all the support and assistance of both Vietnamese, US inpiduals and organizations. Especially, two students Nam and Viet lived in Ohio earned money for the books by helping their parents remove snow and selling home-made food.

Another overseas Vietnamese family in Texas introduced the project to Dell Company and Pearson Education and they mobilizing their staffs gave donations.

Russel Wattenberg and Duong Thi Thu. Photo: VOV

Thu and other project’s members aló bought books from the US’s libraries with a preferred price. Recently, Thu have found a large free book depot in Baltimore city and her project persuaded its owner Russel Wattenberg to donate the books.

“My books are totally free and I need someone like Thu to send books to people in need. I do not know what children in Vietnam want and need to read, so, Thu helps me give books to Vietnamese children,” said Russel.

Being supported by Vietnamese Embassy in the US and the Vietnamese permanent representative delegation to the United Nations, Thu and other members are sending 50 - 100 box of children books to Vietnam in the next month. Members of the project are also holding the science festival for children in Vietnam in 2019.

Besides encouraging the Vietnamese children’s reading habit, Vietnam Book Drive for Kids was served as bridge to help oversea Vietnamese maintain a close bond with the homeland and and reared them to faithfully contribute to national construction./.

Translated by Thanh Van