Youth Volunteers - Beautiful Heroes in the fight against

Covid 19 Pandemic
In Vietnam, Covid 19 Pandemic status has become worse during the past few
months, especially in Ho Chi Minh city where the number of patients has reached up to
thousands per day. This situation forced Ho Chi Minh city’s authorities to impose
Directive 16 which means people would have to practice social distancing periods and be
forbidden to go out for any reason, or even basic necessities like grocery shopping,
medication purchasing in some heavily affected areas. At that time, young volunteers 
became an indispensable force in the fight against the Covid pandemic. Thousands of
students from all universities and colleges throughout the country, especially from
medical universities from Ha Noi, Hue, Da Nang, and Ho Chi Minh city, enthusiastically
volunteered to support the fronliners and became a part of the contribution to this
important fight. They all had a similar thought: “The whole country is united to fight
coronavirus, the young cannot stand still.” Coming to the center of the pandemic, their
duty is quite challenging. They support the quarantine checkpoints, taking samples for
testing, collecting data, tracing contacts, and taking care of vulnerable people. Moreover,
in some lockdown areas, many young volunteers can be seen at supermarkets and in
trucks delivering essential supplies to every household who are forced to stay home.  

To become a volunteer, those young people had to suffer from a lot of difficulties
and challenges. The first and foremost challenge was that you needed to be physically
qualified to work all day. Huy Hoang, a man from Ha Noi shared: “The most crucial
thing is still good health. Without good health, you can not keep working on such a long
day with the hot protective items of clothing. And the continuous and sudden change in
the weather of the South is also a reason to cause some illness if your body isn’t able to
adapt to it”. Besides, the danger of being infected with Coronavirus was one of the
biggest difficult fears they had to overcome. Being easily contracted with Coronavirus is
so scary owing to the threatening impact on our health, more seriously is the death,
therefore, a volunteer needs a strong will and spirit to control that fear. Moreover,
becoming a volunteer fighting against the pandemic was a tradeoff. They had to sacrifice
their study times and their families to pursue a more important mission. Many
volunteers shared that they had left their home for 3 to 4 months and despite the
homesickness, they still tried their best to support the frontliners. 

          Although there are numerous challenges and obstacles, these youth volunteers did
not give up.  Many young volunteers said that the encouragement and support from
their families made them stronger and helped them consolidate their beliefs that what
they are doing is right and meaningful.  In addition, their youthful energy, the strength
of teamwork, and faith in the victory over the Coronavirus were important factors to
assist them in becoming stronger. Last but not least was the kindness and empathy with
the difficulties of people who have to suffer from this bad situation. Bich Phuong, a girl
from Ho Chi Minh said: “ The empathy with local people’s impossibilities give me the
energy to devote myself”
The fight against the Covid-19 epidemic is still facing many difficulties, but with the
enthusiasm of youth, the will and determination to volunteer for the life of the
community, youth volunteers will contribute an indispensable part of the reinforcement.
They are now working day and night against the pandemic and continuing to build
confidence in the victory of the country, for the peaceful life of the people.