Happy New Year to the needy

A home for sad fates

Instead of sitting down to eat in a damp, dilapidated 3-room house, this year's Tet, the family of Mr. Nguyen Dinh Phuc, 75 years old, in Thuong Dong village, Hong Du commune (Ninh Giang) can gather in a spacious, clean house. The 4-room house of just over 50 square meters is the dream of Mr. Phuc and his wife that has now come true. The couple has 4 children, 2 of whom have suffered from mental illness since childhood. It was even sadder when the eldest son became ill, got married and had 2 children who also suffered from the same illness as their father. His wife is not quick-witted, and for many years has taken one of her children to live elsewhere. Mr. Phuc's third son is 44 years old this year but has the awareness of a child and cannot control his behavior. The couple's two remaining children both have their own families, and their finances are not very good, so Mr. Phuc and his wife have to take care of both children and the sick grandchild.

Due to the difficult circumstances, saving money to build a house was beyond the family's ability. Fortunately, in mid-2023, Mr. Phuc's family received 100 million VND from the Hai Duong Association for the Protection of People with Disabilities and Children to rebuild the house. Together with relatives, organizations and additional loans, Mr. Phuc and his wife were able to build a solid house with a budget of more than 200 million VND. "With the attention of all levels, my family is less sad this Tet than every year. If we didn't receive support, my husband and I wouldn't dare to build a house," said Mr. Phuc's wife, Nguyen Thi Deo, emotionally.

Along with Mr. Phuc's family, from June to the end of 2023, in the province, 59 families of disabled people in especially difficult circumstances were supported by the Hai Duong Association for the Protection of Disabled People and Children with 30 - 100 million VND to repair and build houses with a total amount of nearly 4 billion VND, of which 47 households built new houses.

Talking to us, without having to review the records and lists of families, Ms. Nguyen Thanh Mai, President of the Hai Duong Association for the Protection of People with Disabilities and Children, was still able to provide information about many families that have been supported, such as Ms. Nguyen Thi Ngao in Cao An commune (Cam Giang), Mr. Le Dinh Thuan in Tan Hong commune (Binh Giang), Ms. Nguyen Thi Ha in Ngu Phuc commune (Kim Thanh)... "These are all families with many disabled people, very pitiful circumstances, having to live in very poor conditions. Being supported is very meaningful for families to improve their living conditions, and have more motivation to overcome adversity," Ms. Mai said.

It is known that 2023 is the year in which in a short period of time, the most disabled families in the province have received support to build and repair their houses ever. Thanks to the attention and advocacy of a provincial leader, the entire support fund for 59 disabled families was donated by a business.

More motivation

The year 2023 brings good news for teachers in the province. According to the resolutions of the Provincial People's Council issued at the year-end session, in 2024 and 2025, with a total budget of more than 260 billion VND from the provincial budget, about 9,000 cadres and teachers who are civil servants in preschools in the province will be supported with 1 million VND/person/month; more than 2,700 teachers who are civil servants with low incomes will be supported with 700,000 VND/person/month. This means that many teachers will have a more prosperous Lunar New Year, and they will be more secure in their work.

As one of the disadvantaged teachers at Kim Lien Kindergarten (Kim Thanh), Ms. Nguyen Thi Ny shared: "The monthly support amount is not too large, but it shows the province's concern for the preschool teachers, helping us to ease our difficulties and have more motivation to continue to contribute."

Like many other elderly people, Mr. Nguyen Huu Hien, 70 years old, in Lac Long commune (Kinh Mon) has to live with diabetes and regularly needs to go to medical facilities for health check-ups. Joy came to Mr. Hien and nearly 28,000 people from 65 to under 80 years old in Hai Duong when from August 1, 2023, they were supported with 70% of their health insurance premiums. Along with that, from January 1, 2024, elderly people from 77 to under 80 years old in Hai Duong will also be supported with an additional 30% (in addition to the 70% of the premiums already supported); Party members who were awarded the 40-year Party badge in the province will also be supported with 100% of their insurance premiums. To date, about 1,300 people working in waste collection in the province have been supported with 70% of their health insurance premiums.

The special and humane policies of Hai Duong province help party members, the elderly and those doing heavy work in rural areas to have an additional “shield” to protect their health and bring more joy to life. The above meaningful policies demonstrate the province’s concern and contribute significantly to increasing the rate of people participating in health insurance in Hai Duong, currently reaching 92.6%.

Along with many policies to directly support people with meritorious services, the poor, and the disadvantaged in society, in 2023, Hai Duong province also decided to invest in many works and projects with a total investment of thousands of billions of VND in the fields of health and education to better care for the people. With specific and practical mechanisms and tasks, social security policies in Hai Duong have been and are really effective. This is partly reflected in the average income of people in the province by the end of 2023 reaching 95 million VND, nearly 16 million VND higher than in 2020; the poverty rate decreased from 2.15% in 2021 to 1.37%; the lives of Hai Duong people are increasingly improving significantly.