“Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, my dad and I both lost our jobs and did not have a stable income for over 6 months. During this time, we didn’t have enough means to buy food or necessities, nor were we able to afford my school tuition fees. This led me to forfeit a week of school.”
This story about Phi Phong, a student in the 11th grade at Tan Phu District’s Centre for Continuing Education, is one that is shared amongst the other 645 children of the We Are In This Together project. These children were all heavily impacted due to the pandemic.
The project We Are In This Together was carried out in collaboration between Prudential Vietnam, Eastspring Investments, and Saigon Children’s Charity to support 646 children in their online education and daily necessities by delivering Education Packages that consisted of a tablet, internet data, earphones, online satefy training, etc. and Health Support Packages that consisted of rice, instant noodles, cooking oils and sauces, eggs, etc.
Saigonchildren worked alongside with the partners to identify 646 children with disadvantaged backgrounds who are attending charity schools/shelters and do not have equipment to learn remotely. Their parents are primarily migrant low-income workers and many of them have lost their entire income stream after prolonged citywide social distancing. These children are studying at schools such as Tan Son Nhi Charity School; Lotus Shelter; Light Shelter; group Friends street children; universal class in Go Vap district; love classes in Cau Han, Long Hoa and Phuoc Thien; Continuing Education Centres in Tan Binh and Tan Phu District.
The project provided 512 Educational Packages and 1,024 Health Packages to 646 disadvantaged children. Each Educational Package consisted of a tablet, earphones, and network data, as well as online safety and eye care training at 11 schools remotely and in person. Alongside the Educational Packages, the project also delivered a total of 1,024 Health Packages in 2 cycles. The Health Packages consisted of 25kg of rice, dry and canned foods, vegetables, and spices.
“The health and educational package we received allowed my family to have fulfilling and warm meals. The support from the project is something so valuable and restored my faith in humanity. It also helped me see that there are many organisations seeking to help families like mine,” Bich Tuyen, a student at TTGNN GDTX Tan Binh, shared.
“Each tablet and 3G data package provided by the sponsors were extremely valuable to our children because each student now had the opportunity to continue learning on their personal devices, which brought a lot of happiness to the children and more motivation to study.” – Ms. Pham Thi Thuy Nhai Deputy Director of the Continuing Education Centre in Tan Binh District, said.