Located on the 10^th floor of the Da Nang Maternity and Paediatrics Hospital, the ‘House of Sunshine’ every day opens its doors to cancer children and those with other life-threatening diseases who come here to draw paintings for printing on envelopes of ‘li xi’ (lucky money) and then launch sales to raise funds for the upcoming traditional Vietnamese Lunar New Year (Tet) 2023.

A pediatric patient, who is being treated at the Department of Pediatric Emergency - Intensive Care and Poison Control of the Da Nang Maternity and Paediatrics Hospital, is seen drawing lovely pattern on envelopes. Photo: L.V.A

Lucky money giveaway is a long-standing practice that represents “mung tuoi” or “li xi”, literally meaning “congratulation on a new age”. This is a way of wishing good luck, health and happiness for both children and elders during Tet. Lucky money is traditionally put red envelopes, meant to pray for good luck and drive away evil spirits.

Drawing a painting of 6 people sitting around a tray of meal on New Year's Day in a cozy ambience, Nguyen Pham Quang Khai, 13, who is being treated at the Da Nang Maternity and Paediatrics Hospital said the 6 people in this art work are all in his beloved family.

Every year, on New Year's Eve, Khai just wishes he didn't have to go to the hospital for treatment and imagine happy moments of his parents hang out with him at Tet everywhere he wants. The cheerful, colourful painting full of such simple aspirations and wishes is named ‘Sunshine union’ by Khai.

Behind the painting, Khai wrote: “I wish I could be healthy, go to school with my friends and not have to go to the hospital anymore”,  making anyone reading turn deeply moved because that is the biggest wish of cancer patients like Khai.

Having a congenital hemolytic disease, Khai is admitted to the hospital once or twice a month for blood transfusions and iron chelation. Going to the hospital with a high frequency often affects his study but according to Khai, he is still luckier than many children with cancer.

As a patient being treated at the the Department of Pediatric Emergency - Intensive Care and Poison Control, another child patient has drawn a painting reflecting herself and her mother wrapping ‘banh chung’ (square glutinous rice cakes), a traditional Vietnamese type of cakes on Tet holiday, under the yellow apricot tree that when he was drawing, he envisioned the scene of wrapping ‘banh chung’ with her mother and felt happy about it.

Once finished, the painting was named ‘Happy Sunshine’. In addition, the little girl drew more paintings with friends together having fun, which I look forward to every time I leave the hospital.

‘Sunshine union’ and ‘Happy sunshine’ as above mentioned are only two out of the paintings drawn by the child patient and printed on red envelopes for sales at the forthcoming Tet festival.

The programme is coordinated by the project ‘Sunshine is back tomorrow’ that belongs to the Warm Hands of Love club. Mr. Le Van Anh, the project manager said that this is the fourth year the project has sold red envelopes to raise funds in support for child patients with cancer.

According to Anh, the cost of treating children with cancer and other serious diseases is quite high, causing many families to fall into economic distress. On average, each month, the fund ‘Sunshine is back tomorrow’ earmarks VND 40 – 100 million worth of support for the patients’ families so that they can afford hospital fees, medicines, transport expense for pediatric patients.

In order to have funding, in addition to the regular companionship of sponsors, the project has made the debut of many highly meaningful paintings printed on red envelops for sale prior to Tet break.

In addition to fundraising purposes, painting activities bring a lot of joy to children suffering cancer and other serious diseases. At the space of ‘House of Sunshine’ covering only 20m², a joint effort made by the project ‘ Sunshine is back tomorrow’ and the hospital, are always full of coloured paper, rulers, pencils, watercolor paints, watercolors, scissors, glue, stickers and markers available for children.

Many paintings here show the children's simple yet  ardent wishes such as haning put with their fathers for fun, flying kites, playing folk games, going swimming, going to school, making ‘banh chung’ with parents and enjoying family reunions at Tet.

Mr. Anh affirmed that each picture with full of cheerful nuances, accompanied by wishes and messages delivered by cancer patients and those suffering from other serious diseases, thus contributing to spreading the value of love on the first day of the year.

At the same time, such a painting programme gives children more spiritual strength to fight against the pain of illness and come up with Tet dreams - like the loving sentences written by a child on a red envelope: “At Tet, I will come back to our family wherever I live in a new year. Go back and tell all the stories I have gone through, welcome New Year's Eve, go to the kitchen with you, my beloved mom…”

Reporting by TIEU YEN - Translating by A.THU