Biet Doi Nang Xanh or the Blue Sunshine Squad brings together students of junior and senior high schools in Da Nang and neighboring Quang Nam Province to perform good deeds for the community and green environment.

The Blue Sunshine Squad members are active in protecting the environment with a focus on such activities as collecting used batteries to recover valuable materials, and picking up trash from beaches.

On Sunday mornings, the squad members are seen picking up trash from Da Nang’s beaches, the Son Tra Peninsula, or the Bo Bo Mountains in Quang Nam Province. Sometimes, they leave their home at 3:00 am or 4:00 am to get to areas located far from the city centre to clean up trash.

Just 2 months after the formation of the squad, its members have set foot in many locations in Da Nang and Quang Nam Province to collect trash from these places in order to keep the environment clean and green.

Squad leader Nguyen Pham Tung Quan, a student of Luong Thuc Ky Senior High School located in Quang Nam Province, shared: “When going on picnics, I noticed that lots of trash were left behind at tourist attractions. Therefore, I were determined to gather young people who share the desire to protect the environment and protect their landscape. Currently, the squad has about 40 members from Da Nang and neighboring Quang Nam Province. As our squad name indicates, we hope to be little rays of sunshine to clean up and green up the environment."

Quan said that the project named ‘Picking up trash together’ is the first, long-term and ongoing project of his group. If his group hear of or know about places where lots of garbage are left behind, his group will ask for permission from management boards and local authorities of these places to offer a helping hand to clean up the trash. The project is carried out by the Blue Sunshine Squad on a weekly basis. Quan remarked: "Lots of solid waste are produced by people every day, so we are willing to pick up trash left behind in order to keep our environment clean as long as possible".

In addition to picking up trash, the Green Sunshine Squad also implemented the old battery collection project. Just 3 weeks of their implementation of this project, the group collected nearly 500 used batteries. The positive results were attributed to great efforts of the group to raise recycling awareness in their community, and organize a gift exchange using old batteries found in home. The group gave beautiful gifts, including lotus pots recycled from glass bottles collected during their garbage collection, or woolen keychains made by its members, for residents’ used batteries.

Currently, the squad is calling for funds from individuals and organizations to deploy the project "Dinnertime" in order to offer food to street vendors or patients who are under treatment at hospitals in Da Nang and Quang Nam Province. In addition to protecting the environment and helping the community, things that make the Blue Sunshine Squad members happy are strong support from their community. They received gloves, garbage bags, cleaning tools, glasses of sugarcane juice, or money raised from donors.

Nguyen Thi Khanh Ngan, a student of the Do Dang Tuyen Senior High School located in Quang Nam Province, explained the reasons why she joined the Blue Sunshine Squad: "Sometimes, I have to wake up at 3:00 am to travel over a long distance to get to our meeting point. After that, I and other members of the squad pick up trash for 3 hours under the hot summer sun. Our work is quite hard, but in return, we feel happy as we can do meaningful things to help the community.”

Le Thi Nhu Quynh, a student of the Huynh Ngoc Hue Senior High School located in Quang Nam Province said: “I learned to be patient when working with teammates during our squad’s activities. Through our specific actions, I understand better about the importance of environmental protection, and believe that our small actions lead to big changes."

Reporting by NGAN HA – translating by H.L