Growing up in an orphanage, 27-year-old Nguyen Quang Hieu early harboured dreams of helping those in circumstances similar to his own. To achieve this, Hieu established the Sen Viet Club with the desire to extend the strands of love to thousands of orphaned children, students, and families facing difficulties.

For over 9 years, Nguyen Quang Hieu, Chairman of the Sen Viet Club, has embarked on a journey of goodwill to 15 remote districts, bringing joy and smiles to many underprivileged situations. PHOTO: Hieu participates in a volunteer programme in Xop Commune, Dak Glei District, Kon Tum Province, as part of the "Moon of Love 2023" programme. Photo: H.V

In the ‘Light of the Ba To highland’ programme scheduled for June in Nuoc Giap Hamlet, Ba Kham Commune, Ba To District, Quang Ngai Province, the club plans to build concrete roads, launch a Zero-VND book library, provide 500 solar-powered lamps, distribute gifts to 76 households in difficult circumstances, and support books and notebooks for local pupils. Hieu candidly expressed that the club is continuing to seek cash and in-kind support to ensure that the programme will proceed as planned.

Sharing about himself, Hieu recounted that his parents divorced when he was only 7 months old, but he luckily was adopted by his aunt. Due to financial difficulties, at the age of 10, his aunt sent him to the Hoa Mai orphanage in  Ngu Hanh Son District.

After many years of living under the love of the community and society, Hieu felt happy and warm, but also keenly understood the difficulties and emotional deficiencies, thus always harbouring the intention of founding a volunteer group to share the love with orphaned children and those in difficult circumstances.

In 2015, when he became a first-year student majoring in Social Work at the University of Science and Education of the University of Da Nang, he and his friends founded the Sen Viet Club with the meaning of a lotus flower growing in mud but still emitting a radiant fragrance.

In 2017, the club was under the auspices of the Youth Union organisation of the Faculty of Educational Psychology, the UED, and by 2019, the club was under the National Volunteer Network in the Central Region.

After 9 years of operation, the Sen Viet Club now has 68 members, mainly students, and working individuals. It aims to organize 10 volunteer programmes each year with themes of Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter. Among them, notable activities include Red Tet for children, Summer Lotus, Moon of Love, Warm Winter for children, donating books to highlands for knowledge sharing, and Light of the Ba To highland.

"In addition to the goal of social assistance, I hope to create a space for students and volunteers who love volunteer work to have a place to meet and exchange ideas to help the club complete many programmes. Many members of the club have organised numerous activities on their own to share with more difficult circumstances, which is one of the successes that the club is aiming for," Hieu added.

Thanks to the efforts of the collective, the Sen Viet Club has now reached over 15 remote districts, bringing joy and smiles to thousands of people in difficult circumstances. This passionate journey becomes more meaningful as Hieu's Sen Viet Club becomes the main topic of the "Complete Love Connection" programme on VTV1 channel of the Viet Nam Television.

Hieu’s volunteer footsteps have not stopped, and he hopes that the club will continue to grow and to help needy people.

Reporting by HUYNH VU - Translating by T.VY