On June 5, the Youth Union of Kon Tum Province initiated a tree planting campaign in the Central Highlands province, attracting the participation of over 500 Youth Union members, young people and local residents of Tu Mo Rong District. Twenty Taiwan banyan trees were planted in an elementary school in Dak Ha Commune, and 2,000 three-needled pines were planted along Van Roi Pass in the district.
On this occasion, more than 2,000 Youth Union members planted 12,000 Hopea, giant crepe-myrtle, Padauk, resin and pine trees throughout Kon Tum Province. In addition, the People’s Committee of Tu Mo Rong District had 100,000 two-year-old pine trees planted around the district. These pine trees were presented to the locality by the HCMC Conservatory of Music.
Vo Trung Manh, chairman of the Tu Mo Rong District People’s Committee, told thanhnien.vn that forest management, protection and development, medicinal herb and Ngoc Linh ginseng cultivation, animal husbandry, and tourism are ways to help people escape poverty and improve their income.
Vietnamese man teaches wet rice farming to Angolan villagers
In 2016, Pham Quang Linh from Nghe An Province went to Angola in Central Africa for guest work in the construction sector. After a few years, the guest worker spent his savings opening an ice-making plant in Luanda, the capital of Angola.
One day, Linh visited Sanzala, the home village of one of the Angolan employees working at his ice factory, about 600km from Luanda. Linh used his own money to cook meals and buy rice and necessities for poor villagers. Then he opened his Quang Linh Vlogs on YouTube to post his charitable activities in Angola, attracting about 4 million subscribers. He also established Team Africa with four Vietnamese and five Angolans to carry out charitable activities for more locals in need.
Linh and his teammates raised funds to drill wells for Sanzala villagers to have clean water for their daily activities. They also installed solar panels to supply power to every household in the village.
It took Team Africa two years to repair old schools and build new ones for some 5,000 students in eight mountainous villages in Angola. The team taught wet rice farming to locals, guiding them to dig ditches to irrigate their rice fields.
Linh had bought 14 hectares of land for corn, sugarcane and vegetable farming, animal husbandry and aquaculture in Angola. He told vnexpress.net that he and his teammates would transfer all the farming techniques to locals with a view to improving their lives.
U.S. citizen adrift at sea rescued in central Vietnam
An elderly American traveler, Quinn Richard Anthony, was rescued by fishermen in Quang Ngai Province in early June after his sailboat broke down during a journey from the Philippines to Nha Trang City.
Quinn’s sailboat was drifting about 40 nautical miles from Duc Minh Commune, Mo Duc District, Quang Ngai Province, when being found by Truong Khac Huy’s fishing vessel on June 3. The fishermen towed Quinn’s sailboat to Sa Huynh Port and handed it over to the border guard unit, reported the Dan Tri news site.
Quinn had set sail from Luzon Island, the Philippines, on April 5, intending to visit Nha Trang in Khanh Hoa Province. However, severe weather damaged his boat’s mast and engine, forcing him to let it drift for several days. Spotting a fishing vessel in Quang Ngai’s waters, he signaled for help.
After being brought ashore, he underwent a health check and received food from the border guards. Authorities in Quang Ngai also helped him contact his family to arrange for his return home.
The collector of ancient teapots
Nguyen Van Duong, 40, who lives in Thuan An City, Binh Duong Province, has collected more than 1,000 ancient and old teapots over the past decade.
Teapots of various types and sizes are displayed on shelves installed on almost all the walls in Duong’s house and on the veranda. He told vnexpress.net that the majority of his collected teapots were made domestically, dating from the early 20th century to the 1980s. They were bought from Binh Duong, HCMC, and from other collectors.
Those more valuable and expensive teapots are kept in glass display cabinets in his house. Duong said these invaluable teapots were made of ceramic or porcelain hundreds of years ago. The teapots made during the Ly Dynasty (1009-1225) with their typical brown enamel are also kept in glass display cabinets. A baked-clay teapot made in the Tran Dynasty (1225-1400) is the only of this kind he has collected, he said.
Duong has also owned two sets of teapots, trays and cups made in the Le Dynasty (the 16th-17th centuries). The most ancient teapot owned by the young collector was made in Thanh Hoa in the 6th or 7th century.
