Overseas Vietnamese promote national traditions
Despite formidable challenges in the host nation, the overseas Vietnamese (OVs) in Cambodia have stood shoulder by shoulder to overcome difficulties by promoting the national tradition “the good leaf covers the torn ones”.
Among them, Sok Tai Tha, member of the executive board of the Khmer-Vietnamese association in Preah Sihanouk province, has engaged in many activities to support Vietnamese people who were laid off due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Vietnamese Consul General to Preah Sihanouk province Vu Ngoc Ly spoke highly of So Tai Tha’s efforts in helping 57 Vietnamese households in the locality enjoy a warm Chol Chnam Thmay festival while carrying out measures to prevent the coronavirus outbreak.
Ly said Sok Tai Tha also encouraged other benefactors to join hands to assist over 40 Vietnamese families and a dozen of Cambodian households with rice and medical equipment.
While in Ukraine, which has also been ravaged by the pandemic, doctor Nguyen Van Khanh has played an important role in the association of Vietnamese people in Odessa province’s board for COVID-19 prevention.
Khanh has assisted the board in diagnosing serious cases, and provided valuable medical information in a timely manner, helping the OVs prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus. Most of the Vietnamese in Odessa infected with the virus have recovered thanks to enthusiastic support of Khanh and the board.
The Vietnamese people association and many other organisations set up by the OVs nominated Khanh as the Honourable Consul General of Vietnam to Odessa.
Khanh, the former President of the Vietnamese people association, was sent to Odessa for further study in 1979, and has lived in the port city of Odessa since then.
In 2003, the Vietnamese people in Odessa was recognised as a minority group in Odessa, and Khanh contributed greatly to the result.
Governor of Odessa province presented an honourable medal to Khanh for his devotion and contribution to the development of Odessa city and Ukraine as a whole in 2011. Four years later, he was named in top ten doctors in the south of Ukraine. In 2017, Dumskaya, the largest newspaper in Odessa, selected Khanh as one of five most influential foreigners in the city.