Bien Hoa Blind Association celebrated its 25th anniversary.

    Thanks to the local authority and social organizations’care and all the staff and membership’s efforts, over the past 25 years of operation, Bien Hoa Blind Association has obtained a lot of positive results, contributing to making the association one of the strong leaders of Dong Nai Blind Association. It had a membership of 17 when it first started. Up to now, it has admitted 87 members, which makes the membership amount to 104. It is divided into 7 branches. Its executive board has 3 members, including 2 receiving salary from the State budget and 1 receiving salary from kind-hearted donors.

The association helps its members get loans to do business at home

    Thanks to Dong Nai Blind Association’s support – to assist the association’s members in getting loans to do business at home – it has helped 105 members receive the loan of VND 45 million from the province’s Production Support Fund without being charged any interest, set up a project to assist 358 members in getting the loan of VND 856 million from National Employment Support Fund with a preferential interest rate to help its members invest in animal keeping, cultivation, small business doing and handicraft in order that they can support themselves and increase their family income. Thanks to effective work and production, the members’ living standard is gradually raised. Especially, 100% members of the association returned their loans and interest to the State within the required time. Besides loans, it cooperated with Agriculture Encouragement Center and the provincial Veterinary Bureau to organize a training course on the techniques of keeping animals, preventing epidemics and diseases and help its member gain more experience and knowledge in animal keeping and cultivation for a high economic efficiency.

    Considering massage as a high income job that helps restore health, ensures life and suits the blind, the association sent 13 members to the Training and Rehabilition Center for the blind in Ha Noi and Dong Nai Medical College for a massage technique – teaching course and established two massage centers to help restore health and generate jobs for its membership.

    Looking after the association members’ life is always the top priority. Over the past years, the association has encouraged Bien Hoa Fatherland Front Committee, Phap Hoa temple and traffic safety board to offer 60 helmets worth VND 9 million to the province and 35 blind foldable walking sticks worth VND 3.5 million to the poor members who have a hard life and demand for traveling. On Vietnamese Day for the Disabled - April 18, the association has encouraged Dong Nai general hospital, Bien Hoa back-up medical center and kind-hearted donors to organize medical exams, dispense free medicine and give the presents worth VND 26 million to poor members; build 9 houses of love for 9 poor members having difficulty in accommodation and a water-filter pool worth VND 2.4 million; encourage companies and businesses to frequently visit and offer presents worth more than VND 2 billion to its members with difficulty on national or Tet holidays; encourage kind-hearted donors to raise VND 700,000/ month and 200 kilos/ month in sponsorship to assist the association in taking care of its members’ life. Up to now, it has had 31 members with medical insurance cards and 22 members with a regular social subsidy of VND 17,000/ month.

    The association does not only take great care of its members and the blind but participates in other social activities: make donation to the people in flooded areas; support house-of-love construction and white-shirt-given-to-friend programs… with the amount of over VND 4 million. It also focuses on looking after its members’ mental life. In 2001, it set up a club of population and law which is open every two months. It usually runs training sessions on drugs, social evils, HIV-AIDS and family planning. It has sent many members to sport competitions for the disabled, entered competitions of Chinese chess, flower arrangement and tug of war and held Braille-teaching classes of 1, 2 and advanced levels to eradicate its members’ illiteracy.

    In the coming time, the association will continue to promote its achieved results, propagandize and encourage 100% of the blind to apply for its membership, help the members in need of loans ask for larger ones to do business at home; maintain and reinforce massage centers that help restore health, hold customized vocational training classes to generate employment for its members; continue to encourage kind-hearted donors to sponsor in order that the association can have advantages to take care of its members.

(Reported by Van Trang, Translated by Duy Minh)