Mid-autumn marks a festive time for kids in Vietnam, where they play with colorful lanterns and nibble on traditional treats. The students at Hy Vong School are no exception. Through the Asian Injury Prevention (AIP) Foundation’s Safety Delivered program, 22 UPS volunteers spent the holiday with students at Hy Vong School in Ho Chi Minh City, a school that specifically tailors cultural and vocational education for children with disabilities.
On October 1, 2020, the Safety Delivered program, supported by The UPS Foundation, hosted a mid-autumn festival celebration called “Gắn kết yêu thương” for students and teachers. The festival featured the sharing of key helmet safety messages with children with special needs.
The students had the opportunity to decorate mooncakes and work side-by-side with UPS volunteers on helmet safety-themed activities, such as interactive drawings and exercises on proper helmet wearing.
“Thank you AIP Foundation for organizing such a meaningful event. It’s lovely to see pictures that capture the beautiful moments,” said To Hoang Thinh, head of human resources, UPS Vietnam.
Students enjoyed their sweet treats while watching a series of helmet safety dance performances including a dance cover to the program’s “three steps, be safe” music video and a Vietnamese traditional lion dance, a performance considered to bring good luck.
“I wear my helmet to school every day,” said Minh (not his real name), age 10, a student at Hy Vong. “My teacher taught me I must wear a helmet to protect my head when going to school because the journey from my house to school might be dangerous for me.”
“It’s so important to make sure that no child is left out of what is meant to be a celebration for all children. By incorporating elements of road safety, like a reminder to wear a helmet, into this holiday, it
becomes much more meaningful and easier for students to remember,” Ms. Trang, Safety Delivered program manager shared.
From 2019 to 2020, 54 UPS volunteers dedicated 314 volunteer hours to student and community safety through educational road safety activities, helmet fittings, and proper helmet use demonstrations under the Safety Delivered program. Across the program’s 18 primary schools in Ho Chi Minh City and Thai Nguyen Province, Vietnam, the average helmet wearing rate of students increased from 26% to 83% between pre-intervention and post-intervention observations.