Religious establishments join hands for the pandemic fight

Religious organizations in Binh Duong have actively participated in the prevention and control of the Covid-19 pandemic by many good, practical and effective ways, making an important contribution, helping the Party committees, authorities at all level in the province, showing high responsibility towards the community.

To actively participate in volunteer work

During peak days of the fourth wave, Buddhist monks and nuns of pagodas were busy arranging boxes of instant noodles and bags of rice, prepared vegetables, potatoes, pumpkins, carrots, cabbages, etc. to give them to representatives of the Fatherland Front in districts, towns and cities in the province to promptly deliver them to people having difficult circumstances. To respond to the call of the Central Committee of Vietnam Buddhist Sangha, the Provincial Buddhist Sangha, and all monks, nuns, and Buddhists of Binh Duong in recent months have actively participated in charity work, taking care of people's lives who were facing difficulties due to the Covid-19 pandemic as well as actively supporting the disease prevention and control.

The Provincial Board of Directors of Vietnam Buddhist Sangha supports the program computers for children.

Namely, the Provincial Buddhist Executive Board mobilized Buddhist Boards of districts, towns, cities and monasteries, monks and nuns to support the purchase of medical equipment and the Covid-19 Vaccine Fund; distributed over 70 tons of rice; cooked and distributed more than 100,000 meals to people in isolation, lockdown areas and Covid-19 treatment hospitals; gave hundreds of gifts to Cham and Khmer ethnic people facing difficulties due to Covid-19; donated dozens of ventilators to medical facilities; requested pagodas and monasteries in the province to set up funeral ceremonies and receive ashes of deceased victims of the Covid-19.

According to preliminary statistics, the total contribution of the entire province's Buddhist community has been about more than 40 billion VND, along with more than 150 tons of agricultural products and many materials and equipment, medical equipment... Ngoc Thuan Monastery (Thuan Giao ward, Thuan An city) is one of the religious establishments that have contributed to the local disease prevention and control. In order to share some of the difficulties with the people, Ngoc Thuan Monastery actively carried out relief activities, worked together with Party committees and local authorities to take care of the people, especially during the peak pandemic days.

In Phu Hoa ward (Thu Dau Mot city), monks and nuns responded to the call and joined the frontline of disease prevention and control. During the peak days, Steering Committee for Disease Prevention and Control of Phu Hoa Ward received 25 volunteers who are monks, nuns and Buddhists, to assist in the Covid-19 testing process to promptly "separate" infected people out of the community, contributing to limiting the outbreak of the disease. In addition, religious establishments have also mobilized followers to uphold the spirit of sharing and join hands for volunteering activities of the Covid-19 struggle.

Good living, beautiful religion

Besides monks, nuns, and Buddhists, Catholic priests and people in Binh Duong also joined hands for volunteer activities, sharing difficulties with local authorities and people, together overcome difficulties due to the impact of the pandemic. According to Father Tran Dinh Phung, representative of the Committee for Social Charity - Caritas Phu Cuong, during the fourth outbreak in the province, parishes in Binh Duong supported the disease prevention and control work through many forms, such as donating cash, necessities, cooking meals for needy people, with a value of up to nearly 16 billion VND.

This is an incomplete statistic because many parishes have not reported it yet. Particularly, the Committee for Social Charity - Caritas Phu Cuong also donated many foods, such as rice, instant noodles, vegetables, meat, fish, milk ... with a total value of 2.6 billion VND... The noble gestures and actions of dignitaries and Catholics have warmed people's hearts, and at the same time encouraged parishioners to strictly observe the regulations of the Government and the health authority on disease prevention and control.

Notably, in order to help sharing difficulties with the medical force who are fighting the pandemic day and night, Fatherland Front Committee of the province also launched three campaigns for Buddhists, priests, monks voluntarily taking part in the pandemic fight in localities having high number of infected cases in the province. Nguyen Huynh Dinh, Vice Chairman of the Provincial Fatherland Front, said that the Fatherland Front at all levels in the province strengthened the work of information, propagation, and guidance among religious practitioners and followers in the area to encourage them actively participate in the Covid-19 prevention and control under the guidance of the Government and Provincial People's Committee. Besides, the Fatherland Front actively called on religious organizations to promote the spirit of humanity and charity, to join hands  with the government in practical social security activities to take care of needy people during the pandemic time.

In particular, a large number of religious practitioners and followers have volunteered to participate in the frontline of pandemic prevention and control. Most recently, the Provincial Fatherland Front also made a call to religious organizations in the province to support a program of donating computers to children, helping disadvantaged students with necessary equipment for online learning. Currently, the Covid-19 pandemic is basically under control, but religious establishments in the area continue to join hands  with the Party committees and authorities at all levels for the disease prevention and control in the new situation.

Reported by Huynh Thuy - Translated by Ngoc Huynh