By Linh Chi Nguyen
Feb 16, 2021
On a cool winter’s day in Quang Tri, a province on the north-central coast of Vietnam, a group of students from Hai Thai Primary School gathered together for a special occasion. When asked by the event’s celebrity host what they wanted to be when they grew up, the students, from 6-10 years old, threw their hands up in the air and shouted out their answers, sharing their aspirations to become teachers, police and doctors. Some wrote letters to their older selves, eagerly describing their dreams for the future while others spoke excitedly about becoming architects who could help the local community, especially in light of recent typhoons that devastated their homes and school.
The special event the students participated in was to mark the delivery of reading materials and school supplies as part of Lazada Vietnam’s “Donate the Dream Books” campaign. Implemented in collaboration with the country’s leading book stores Fashasa, Alphabooks and Deli as well as media partner WeChoice, the programme was part of Lazada Vietnam’s second Book Category Day, which ran from Dec. 23-25. During the three-day period, for every order on the eCommerce platform worth at least VND200,000, Lazada and its partners contributed 10% of the order value to purchase books and school supplies for thousands of students at 10 primary and secondary schools in Quang Tri that were affected by the storms.
With overwhelming positive support from the community, the campaign was able to bring more than 20,000 books, 2,000 notebooks, 11,000 school supply sets and 200 backpacks to schools in Quang Tri’s Dong Ha city and Gio Linh town, where many young children had scrambled to salvage books from the mud following severe floods.
“As a leading eCommerce platform with one of the largest online supplies of authentic books in the country, we want to leverage our resources to help the local communities, especially in times of need,” Lazada Vietnam CEO James Dong said. “It was heartening to see the overwhelming response from the community when we launched this campaign. I’m also glad we can have partners who share our same vision of helping these students to return to school and ensuring that they continue to have access to education and cultivate a love of reading.”
Representatives from Lazada Vietnam and its campaign partners travelled to Quang Tri on Jan. 5 to present the donated books and supplies to the affected schools. Joined by local celebrity Khánh Vy, the host of several popular educational TV shows, the representatives visited more than 400 students at Hai Thai Primary School in an afternoon filled with fun activities and the warmth of the children’s laughter.
During the ceremony, Hoang Xuan, the principal of Hai Thai Primary School, thanked Lazada, its partners and the community for bringing these resources to the school. “The students now have many new sources of knowledge, and these will empower them to pursue their dreams in the future,” she said.
The students were particularly excited about the books that were donated to them. Like many other schools in the province, Hai Thai’s limited budget is only enough to cover the textbooks required for teaching, meaning students have little access to publications such as storybooks. Those who love to read have to borrow from the district library, which is far away from their homes and schools, or wait for older siblings to bring books back from schools in bigger cities. By donating new books to the children, the campaign has helped nourish their thirst for reading, instilling them with the knowledge and passion to strive for their highest potential.
Hai An, a student from the school, said that she was especially excited about the donations since most of the books in her home were swept away or destroyed by the floods. “I will do my best to study well so as not to disappoint everyone’s contribution and support to my hometown,” she said.
Lazada plans to make the campaign a regular activity and to expand its scope to invite more publishers and bookstores so that more children in Vietnam can benefit.
“This meaningful campaign demonstrates our long-term commitment to nurturing young talents and enabling them to pursue their dreams and a future where they will help other people, give back to the community and contribute to the country’s economy,” Dong said.
Linh Chi Nguyen is a manager in Lazada Vietnam’s public relations team, responsible for corporate communications and media relations.