Expats help to build bridges

HCM City (VNA) - Eleven overseas Vietnamese individuals are doing their part to prevent the high number of drownings that happen every year in remote areas by initiating projects to build transport bridges.

Hailing from Canada , the US , Japan and Australia , members of VK
Group have been relying on both their personal pocketbooks and international
support to accomplish their mission since 2004.

Each bridge has been designed specifically for the geographic features of
the south.

So far, ten provinces, from Tien Giang to Ca Mau, have benefited from the 75
concrete bridges, far more than the 10 the group had hoped for thanks to
financial support from friends across the globe.

"Everybody is grateful to them for this, especially parents and students,"
said Pham Thanh Tang, principal of the Ngoc To Commune High School in Soc
Trang province.

"We no longer worry about the risk of ferry drownings that our students
braved every day," Tang said.

Five of his students were killed in a ferry accident on June 24 of this
year.

The three bridges in the commune have transformed daily life there, which
once depended completely on precarious rowboats to cross waterways. Five
hundred students use the bridges to get to school and 950 households
transport goods across them.

"We want to improve the quality of life of our compatriots, especially in
protecting children," said Nguyen Van Cong, an engineer at VK Group.

VK Group is planning 51 more bridge projects for ten other provinces in the
Mekong Delta.

Visit HYPERLINK http://www.pontvk.org or www.pontvk.org to find out how
you can help.-Enditem