Ho Chi Minh City (AsiaNews) - A recent Statistics of the student association of Ho Chi Minh City shows that in 2010, more than 2 thousand students will remain in the city to celebrate Tet – the Vietnamese New Year, which coincides with the lunar New Year - far from their families. Of these about 600 are Catholics who, because of meagre economic resources, choose to work during holidays to earn the money needed to finance their studies.
Catholic volunteers in different parishes of the former Saigon have promoted group activities for students so that they can celebrate Tet - which falls on 14th February, with the start of the year of the tiger - in the city. A group of university students have rented accommodation near the Faculty of Economics, an area not far from the headquarters of the University for International Economic Relations, near the church of Cho Quan.
Hoa, an economics student, said that "this year I will remain alone in Ho Chi Minh City to celebrate the Lunar New Year," and she asks "how will family take this". She reveals that many of her friends and students will remain in the city. "They make this choice - she adds – because they don’t have the money for the trip. For them it is important to save money, to pay fees for the next semester".
Many students, most of whom come from the dioceses of the North, remember with pleasure "the family atmosphere during the preparations for the New Year" and will miss their family and parish activities. Despite this, the young people feel the support of local communities, who have invited them to participate in activities and working groups of the Archdiocese of Ho Chi Minh City.
Separation from their family is compensated by bonds of friendship and mutual help that have grown among the students. They gather to attend Mass every Saturday and Sunday. And the joy they experience becomes an opportunity for witness: to their landlords, who at first do not understand the reason for their faith, the young people show happiness, friendship and support, which also heartens their neighbours.
