Thousands of youngsters, including tertiary students, have joined the Ho Chi Minh City Go Green Club (GGC).
 

Go green: Students from colleges and universities in Ho Chi Minh City join in the Go Green Club.

Members of the club – formed last year and intended to raise environmental awareness – join residents of Districts 1, 3 and 10 to regenerate the tradition of cleaning their heigh-bourhoods every Sunday.

"We deliver each household a handbook that shows how to live a green life and explain that not throwing waste into the streets is a simple way to keep the environment clean," said GGC member Nguyen Hai.

More than 4,000 of the city\'s youngsters had attended a GGC festival and raised more than VND20 million (US$1,000) in donations and 1,000 second-hand outfits for disabled children in District 4.

Club members delivered moon cakes and sweets for the lonely elderly and children of Dong Nai Province\'s Tre Village, Cam My District, last Sunday.

"We join with the elderly and the children to clean houses and plant trees," said Hai.

Another club member, Thu Hoai from National University said the club had linked the community with young protectors of the environment.

"Joining the club gives us the opportunity to exercise unity and learn from voluntary activities to keep the environment clean," she said.

GGC Ho Chi Minh City is as part of a Go Green environmental protection programme funded by Toyota Viet Nam, TMV, and co-organised by the Education Ministry and the Environment Protection Agency.

TMV general director Akito Tachibana has pledged to continue funding the programme, saying he hoped that it would extend beyond Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.