She was not attracted by the small, deserted playground with oddly shaped, broken toys. The treeless yard was covered in dust and dirt from the streets.
How can the playground be bigger and nicer when most of the yard has been turned into a parking lot?
Surrounded by four beautiful streets – Nam Ky Khoi Nghia, Tu Xuong, Le Quy Don and Vo Thi Sau – the complex is supposed to be a venue for kids to relax and play but very few children use it.
They go to the children’s cultural house after school but only to take extra classes or because their parents park their vehicles there.
Luckily, I can still find a place to take my daughter once a week. At Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street’s Tao Dan Park there’s an outdoor playground which is always crowded with cheerful kids.
The children happily run around on the sandy ground or wait for their turn on nice merry-go-rounds, seesaws and slides. It is much cooler too as it is shaded by many tall trees.
It’s so hard to find good playgrounds in the city nowadays.
The playground was co-built by the park’s management and the Unilever Vietnam Fund (UVF).
UVF was founded in 2004 with aims to enhance the living conditions of Vietnamese throughout the country.
It is a pity that the children’s cultural house cannot fulfill its duty and provide the same type of facilities.
I wonder whether we care enough for kids in Vietnam’s biggest city, when one of the very few true children’s playgrounds was funded by a foreign company.
By Huynh Ngoc Chenh |
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