About 200 underprivileged children gathered at the Equatorial Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City Tuesday for a Mid-Autumn day out and the opening of a charity painting exhibition at the five-star hotel.
The disadvantaged children include those with Down syndrome, hearing-impaired boys and girls from Anh Minh and Hy Vong 1 Schools for Deaf Children and Gia Dinh School for Disable Children.
Equatorial General Manager James Montenegro and his staff presented to the boys and girls gifts such as moon cakes, lanterns, candies and cakes.
The hotel in District 5 hosts the annual painting exhibition for fundraising from Tuesday to Sep. 30. About 100 paintings depicting happy moments of children in a Mid-Autumn Festival are displayed at the hotel’s lobby.
These artworks were created by street children, with support of the Ho Chi Minh City Center for Educational and Vocational Training for Street Children, schools Anh Minh and Hy Vong 1, and Gia Dinh School for Disable Children. Some paintings were made by Thai Binh High School students.
“I was truly amazed,” Mr. Montenegro said while remarking the paintings.
“Having seen this exhibition over the last three years, I’m still amazed to see how beautiful some of the paintings are, and to find out that they were produced by disable children of 5 to 17 years of age.
“It also illustrates the environment or medium in which each disadvantaged child can enjoy a moment in society where he or she is or equal or even better than a regular child because of the artistic talent they possess.”
The total funds raised in selling the paintings will go to various schools for disadvantaged children in the city, he added.
The hotel has been hosting the annual charity exhibition for 13 years during the Mid-Autumn time.
