The event was attended by Deputy Director of the Vietnam Department of Peacekeeping Operations and Chief of the Vietnamese Peacekeeping Force in South Sudan Lieutenant Colonel Pham Tan Phong and all members of the hospital.
At the ceremony, Director of the Level-2 Field Hospital Rotation 3 Lieutenant Colonel Trinh My Hoa extended New Year greetings to all members of the hospital and their families. He encouraged the hospital’s personnel to both contain the COVID-19 pandemic in Bentiu and fulfil the mission of supporting the local medical system to respond to the pandemic in the context that the number of infected cases in the locality has doubled due to the recent flooding and the shortage of medical staff.
Speaking at the event, Commanding Officer of the Vietnamese Peacekeeping Force in South Sudan Lieutenant Colonel Pham Tan Phong highlighted the hospital’s outstanding achievements in professional performance, diplomacy, and communications. He said that those positive outcomes have contributed to popularizing the image of the Vietnam People’s Army to international friends and local people and affirming Vietnam’s commitment to contributing to the world’s peace.
On the occasion, Lieutenant Colonel Pham Tan Phong handed over rewards and insignias presented by the leadership of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan to the hospital’s outstanding collectives and individuals in acknowledgement of their achievements in 2021.
Before the flag saluting ceremony, the hospital launched a tree-planting movement in 2022. The movement is part of the project initiated by the hospital to plant 1,000 trees around the hospital, units, and organizations on base and at schools in the area.
Addressing the launching ceremony, Lieutenant Colonel Pham Tan Phong affirmed the significance of the movement, which will contribute to improving Vietnamese peacekeepers’ living environment and popularizing President Ho Chi Minh’s thought and the Vietnamese people’s tree-planting culture to international friends.
Mentioning the climate change as increasingly alarming and the fact that South Sudan has suffered from the worst flooding in 60 years, Colonel Phong believed that the tree-planting movement will bring hope to the country in particular and the world in general.
Below are some photos of the ceremony.
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Deputy Director of the Vietnam Department of Peacekeeping Operations and Chief of Vietnamese Peacekeeping Force in South Sudan Lieutenant Colonel Pham Tan Phong at the event |
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The first flag saluting ceremony solemnly held in Bentiu |
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Lieutenant Colonel Pham Tan Phong handing over rewards and insignias in acknowledgement of the hospital’s personnel’s achievements in 2021 |
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The hospital’s personnel responding to the tree-planting movement |
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Lieutenant Colonel Trinh My Hoa (center) and female officers of the hospital planting trees |
Translated by Tran Hoai